Traveller T20: Tales of the Bray Keaven [Updated 12-20-05]
Shadowdancer
First Post
Yes, still going strong. I took over as Ref last month to give Ron a much-deserved break and allow him to bring back Darishun as a PC. I have big shoes to fill.
Broccli_Head
Explorer
Im surprised no one pulled out a weapon...
I love this story for the PC interactions. Nice job all.
I love this story for the PC interactions. Nice job all.
Shadowdancer
First Post
Glad people are enjoying the story hour. And we passed 20,000 views! Yah!
One of the things I've come to love about playing in an e-mail campaign is it allows you to better role-play your character in most situations. You have the time to come up with the perfect response, or at least near-perfect.
Sometimes when I play FtF, I'm at a loss as to what to say in some situations. Then later, usually after the session is over, I think, "What I should have said is ______ . Why didn't I think of that then?"
Although sometimes I do find that inspiration hits me as I'm typing a response, and I come up with something good on the fly. But it's still nice to have the option to think before responding.
One of the things I've come to love about playing in an e-mail campaign is it allows you to better role-play your character in most situations. You have the time to come up with the perfect response, or at least near-perfect.
Sometimes when I play FtF, I'm at a loss as to what to say in some situations. Then later, usually after the session is over, I think, "What I should have said is ______ . Why didn't I think of that then?"
Although sometimes I do find that inspiration hits me as I'm typing a response, and I come up with something good on the fly. But it's still nice to have the option to think before responding.
Shadowdancer
First Post
Chapter XXXIII
Date: 225-993 to 229-993
Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven, in jump space between Aleif and Liar's Oath
During the course of a number of meetings over the remaining days in jump space, the crew hashes out a tentative plan for dealing with Thulon, the authorities, and their bay weapon cargo.
Thulon is kept sedated and moved to the port smuggling hold before scheduled jump emergence along with his damaged vacc suit.
The rest of the time in jump space is spent performing normal maintenance and activities. Aidan and Swann spend some time improving the computer system defenses against any sort of similar attacks.
Saro spends his time caring for Kevon and Vargas, who manage to restrict themselves to mostly bed rest. Both respond quite well to Saro’s good care. Kevon is back to his normal self (though a little sore and stiff) while Vargas is considerably recovered (though still wounded).
As the crew comes to the consensus to lie and obfuscate the true circumstances, Saro shakes his head and sighs heavily but reluctantly agrees to follow the plan. Later as he is disposing of the documents and research he did in order to prosecute the Urroe, since bringing charges now would bring unwanted scrutiny on the inevitable holes in the Keaven's pack of lies, Saro thinks to himself, “One of these days, all our lies and half-truths are going to turn around and bite us on our collective karmic asses.”
-----
Also while in jump space, the topic of who is in charge aboard the Bray Keaven comes up again.
“Kevin, you are right in that we need a more central approach to our actions,” Vargas says. “No ship can have two captains, let alone what we have on this ship. I think that we should draw up articles outlining your function as captain and we all abide by them.
“However, we do need to iron out some legalities first. We need to get you your master’s papers since I am sure we will probably need them in the future. Ships that get into scrapes usually have some investigation and the captain's certificates are always looked at.
“The other thing that I personally want as a shareholder is your assurances that this ship and crew come as your first responsibility. As Jarvis pointed out, you cannot serve two packs — the same applies here. Either the Imperium comes first or the ship comes first. I do not suggest that we flaunt Imperial law but we have, and in all probability will bend the law in the future. If you maintain that you are the uniformed representative of the Imperium, you will be required to report those offenses.
“I guess it is time for you to make a choice as I had to make after the duel.”
“So, are you asking me to resign my commission? As long as I wear the uniform, I will still hold loyalties to the Empire,” Kevon replies. “To be honest, even that won’t stop it. Do you want me to swear a blood oath? Or what? I still don’t think loyalty to this ship and crew and loyalty to the Imperial Crown are mutually exclusive.
“What I can promise you, however, is that I will use my skills and loyalties in the best interest of the ship,” he adds. “I’ll get whatever licenses you all think are necessary to become the ship’s master, but please don’t ask me to choose in that way.”
“Kevin, I did not intend to offend but was voicing my concerns. However, those questions will always contain some element of offense. I do apologize for the of-fending questions but they did in my mind have to be asked. I cannot speak for the others but that promise is good enough for me. Anybody else have a question or concern?”
“I rather think you can serve two packs, since plenty of people obviously do — a reserve fireman with a day job serves two packs,” Vasilii says. “To say otherwise is simplistic. It’s just difficult, and requires some sensitivity from each ‘pack.’ We have to show Commander Holland some consideration if we want to hang onto his excellent services.”
Vasilii proposes that the business create an employee position as master and commander of the Bray Keaven, and once that’s done to appoint Kevon to the job if he wants it. This formalizes the position half the crew has given him implicitly: he’s the “sailing master” and he’s in charge in an emergency. This means he doesn’t choose where they go — he’s in charge of administering the ship, getting them there, and keeping them alive along the way. In a shipboard emergency he gives orders, and the others are meant to button lip and follow them.
“Excellent idea Vasilii, I shall start drawing up the appropriate papers,” Aidan says. “All of you holding a share will need to sign as it will be an amendment to the corporate bylaws.
“Hmm, perhaps I should add something for ‘general counsel.’ ” Aidan grins. “Anyway, I’ll write that all up so it can be registered through the planetary net after we reach Liar’s Oath.”
If the others agree to the change, Vasilii will sign on the line.
Kevon agrees with the plan to name him as ship’s master/captain.
Saro is more than willing to sign the papers giving Kevon more authority aboard. He feels Kevon has done an outstanding job thus far, especially given the crew he has been dealt.
Martha agrees, so long as her shares from the Bray Keaven are not put at risk. She wants to give the document at least a cursory review to insure her profits and access to the ship are not impaired.
Swann also is OK with naming Kevon as master and commander.
-----
Close to the scheduled jump emergence time, the crew suits up and heads to their battlestations. The remaining time until jump emergence seems to crawl with everyone quietly thinking about what may come.
-----
At 1943 hours on the 229th day of the year 993, the Bray Keaven emerges from jump space in the Liar’s Oath system.
Martha’s scan of the immediate area doesn’t reveal any ships nearby. “No bogies on the screen, Cap’n,” she reports over the comm.
Vasilii picks up a standard system beacon (essentially, “Welcome to Liar’s Oath”) but no other transmissions of note.
After 15 minutes or so, Kevon fixes the Bray Keaven’s position, which is quite close to the plotted coordinates considering the vagaries of jump space emergence. The Bray Keaven is about 8 hours from Liar’s Oath, which orbits the small inner gas giant, Honora. The Bray Keaven is about 390,000 km (or a little over 2½ hrs at 2G) from the coordinates found in the Vargrs’ damaged handcomp.
-----
The trip inbound to Liar’s Oath is rather tense and a little long given the hour. However, the trip is relatively uneventful, particularly when compared to what the crew was expecting.
Martha picks up three ships on her scanners before the Bray Keaven arrives in the immediate area of Liar’s Oath.
The first is a good-sized bulk freighter outbound that is on the limits of the ship’s sensor range.
The second is a Suleiman class scout/courier, the Darla’s Hope, also outbound. The captain sends a friendly “hello” message while the two ships are within the limits of communication range.
The third is a far trader, the Brannigan, that Martha detects also on an inbound course when the Bray Keaven is about an hour away from Liar’s Oath. Conferring with Kevon, Martha and Kevon determine that if the Brannigan is coming in from a jump distance, she probably isn’t coming in from anywhere near the coordinates in the Vargrs’ computer.
Traffic close to Liar’s Oath is pretty light. The Bray Keaven is directed to Landing Zone 5 at the small starport and informed that a customs inspection team will meet the ship upon landing. On the way towards the landing, the crew can see that four of the landing zones are occupied (two far traders, one free trader, and a 400 dTon ship, probably a subsidized merchant). Additionally, three large freighters (1,000 dTons, 2,000 dTons, and 2,000 dTons) are in orbit.
The landing zones are open aired hardened concrete pads surrounded by hardened concrete walls. A movable sealed gangway connects a passenger airlock to the main building.
-----
At 0417 hours, after a long and tense journey insystem, the Bray Keaven settles into Landing Zone 5 at the Liar’s Oath Starport. After the movable gangway connects, the Bray Keaven is informed that the customs inspection team will need to make an inspection before any of the crew leaves the ship.
-----
Vasilii puts his snub SMG in the ship’s locker.
“Well, if we’re going to tell then about the jump space hijack we should get them aboard and tell them face to face. After all, we wouldn’t want to broadcast something that gives the hijackers’ allies any clues.
“Of course, I expect they scampered when we didn’t go to their rendezvous coordi-nates. But we must appear eager, and all that.”
He stifles a yawn.
“Well, what do you know,” Aidan says. “All quiet on the front. Let’s get through here quietly, then deliver these toys and ‘bonuses’ we’re carrying.”
Kevon stands by and allows the “owners aboard” to manage the inspection.
Martha prepares to follow appropriate protocol in greeting the inspectors and provide documentation and walk-throughs as needed.
She informs the others that, following the inspection, she is considering finding a nice breakfast joint in the starport, and then return to the ship for some much needed rest.
“Um, Miss Smythe, do you think we should perhaps stick together if we’re going off the ship?” Vasilii says. “What with the trouble we’ve had, we wouldn’t want a kidnapping to add to the attempted hijacking.”
“I would prefer we all stay on the ship so we can lift off ASAP after refueling,” Ian says. “If someone insists on leaving the ship, then I insist that no one ventures out alone.”
As Vargas rubs his healing shoulder he says, “I am in total agreement with Ian on this subject, and also suggest that we do not take any more cargo from some Vargr in trouble until we clear this one.”
-----
After the ship lands, Saro and Martha go to wake the one passenger, Seamus Hue, who was bound for Liar’s Oath. Seamus wakes up rather groggily, but comes out of his low berth without any other problems. He does comment that he had the weirdest dream about wolves.
At 0430, Vasilii receives a comm from the gangway indicating that the customs inspection team is ready to board.
The inspection team turns out to be a very sleepy–looking, bored–looking man in his 30s wearing gray fatigues and an equally near–comatose mid–40s woman in a faded and worn SPA uniform. The man introduces himself as Lieutenant Harns and the woman as SPA Inspector Ekabudushhi.
“(Yawn) Good morning. You folks came in awfully early. (Yawn) In case you’ve never been here before, Liar's Oath operates this starport for the SPA. So Nichelle is here as an official Imperial representative, but I’m your customs and immigration guy. Now, let’s see the crew roster, papers, and cargo manifest, please.”
Vasilii hands over the requested documents.
“Ah, one passenger to disembark and one dTon container of cloned human organs.”
At this point, Ian, Vasilii, and Swann explain about the attempted hijacking and the two dead hijackers (without mentioning the third).
Lt. Harns suddenly wakes up. “Hijackers! Damned pirates! Good thing that you happened to wake up at the right time, Engineer Smythe.”
Martha quietly nods and murmurs, “I seem to have a knack for that,” as she stifles back a yawn.
“I’m going to call my commanding officer. He’ll want to send an MP team onboard.”
-----
Over the next couple of hours, a Liar’s Oath Army MP team comes onboard to inspect the “cloned organs” cargo container and the two Vargr bodies. They also interview the crew as a group. Lt. Harn’s commander, Major Polenshek comes onboard to receive the reports and see the evidence for himself. Evidently, Ian’s, Vasilii’s, and Swann’s stories seem to satisfy him, because he says, “Damn fine job that you did. Good trick with playing with the grav plates. Speaking for Liar’s Oath, we’re glad that you came through OK. I remember hearing some good things about the Bray Keaven after what you did for Aleif, and I’m glad to hear those stories are true.
“Sorry that I’m going to have to impound the container, the pirates’ possessions, and the two SMGs they were carrying as evidence. I’d love to just let you have the stuff, but those are the regulations. I can offer you the services of a fire team or even a squad at a reduced rate if you’d like while you’re here. Or if you want to contract them for extended onboard service, we can do that, too.”
Ian’s eyebrows furrow a bit. The thought of added security does interest him, but how much can these people be trusted? “Major Polenshek, thank you for your generous offer. Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind a perimeter watch on the ship while we are here, but I will need to consult with the crew and will relay our decision ASAP.”
“In any case, welcome to Liar’s Oath,” the major says. “If you’re looking for breakfast, the Starport Cafeteria serves some pretty good fare. We’re a small, but expanding, port so we don’t have too much by the way of facilities, but it’s a good cafeteria. Get the omelet.”
“Have a good day sir,” Ian says.
A few minutes later, the Liar’s Oath Army personnel take the cargo container, the two bodies, the two SMGs — and their four clips each — off and leave the crew to eat breakfast and/or stumble to bed. Seamus Hue also finally manages to disembark at this time.
-----
After their guests depart, Ian addresses the rest of the crew. “So, what do y’all think of the major’s offer? I don’t want his personnel inside the ship, but I would not mind if they were set up in a perimeter watch.”
“Agreed, but if we’re staying onboard the ship, it may bring some suspicion to have a perimeter watch for the 16 hours we’re going to be in port,” Martha says, yawning.
“Also,” Ian continues, “I don’t want to stay here any longer than absolutely necessary. Let’s get some fuel, sleep a bit, then get the hell outta here.”
Martha mutters, “Agreed, dammit. Let’s get some sleep.”
Swann watches the military and customs personnel depart with a bemused expression on his face. “It’s a shame we had to wake them up by telling them about the pirates,” he says in a low voice to the crewmembers gathered around.
He then rubs a hand across his face. “Sleep sounds good. Food sounds better, especially the omelet the Major mentioned. If we hire them to watch the ship, we could grab a bite while refueling and then take a nap. I agree we should get out of here ASAP.”
Martha nods enthusiastically, weary from the long trek in and the inspection afterwards.
“But first thing, let’s make Thulon a little more comfy by tucking him into our open low berth,” Swann suggests.
Martha mutters something, but is cut off by the other crewmembers.
Vargas says, “I think we should leave Thulon where he is until we clear this port.”
“Let’s get into jump first,” Vasilii agrees. “What if the authorities come aboard again? We wouldn’t want to have him appear magically in the freezer between two inspections. Can we make sure he’s tied up as well as sedated?”
Now dressed in a gray morning suit but looking a bit faded, Aidan says, “I’ll agree gentlemen. Ian, can you let the Major know we want a security detail? I’ll set up the alarms in the ship and the port anti-hijacking programs. Swann, if you’ll double-check me? Then, once the security’s here, anyone who wants breakfast, I’m buying! Then let’s get out of this system.”
Martha tiredly mumbles, “ . . . not green . . . ” as her eyelids become harder and harder to lift.
“I was going to sleep for a few hours then get breakfast at a normal time,” Vasilii says. “But if you lot are going now, and we’ve got a guard.
“But let’s get breakfast and sleep in some order, then fly out of here in say four to eight hours. And, if you think it's a good idea, commander, perhaps we could use a non-standard flight path and jump point on the way out?”
Martha’s head bobs up and down once — more from catching herself from falling than anything.
“I agree with Vasilii on using a non-standard jump point to exit the system,” Swann says. “As close to 180 degrees from where we came in. I’m sure that once the hijackers didn’t report in to their pirate buddies when we exited jump, they started looking for us and will be waiting for us. If we can leave in less than eight hours, that would be good since it took us about eight hours to get here from the jump entry point; it will probably take them the same amount of time. But let’s try for six if we can.”
“I am still sore and very tired,” Vargas says. “I hate to turn down free food, but I am going to stay aboard.”
Martha leans up against the bulkhead, getting comfortable.
“I also agree with the consensus of the crew that we haul mass out of this system as soon as possible.” Vargas adds. “Also, I do not think we should do any more ‘favors’ until this cargo is delivered. We have had more then enough on this trip anyway.”
Martha mumbles “mmm, hmm,” as her eyes close and her chin begins to settle on her chest.
-----
Since it appears most agree to hire the extra security, Ian places a call to the major’s office requesting a small contingent to be placed around the outside of the ship, including a couple at the starport entrance to the ship, for the time the Bray Keaven is in the starport.
Martha’s breathing begins to deepen. She looks more and more relaxed, as her features soften.
Vasilii orders a tank of refined fuel for the ship.
Once the security forces are in place, some of the crew prepares to depart for breakfast while the others remain on board.
Swann double checks Aidan’s computer work for the security system, then joins him and Vasilii for breakfast.
Aidan informs the others he plans to file the paperwork making Kevon the ship’s captain while at breakfast.
Vargas loads his pistol, planning to maintain some semblance of a security watch onboard while others go for breakfast.
“I have been wondering about Thulon’s statement about only being a gunner,” Vargas says. “Why would a prize crew include a gunner unless they were planning to fly this ship to some remote location and possibly expecting some kind of a fight. When we are filing the papers for creating the position of captain, we might run a computer check on the Oeskhoes Pack and their pack leader Dzuekskini. Also, see what can be found out about the Urroe. I just keep getting an uneasy feeling about that statement. This could be done from the ship, but I do not think we should tip our hand at all. Any communications from this ship can and in all probability are monitored and I do not want that kind of check linked to this ship or crew. You may think that I am being paranoid; however, I just keep having this bad feeling.”
“Will do, Vargas,” Aidan says. “Swann, mayhap you can start the search while I finish the legal papers, then I’ll dive in and help. And remember, we do have someone out to get us, so paranoia is quite healthy I should say.”
“OK, I’ll see what I can see,” Swann says.
-----
During the morning breakfast excursion, Saro plans to stay aboard the Keaven, anxiously awaiting the others’ return so that they can all jump on out of here as soon as possible. He wears his vacc suit — with the helmet nearby — and carries his snub pistol and medkit with him.
Before the breakfasting crewmembers leave he suggests that a pass code be set up so when they return, they can signal whether or not that are under duress. He suggest that when the crew returns, when they comm the ship to request access they use the following phrases:
If circumstances are fine and there is no immediate trouble, say “Please let us on board Saro.”
If something is up or there is heightened suspicion, say “Please let us on board Doc.”
If the crew is under duress, with guns at their backs, etc, say “Please let us on board Dr. Saro.”
“Good thinking, Doctor,” Vargas says.
-----
“Hey guys, bring Vargas and myself a couple of omelets when you come back if you don’t mind?” Ian stays on board with Vargas. He heads to check on the sedated hijacker.
Kevon also asks for an extra plate for himself.
Martha asks, “Can one of y’all bring me back an omelet? Preferably something not green, please.” She smiles tiredly. “I’m thinking I should get some sleep.”
“Five takeout plates coming right up,” Swann says.
-----
When the group breaks up, Martha awakens long enough to stumble back into the ship, mutter something along the lines of “St. Elvis has left the building” and lock herself in her room for a much-needed sleep.
Saro remains at the comms until the party returns. While they are gone he downloads any mail that may be waiting for him (personal, medical journals, personalized newsfeeds, etc) and sends out the message he wrote to Gina, the waitress at Urlainn Depot.
Mishihari Lord
First Post
Hey Shadowdancer, are you planning on continuing this story hour? Losing content in the board crash is a bummer, but I'd hate to see this story go away. I'm a big Traveller fan and I've really been enjoying it.
Mishihari Lord
First Post
I'm not planning on pulling a Horatio, but I would really love to see this story hour continued. Anyone who agees with me please chime in and let Shadowdancer know how much we would like to see the story continue.
