Mongoose Traveller Tale in the Third Imperium

[ptolemy]

Gorram 355-1080

The week spent with the corvette was relatively uneventful. Wolfgang, one of the fuel skimmers broke down in orbit around Weisen. He got a lot of ribbing for that but it caused some disquiet. A supply ship has arrived without any of the items or equipment request by us and, when we asked around, not many of the supplies that other people had requested turned up either. This was the cause of the break down with Wolfgang’s ship. We jury-rigged things but it was a temporary solution. As Derisson doesn’t appear to be skimming then there must be another reason why he is withholding legitimate requests. Peter thinks he is trying to make himself look good so he can get promotion. It sounds plausible, but it still isn’t something which Naval Intelligence would be interested in.

Gorram 360-1080

Things had been following their normal routine sufficiently for us to start feeling a little bored. We couldn’t get anything on Derisson other than his tendency to cut corners in the name of station efficiency. Not that he said any such thing. But we could follow the money and we, or our friends, unpacked the supply containers and it all tallied up. A couple of times he sent us on wild-goose chases but nothing came of it.

Until we picked up a weird distress call. A GK came through (Gashimeku Kaalariin, Vilani for “vessel in Distress”), an automated signal which included the ship’s ID (an A-type free trader named Sacaggan). There was more, but it was scrambled and was being relayed via the interdiction buoys, which was unusual to say the least. We didn’t know where it was, what state it was in or even if anyone was alive on her. Lily suggested that the GK was coming from a ship with a Dindy code, something reserved for naval or intelligence assets. Helena set to work trying to make sense of the scrambled data while Peter sent a message to Derisson for advice on how to proceed. It didn’t take Helena long to work out that the GK was coming from a buoy in orbit around the planet of Gorram itself! Peter tried to contact Derisson again but again got no response. We turned towards the planet as Helena continued to work and Peter kept hailing the station. Helena kept teasing out more information. Apparently the ship had lost its manoeuvre drives, some casualties had been sustained and there was a hull breach. We had some distance to go by the time Helena reported that she believed the ship had actually crashed on Gorram!

Peter redoubled his efforts to speak to Derisson. We did not have clearance to land on Gorram and a raft of protocols prevented us from affecting the nascent culture which was the reason for the quarantine in the first place. Eventually, Derisson came on the speaker with no other advice than to proceed with caution. We asked about permission to land or take other action but didn’t get anything clearer out of him. Helena barked that we were ok legally, but didn’t take her attention off the scrambled message longer that it took to say that. Our legal position was unclear until, just as we approached orbit around Gorram, Sar’s voice came through say: “Get on with your jobs! You’re a rescue crew. Get rescuing!” With this we became more focused.

Being free to break the quarantine wasn’t the same as being allowed to do whatever we wanted. We would still have to account for our actions and demonstrate that we did what we could to maintain the indigenous populations ignorance of the Third Imperium. We made sure all external lights were out and took up a geo-stationary orbit above the sunlit side of the planet. We started a scan and Helena kept trying to get the last piece of information from the GK - the actual location. We spotted the ship with scanner before she could finish, much to her professional chagrin. Just on the edge of daybreak the Sacaggan had gone down on or by a little island some distance from the main inhabited continent. We elected to follow a descent out of orbit over the middle of the ocean and come in low towards the crash site. So far so good.

We hadn’t even arrived when things started to go wrong. The readings I was picking up did not suggest an A-type. Rather, this was a bigger ship with a different type of reactor. The sensor suit included life scanning and we got plenty of the usual readings I would expect over a habitable island. Coming into view of the ship the extent of the problem became apparent. A subsidised liner, a ship three times the size of an A-type, was half submerged with its tail sticking out of the water at about 30 degrees. We recognised the Amishi. A faint “Imperial VIP: Priority Rescue” signal was coming from a comm. somewhere. I picked up a life sign from what looked like the wreckage of some sort of sailing ship which had been here for a long time by the looks of things. We had already donned our suits. Peter brought us close to the sailing ship and I was lowered down with my med-kit, holding on to RSDP (Rescue Support Drone, Personal). A man of around 30 years was lying on the deck and had obviously lost a deal of blood. The comm. broadcasting the distress signal identified him as one Sir Paul Ramaeda, an imperial noble. I patched him up as well as I could and unfolded a rescue bubble around him, attached it to the drone and ordered it back to the the GR1. By now Peter had moved the GR1 over the Amishi and placed it on auto-pilot with orders to remain stationary above the crashed space ship. I got the casualty into our med-bay. He had lost a lot of blood and I needed to get a drip into him. It was clear that he had been shot. It wasn’t a very serious wound, otherwise he would have been dead when we found him. He had, however, been bleeding for some time and was at risk of death.

We hovered directly above the liner. Liquid hydrogen appeared to be leaking from the port side but there were no visible hull breaches above the water line. Peter, Lily, Helena, Rexacora and myself dropped onto the tail with a view to finding or making a way inside. We had armed ourselves with our gauss pistols and it was with a somber mood that we approached entry. At least one person had been injured by gun fire and we doubted that out guest was the only one. No least because he had been shot in the back. The RSDP was “slaved” to Peter but we all had telemetry feeding into our DDRs from it. We brought a heavier laser cutter than the one built into our suits and Lily had a trio of rescue keys which are used to force open doors, although they will struggle with security or bulkhead doors. We also hoped to be able to hack systems as we gained access to them. To begin with the security override was active and we couldn’t get any access remotely.

 

[ptolemy]

Even with a hard connection to the emergency hatch panel it took an uncomfortably long time to hack in and open up the ship. We felt a couple of slight lurches in that time and began to feel additional time pressure. Our entry point was through the ceiling of engineering and it was awkward getting in and climbing down the narrow ladder into the dimly lit space. We had blue prints for a standard M-type and these were helpful in engineering. We found hatches which led from upper to lower engineering easily enough. These had automatically closed and locked but they didn’t have security locks and didn't pose a problem. What power there was came from backup batteries. It provided a fluctuating, dim red light, an emergency alarm which soon became grating, and it powered the security doors but little else. Our link to the GRO was good and we knew that our crew mates would be watching our DDR feeds.

Lower engineering had a lift which ran down into the hold area and a door into a corridor through which we were be able to gain access to the rest of the ship. This door proved more troublesome than the previous ones but we managed to hack it eventually. It was already becoming apparent that the Amishi had been heavily modified. We emerged in a corridor running port-starboard. Another corridor ran from the middle of this corridor towards the bow. The port-starboard corridor ended with iris-valves; a standard door marked the end of the bow-stern corridor. Adhza was giving us updates on life signs in the ship:

‘Life signs spotted 12m bow-wards. No. Yes. Life signs bow-wards, but they are flickering. I think we have more but it’s hard to tell. Yes, two more close to the bow, two more together bow-port, no, three spread out closer to the bow…’

It wasn’t as helpful as it could have been. Adhza wasn’t a trained sensor operator and transpired that she had the life scanner on the wrong settings. However, she was pretty sure that maybe a dozen life signs were scattered throughout the ship. We rushed up the bow-wards corridor and I set to cutting around the lock with my vacc. suit’s wrist mounted laser. The others drew weapons and covered me. It didn’t take long as the doors in the passenger section of the ship are flimsy. We found ourselves in a kitchen area running port-starboard. Another door faced us and we cut through.

A large room, obviously some kind of lounge/bar opened up in front of us. The slowly flashing dim red light illuminated the room sufficiently for us to recognise a look of shock on the face of the woman twisting her body to look in our direction. After a moment’s pause she leapt behind a table, cowering. A couple of bodies littered the floor. As Helena and Peter cautiously walked towards the table the survivor was hiding behind Lily covered them and I scanned the room. Two bodies lay on the floor. I “pinged” the ship and found none of them were alive. I picked up around a dozen other life signs, not counting ourselves, but I wasn’t paying much attention to that.

A woman cried out “Please don’t kill me. I haven’t done anything, please don’t kill me!” as Helena reached the table. I could hear Helena speaking in a soothing voice as I bent over the first corpse. It was male and dressed in what looked like a stylised security uniform. The sort of thing you would find on a security officer on a luxury liner. He had been shot, it looked like with a laser, several times. I checked for any ID or access cards. No success. He had an empty snub-pistol holster. The other appeared to be a steward from their dress. Again, laser wounds. Again, no ID.

Our surviver looked traumatised. As Helena coaxed her from her hiding place Lily was alerting the ship, specifically Hurgen, to stand by for evacuation.

“OK.” said Helena , looking grim. “It looks like some of the new hires in the crew had other ideas. They tried to take over and a fight broke out. In the chaos Giovanna here hid in a stateroom but moved from her hiding place when she heard voices and she panicked. She doesn’t know what they wanted or how many of them there are. She doesn't know if there are any other survivors. I don’t think she will give us any other information. We should get her on the GRO.” Giovanna had her hands wrapped around her own waist and looked at us with huge eyes. It was obvious that she was spent. We detailed Rexa to take her to the roof of the ship and make sure she was lifted into the GRO safely. She was to remain on the surface of the Amishi to be ready to air lift others. It wasn’t long before Hurgen came through on the comm. to let us know that she was in medical.

 

[ptolemy]

Along with the stern-ward entrance to the lounge there was an iris valve to the starboard and doors to the bow and port. We cut through the port door into a corridor running stern-bow. There were cabin doors on the port side and a door at each end of the corridor. We started moving towards the bow, checking cabins as we went. There was another iris valve which probably led into the space the bow door out of the lounge led to. Hurgen told us that they thought that there were life readings from that way so we doubled back and cut through the bow door from the lounge. This port-starboard corridor ended in iris valves and there was a third in front of us. Lily started cutting through as the panel was fried and I still couldn’t get a remote link into any systems. As she worked I “looked” into the room beyond, which turned out to be the bridge. It was chaos in there. A survivor was standing on the opposite side of the room to the valve holding a snub pistol looking terrified and exhausted. There was a a corpse on the floor near the port wall. Damage to chairs and control stations suggested a fire-fight had taken place.

Lily finished cutting and kicked the out the remains of the door. We heard a man cry “Hold it right there, I’m armed and will shoot”. He was agitated and afraid. Giving his name as Captain Laslic he was obviously near collapse. With some conversation he handed over his weapon with an air of resignation. He gave an involuntary start when Pete and I started the remove the data chips from the computer. Lily stepped towards him pretty quick and the story came out. This wasn’t the Amishi’s first visit to Gorram. They had been charging exorbitant fees to give wealthy patrons a taste of the illicit. People paid to be brought to a “Red” world, take some selfies, pick up a few souvenirs from the wrecked sail ship and basically have some bragging rights in an otherwise pampered existence. Derisson got a cut in exchange for Dindy codes and making sure no one looked too closely at the Amishi when she came through the system. Some more ruthless members of the underworld had found out about the scheme and had infiltrated the ship’s crew with a view to taking hostages and probably stealing the Amishi. The bodyguard of one of the passengers became suspicious and barged onto the bridge and accused the captain. During the ensuing argument a kidnapper intervened with a shotgun. The resulting fire-fight killed the pilot, which caused the crash, and the bodyguard fled to find their charge after putting a bullet in the kidnapper. The captain had locked himself in the bridge and the subsequent kidnapper’s attempts to take control of systems had resulted in a shut down. The data chips would contain comms. messages and other incriminating evidence against the crew, Derisson and other out-of-system “investors”. The captain appeared to feel some responsibility for the whole situation and was a broken man.

Laslic said that he has been in contact with the chief engineer for a little while. He thought she would still be in the forward lounge. An unknown number of kidnappers were still on the ship and would pose a threat to anyone who could identify them. Hurgen told us that a steady life signal was coming from an area between the bridge and the forward lounge, where another life sign was present. A few others came and went, according to Hurgen, which I assumed meant they were moving. The captain handed over his multi-pass. He insisted on coming with us to look for survivors as it was “my duty as a captain. At least I can do that!”.

We moved with greater caution knowing armed gangsters with a lot to lose were on the prowl. The nearer life sign turned out to come from a lift which was jammed. It was the ship’s medic. We all felt suspicious at first as she looked too young to be a shipboard medic. She also looked too terrified to be a threat. We took a few minutes to cut through the roof of the lift, hindered by the difference between our level and that we had to cut through. Saress (as she was named) was nearly hysterical by the time she got to us. The ship had lurched a couple of times during the rescue and she became ever more frantic. I checked her over quickly and gave her a mild sedative. She joined out little party and we entered the corridor running the length of the cabins to starboard. Movement caught my eye from farther down the corridor and Lily and I moved to investigate while Peter and Helena kept an eye on our rescued ship’s crew, just in case. The doors of most of the cabins stood ajar. We moved as quietly as we could and paused to listen at the door. Lily went in first with me on her tail. Another young woman, this one dressed as a servant but not in the ships livery, cowered behind the bed. I started to coax her out as Lily undermined me by looking as threatening as possible, as usual. This one turned out to be Yenaffi Outeir, the personal valet of Marin Suwa, one of the paying customers and a kidnapper, if she was to be believed:

“He just shot Pons in the back and turned on me! I couldn’t believe it. And I was...” She dissolved into tears.

 

[ptolemy]

We heard movement from the next cabin. Access to the stern cabins was obscured from view by another internal door. We pushed Yenaffi in the direction of our friends and moved toward as quietly as we could in our bulky vacc. suits. Lily kicked it open to reveal two people, a man in what looked like a business suit and another in some kind of body armour. The one in the armour had one arm grasping the man in the suit and a laser carbine shoved under his captives chin.

“Please do as he says. He’ll kill me, I know he will” - the captive

“Just put your weapons down and no one need get hurt” said the figure in armour.

Both Lily and I slowly crouched down to place our weapons on the floor. The kidnapper was only a few metres away but too far to risk a sudden rush. We could probably get to them unscathed but the victim would die. So I reached out with my mind and pushed: “let him go and put your weapon on the floor”. The kidnapper slowly let go of his captive and began to unbuckle the power pack for his weapon from where it was clasped to his armour. The captive looked utterly astonished and asked “What the hell are you doing” before snatching the carbine from the others hands and turning it on us. Lily fired the laser built into her suit, missing both of them. The “captive” fired at us clumsily and then dragged his one-time captor to his left, out of sight. We knew the other had moved to check on the forward lounge and were effectively the other end of the ship.

Lily and I sprinted as fast as our suits allowed. We cautiously glanced around the corner and came face-to-face with another iris valve. Lily fumbled in her pouch for the captain’s multi-pass, opened the door and stared down the empty corridor. This was the one we had first entered when we left the engineering section. Had our assailants gone up to try and get out the way we came in? The iris valve at the far end of this corridor was open as we moved slowly, weapons ready. I had my stunner ready, Lily still had her gauss pistol trained on the exit facing us. Suddenly a shape approved in the entrance, both Lily and I fired as it threw something at us! I hit the ground at the same time as the grenade went off. We had taken our helmets off when we met Giovanna in the bar. For a moment I lost focus and the world spun. A stun grenade! Someone fired on me with a laser, cutting through the vacc. suit and badly burning my right shoulder. The pain was excruciating. I was aware of Lily, who had managed to avoid some of the effects of the grenade by diving into the side corridor which led to the bar, as she returned fire. Lying still I focused my psionic awareness and started repairing my shoulder and lung. I must have blacked out as the next thing I knew Lily was bending over me and pinching my ear painfully.

“Comi, you there, say something”

“naughty word, ok. Let go. I’m ok, let go”

My shoulder was still stiff but I could move it ok. Lily helped me up and we went to investigate the hatch the hijackers had used. Hurgen told us it led to the cargo hold. I had only been out for a few seconds and my healing had gone well so the stiffness was fading, but I wasn’t going the able to use any more psionics anytime soon. We used the multi-pass and opened the hatch. Helena and Peter were still trying to get the door the forward lounge open, which was apparently blocked in some manner. Lily went first, dropping down to the hold quickly. I followed a little more slowly. We heard a shout and dived for cover. A chaotic fight broke out as we each moved around crates and storage equipment. We had our helmets on and while that slowed us down a little it did protect us from the other stun grenades thrown at us. Lily took the gamble that that was the only type they had so when the next time a grenade was thrown she used it as an opportunity to rush forward while the enemy cowered from the blast of their own weapon. Lily killed one of the armoured kidnappers and took a hit herself, but it hardly penetrated her suit. By then we had seen one other in armour and the guy in the business suit. I rounded a crate and came on the other armoured kidnapper waiting to ambush Lily. A burst from my stunner took that one out. We couldn’t find the other, who we assumed was Suwa. I couldn’t risk trying to search for him psionically and Hurgen wasn’t getting clear readings. I checked on the one I shot and did some very basic first aid while Lily guarded me.

We found Suwa shortly after Helena joined us. She was able to “ping” the area. He was hiding in the launch! He surrendered when he realised we had found him. At this point the captain, Saress, the medic, Penter the engineer, Yenaffi and Giovanna had all been taken to the GR1. Adhza put anyone who didn’t need medical treatment in the brig - keeping Yenaffi in a brig on her own - and was keeping an armed watch on the injured in the medical bay. This included Stev and Alix Gvaegloen, a couple of passengers who had taken refuge in the hold and had been scared witless by the fight down there. We had Gunthorp Jay (the hijacker I stunned) in a low berth as was Paul, the noble who we found outside. We decided that getting back to the station was our priority, before Derisson has a chance to skip the sector. Helena put a secure call through to Gabe and let him know what we had found.

“Those are pretty serious allegations, you have strong evidence?”

We did. We had the evidence of the captain and the data chips from the Amishi to prove Derisson’s link to the whole thing. Helena was particularly pleased to have found out why naval intelligence had been so interested in the system that they sent her, an ex-agent, to investigate. We sent enough data to the station via our link with Gabe to enable him to place Derisson under arrest. I needed time in the med-bay when we got back - I wasn’t able to completely heal all of my shoulder wound when it happened and I didn’t want to mysteriously heal the rest after the others saw how much blood was on my clothes.

Gorram 364-1080

Three days found us back at the Amishi doing salvage work. We couldn’t leave her on the planet for the locals to find. Because of security arrangements it was harder and longer work than it could have been but we didn’t mind. It was nice to be planet side for a few days and it was distracting work. It took us the best part of a week to run checks and make sure the Amishi wasn’t going to break up during the process, then pull her into orbit and away to the station. Salvage rights were going to be disputed and we didn’t expect to get anything.

Gorram 011-1081

A message had been sent the day after we picked up Amishi’s distress call and 16 days after the rescue/fight the Arbellatra jumped back into the system to take custody of the survivors. Well, almost all. Helena had kept Paul in a low berth for a couple of days until another liner had jumper into the system and up in to the station. She was apparently able to arrange for records to show that Sir Paul Ramaeda, who we had found on the wrecked sail boat, was a passenger on the Lusitania, and had never been on the Amishi at all. We all objected to this until Helena pointed out that Sir Paul Ramaeda was a distant cousin of the Duchess of Mora and how would we like to be involved in causing her even the slightest embarrassment? And having a friend in Sir Paul wasn’t going to hurt, either. So Paul was woken up and moved the the Lusitania’s medical bay and some money changed hands. Sir Paul was very appreciative. He told us the rest of the story, how his bodyguard has noticed something funny going on, had been injured in the bridge after confronting the captain. How he, Sir Paul, had tried to get all the passengers together and to safety when Suwa, posing as an innocent victim, had revealed his true colours and shot him from behind. He managed to get away and decided to save the family honour by throwing himself into the water. He was washed up on the wreck and he can’t remember anymore.

Captain Wright from the Arbellatra assumed command of the station until a replacement could be found and we worked out the rest of our contract, which technically ended on the 16th of the year but we were kept on until the 27th and left 028-1081 on board the Arbellatra.

 

[ptolemy]

The Adventures of Polybius Comnenus Part III

Pyramus 182-1081

Things took a turn for the better after Gorram. It had been hard, dangerous work but we had enjoyed our time working as a S&R team. By the time we got back to Lunion Sir Paul Ramaeda had put in a word for us with the Navy. The upshot of this that Helena’s legal application to take possession of the ship we used to escape from Mithral was awarded to us as compensation for the attack. We couldn’t believe our luck! We now had a 400t ship with over 100t of cargo space, a particle beam turret and lots of cool features, such as a low sensor profile and low jump emissions. We started our new careers as travellers hauling to and from Lunion. We were also lucky in our choice of a brokerage company at Lunion. They were expensive, charging 10% of haulage fees, but they got us lucrative contracts and put us in touch with reliable brokers at our destinations. I was spending a lot of time reading up on brokerage as I wanted to cut out the middle man. It was all new to me and was going to take a long time to master. I felt I had the basics by the time we got to Pyramus.

Just a few weeks into this Helena brought in a very good deal on Shirene. An environmental group approached her to ship six breeding specimens of Przewalski’s horse, in specialist low births. They hired the whole ship, cabins included and paid a moderate wage. We were to transport them to Pyramus and were even allowed to trade as we went, as long as we didn’t diverge from a straight path too much. We were being paid for 20 weeks transport and then we would be expected to stay and assist the transfer and release of the animals in their new habitat for one month. This was a fortune to us and we were very encouraged. We traded along the main as far as Palique at which point we needed to pick up the pace and focus on getting are cargo to its destination.

The journey was uneventful and we arrived in orbit around Pyramus looking forward to a few weeks planet-side. An automated transmission from the imperial fief informed us that if had business with the knight we were to proceed to a landing zone at set coordinates, if with Project Artemis we could land near the mission and that guidance would be given as we got closer. The message included the fact that landing was legal anywhere on the planet, however, we should respect crops, buildings and the needs of the population. We sent back a reply to the effect that we were delivering to the Project and headed down. As we flew over a dry looking landscape the Project contacted us in the form of Boutros Vianne. He gave us a cheerful welcome and sent exact coordinates and asked out our charges. We happily reported that all was well and Peter took us in.

It was a tricky landing. For all the time Peter had given me at the controls on our way here I was glad I didn’t have to land us as our landing strip was an uneven field very close to some buildings and animal pens. There was a crowd of at least a dozen people milling around. We had hardly touched down when a handful of them approached us. I went straight to the hold, opened the cargo bay doors, lowered the ramp and started to prep the cryo-pods. As soon as the ramp was fully extended project staff were on board, led by an older woman who barked “Are the specimens intact?” I assured her that they were as she started checking data from the pods. We set to moving them out. It was a very hands-on experience and I was carefully supervised as I lifted each pod put using the cargo walker. I set all the pods down in a nearby “paddock” of hay bails The plan was to revive each of the animals simultaneously, if possible. The idea was that they would almost immediately be amongst their own kind and be less likely to panic. We quickly worked up a sweat in the warm and dry atmosphere.

I had tried to brush up on some veterinary datas regarding animal cryogenics and was assigned to monitor vitals of two of the horses during the process due to my paramedic training. I didn’t think that was a good plan but the team only included two actual vets so I didn’t argue. Medically, things went well, although I had a few panicky moments. Helena, who like most nobles loves to ride, joined the team who calmed the animals and corralled them as they awoke. It wasn’t an easy task and I could tell that Helena was surreptitiously using her powers to sooth their fear. I was doing the same for mine and we had a good success. Peter and Lily both lent a hand with the more physical aspect of the task - holding horses steady in their very first moments of consciousness and then ropes if required. It was hard work and it was made harder by being throw into a team we didn’t know. The only really worrying moment was when a juvenile female, who had been the most docile on wakening, collapsed. As the vets had their hands full, I ended up giving CPR to a Przewalski’s horse! Maybe it had merely fainted with cryo-fatigue as I’m not sure I contribute much, but it was back on its feet and being soothed by Helena within a few minutes. Helena certainly walked out of the situation with a reputation as a horse whisperer, which she was visibly pleased about.

There hadn’t been time for introductions during the disembarkation and revival process but in the celebratory atmosphere we met some of the team when we had all the horses awake. Boutros we had already spoken to and he turned out to be a very dishy vet. The austere middle aged woman in charge was Dr Eva Danvier, a somewhat curt and direct woman who didn’t seem to be very socially adept. She was a lot better after we had finished our task. She informed us that we had earned the full bonus for live delivery (5,000 cr per living animal revived) and that, all going well, we would be paid the rest of the bonus at the end of the month we were contracted to remain and help out (another 20,000cr per horse which is thriving and appears breed-able). Oran Yota was the most skilled of the animal handlers and turned out to be a local hired by the Project. She wore a classic cowboy hat and seemed more at home with the animals, which isn’t to suggest that she was stand-offish with us at all. She seemed to be even more pleased with how hard we had worked than the general attitude, which was pretty positive. She was concerned with Lily, who had taken what looked like a nasty kick, but Lily being the ex-marine she was had rolled with the blow better than most of us would have. I checked her out and she just had a nasty bruise.

Boutros disappeared and re-appeared with a crate of chilled beers and most of us spent a good hour or so enjoying the spoils of victory. Everyone was friendly (Dr Danvier didn’t stay for the celebrations) and we accepted the offer of bunks in the barracks. We wanted to spend as much time off the ship as possible and, if we had to stay and work, we might as well integrate as much as possible. As we chatted we learned some more about Pyramus. It was a low tech planet but had access to off world tech due to a small amount of train in luxuries, the local whisky and wines being sought after across the sub-sector. The planet has a cycle in which the annual dry season over stays its welcome every 8 or 9 years but this time it was even longer than usual. Expressing a desire for rain was a common occurrence and was always followed by others reassuring everyone that it couldn’t be long now. We ate a communal dinner after which Oran suggested that we accompany her on a tour of the immediate area the following day, to orientate ourselves and get a feel for the work. We would set off shortly after dawn and be travelling on horse back given the nature of the terrain and would spend two or three days out. Helena was the only one of us who could ride so we were as skittish as new foals at this idea. But needs must.

 

[ptolemy]

Pyramus 188-1081

We woke early and set off at dawn. Most of us were new riders and there aren’t any roads so 5 or 6 kilometres an hour is as good as we can expect. We rode south, arse protesting after the first hour so. The plan is to head south, loop west to the river where we will turn north. At somewhere called Trade Bridge we will decide what to do. We’ll probably turn south east and return to the compound. The country is beautiful although with only two thirds of standard gravity it is uncomfortable. Most of the terrain is scrub with occasional copses. Ravines of varying depth are scattered apparently at random. Oran was a good guide, both as to our route and to riding, providing frequent and useful pointers to the three of us who needed them. Despite the low gravity it was pleasant; the climate was a little on the dry side - Oran assured us that this year’s dry season is uncommonly long and the country is usually much greener. We stopped off at some data sensors and Oran took readings, but the work wasn’t demanding. We made a nice camp fire in the evening and bedded down in the open air. After weeks on board ship it was like a holiday. In the morning Oran wanted to deviate from the more direct route to check on the herd of Przewalski’s horses already on planet, which our cargo is to supplement. She was a little concerned that she hadn’t seen any signs the day before, although it wasn’t that unusual. We rode gently towards the river and spotted some of the herd mid-morning. There were only a few horses and Oran immediately became worried. Apparently the pack leaders weren’t visible and the herd was split in two, both groups huddled closely together. Something was wrong.

We found out what soon enough. Rudy-the-Asshat [sic] had wandered then fallen into a shallow ravine looking for water and couldn’t get out. We found him by spotting Alex, RTA’s mate standing forlornly in the open, braying miserably. She was skittish but didn’t run far at our approach. RTA was visible from the lip. Oran was both amused and concerned.

“Just like RTA, always thinking about the herd but not enough to stay out of trouble.” - Oran

We dismounted and started to work out how to get RTA out. Helena and I volunteered to go into the ravine, tie some rope around the offending animal and help guide him up and out while the others pulled. Oran was surprised by the suggestion as Przewalski’s are not domesticated and RTA is even more liable to kick than most. Of course we intended to cheat, both of us telepathically calming the scared animal. We went up in Oran’s esteem considerably by getting the rope securely tied on our first go - I have to give Helena the credit for that - and the whole operation was a success. RTA paused long enough after the ropes came off to throw a badly aimed kick at Peter before running first to Alex and then to gather the dispersed herd. We stopped for an early lunch and set off by a more direct route for the river.

Or rather, where the river had been. It was almost completely dried up, now merely the merest trickle between the rocks. Oran took a moment to orientate herself and led us northwards, looking for some sensors. Dry it might be, but it was clear this was usually a reasonably fast flowing river about 20m across. We found the first sensor which was shut down due to not being in contact with water. We moved on. The next was generating readings but they were of some concern. I only know a little about biology but I knew enough to see that there were unhealthy concentrations of toxins - the product of algae build up. Natural but problematic. The few sensors with recent data all showed the same. The prolonger heatwave was causing some problems and there weren’t any simple solutions as these occurred naturally. Should the scientists at the centre make changes to the natural changes in an ecosystem or let it run its course…?

Oran wanted to turn north towards the Imperial Fee northwest of the centre and either turn back to the centre to check on some of the settlements east of the river, north and northeast of the centre. We forded the river, if you can call it that, and followed on the right back, mainly moving west. The horses started to be more skittish, which was irritating as I thought we, or at least I, had started to get the hang of riding. It turned out that that the skittishness wasn’t caused by us. The first day riding beside the river passed uneventfully, as did the following morning. We had been ridden 5 or 6 kilometres after lunch when Oran called for a halt. She was intent on something her horse was virtually standing on. Helena moved a little closer but Oran indicated that we should carry on before she got a good look. I was behind and rode over the same spot but couldn’t make anything out. As we carried on Peter became more irritable. He was having the worst time out of all of us. On top of no previous riding experience, which Lilly and I shared, he clearly had some sort of allergy to horses. Lily was grumpy at first but found Peter’s complaints ever more funny. Which didn’t endear her to Peter.

We continued along the bank of the dried-up river for the rest of the day. It was quite dreary - the bone-dry vegetation was little more than scrub. It was obviously quite luscious at other times but in its current state was reduced to scrawny man-high bushes, any one of which could be seen through. Enough of them gave good cover and it would have been a decent spot for a predator if there were any predators on this planet. Oran assured us that the largest animal we could expect to meet, other than some kind of horse, was the Barix, the hideous giant turkey-like creature which kept us awake with its constant squawking back at the compound. As we rode the flat scrubland gave way to steep banks on either side of the river. We had entered what is known as Kaney Gorge. Not long after we started on again after lunch we spotted an area of the low cliffs which had given in. It looked both new and unnatural. Unnatural as in something had caused it by sliding down and some of the dried mud had cracked and come with it. Not unnatural as in a supernatural event - even Peter didn’t suggest the Ancients.

Oran dismounted eyes on the floor. She took a few steps towards what should have been the river and stood scanning the area around her. We all responded to her intensity by freezing in place while she searched. Then she had what she was looking for. A lump of clay that had been pulled from the earth when the bank was disturbed had a partial print in it. We huddled ‘round. It looked like a bird or reptile had left it. Oran was puzzled:

“I suppose this could be a Barix, but it would be the biggest I’ve ever seen” she said, frowning, obviously not believing anything she had just said. She moved over to the bank and looked closely. “I think something has tried to scramble up the bank, but couldn’t make it.”

It was unnerving to see her glance around so uncertainly. “Let’s have a look and see if we can find anything.”

She loosened the rifle in its holster, indicated that we should follow, and set off. Whatever it was it had obviously come from the south or south-west and, we speculated, had been unable to make it back up the embankment after it slide down. We crossed the river and began our search. We moved on foot looking for prints similar to the ones we had already found. We didn’t know what to look for so searching for an unusual mind wasn’t an easy option. Helena tried but didn’t find anything worth reporting. Peter grumbled distractedly, Lily wasn’t paying attention and Helena was focused on her psionic search. That left Oran and myself doing the actual looking. We had only gone a few dozen metres when Oran spotted something, the remains of a Barix. It had been ripped to pieces and, Oran assured me, mainly eaten. Helena and Peter were disgusted and held back, Lily took the opportunity to rifle through her panniers for a snack and I watched Oran work. It didn’t take her long to pick up a trail. We couldn’t see any full prints but there were partial prints which led east out of the gorge. Oran and I started moving cautiously in the direction of the tracks. Whatever it was it was big, if the prints told us anything. Oran looked very focused but I was sure she was confused as to what this could be. Barix are herbivores and the fact something was eating them meant there was something new. A shout from the clearing with Barix corpses drew our attention and we raced back. We arrived in time to see the back of a large biped disappearing into the undergrowth a short distance from the clearing. Whatever it was had doubled back and, Helena told us seemed interested in the horses until Lily had shouted at it, at which point it snarled, turned tail and ran. The next few minutes consisted of confusion. Oran and I sprinted after the creature, trying to get a proper look at it. Helena mounted and came after us. We seemed to kick up a lot of dust and I felt I was just blundering through face whipping bushes. Shouts came from different directions and Helena’s horse nearly trod on me several times. After a fire minutes of this we gave up. When I stopped coughing from the dust I reached out to find the thing. It was already the pest part of a kilometre from us, moving east. We all met back at the horses and re-grouped. Helena was just as aware of its location as I. She told Oran that she had seen a head bobbing above some undergrowth but her horse had put a hoof in some kind of hole or burrow so she had stopped to check that is wasn’t injured.

“We need to track it and find out what it is. If it is something new we need to learn how it got here and if it is any thread to the ecosystem. If it is native and we simply haven’t seen it before I want to know why is has moved into this area.” - Oran.

Breaking out a couple of light but sturdy ropes Oran fashioned lassoes. She handed one to Helena, who looked a little bemused, and hooked the other on the horn of her saddle. Helena nodded in the direction we needed to move and we set off. Helena and I both checked periodically. The animal had stopped about 2km east of where we initially met it. The plan was to capture it and maybe take it back to the compound if possible. Sending it back across the river and to the southwest if not. Oran called the base and asked for some support. It would take at least a day or two for aid to arrive by horse or jeep, so the capturing would be done by us alone. Even Lily seemed engaged as we edged nearer to our quarry. It rested for a couple of hours and then set off following a northerly route. We kept a close eye on the ground for tracks, but essentially Helena guided us - Oran accepted her claims to have seen prints. It took most of the rest of the day to catch up with it and when we did it was in a relatively clear space. As we approached from down wind, not that there was much wind at all, and we had a chance to pause and view it from a distance through Oran’s binoculars. It was over two metres tall and shaped roughly like a kangaroo or a mammalian Deinonychus and its tail made it around three metres long. It looked like a powerful and dangerous opponent. We made our plan - Helena and Oran would remain on horseback and try to lasso it and, if both lassoes landed well, pin it down and stun it. If only Oran managed to lasso the thing then she would try to wear it out and stun it. Oran thought she could put a name to it - Alderson’s Predator - but wasn’t certain. She obviously hoped she was wrong as it would generate more questions than answers if that’s what it turned out to be. Lily, Peter and I dismounted, fanning out a little, crept forward the riders on our flanks. We intended trying o drive it forward so the riders could come from two side and pin it. I wasn’t very happy with this plan as I assumed the creature would attack rather than flee, but it was the best plan we had.

Lily was to my left and Peter to my right. Helena was beyond Peter. The Alderson’s was pretty much directly ahead of me. Crouching, we moved forward, stunners in our hands. Before long we could see it. It looked even scarier than earlier. A moment or two after we saw our prey it jerked into alertness. It had smelled or heard us. It looked round and was poised to move. Would it attack or run? Lily opened fire with her stunner - she had taken some convincing to prepare her stunner instead of her gauss pistol, but she when she agrees to a plan than the discussion is over. She missed. I hastily fired and scored a glancing hit. It leapt into motion. Peter’s shot went high and the creature fled. We were up and after it immediately and I could hear the hooves of the cavalry beating the ground as blurred shapes shot ahead to the left and right. Again, the chaos of running through head-high bush - everything was a whirl of drab colour and sound. I could hear hooves and the sound of Pete and Lily blundering through the undergrowth, same as me.

Pulling free from a thorny branch restraining me I turned and found the creature bursting into the tiny clearing from the opposite direction. I yelled, it roared, I levelled my stunner at her and she launched forward to bite me. My stunner shot almost vertically, her teeth closed on air. A stunner shot came from nowhere and hit her. Presumably another did likewise as I was hit with a stunner shot and crumpled to the ground. By the time Peter revived me it was all over. They had managed to get both lassoes on her - one around its neck and the other was entangling her left leg. She was also heavily sedated as Oran habitually carries veterinarian tranquillisers on these rides. A truck had been dispatched shortly after Oran’s first message about the situation, but it wouldn’t be here before sundown. We nervously made ourselves as comfortable as possible.

The truck arrived a good 2 hours after sundown but was a welcome sight for all that. We bundled it onto the back, strapped it down and administered more tranquilliser. We set watches through the night, although there was no incident. At first sun up the truck set off to the base as we stretched and started making breakfast. Oran wanted to carry on through the gorge and up towards the Gazishpa residence, which was the name of the imperial knight overseeing the planet. First of all she wanted to check for any evidence of more of these animals as they would pose a risk to people never mind their animals. Secondly she wanted to report in person to Gazishpa. We all displayed a certain amount of nervousness as we returned to the gorge and filed through it. At first right bank is sloped and low with the left bank having a sudden change and low cliff almost from the beginning. About a third of the way the right bank becomes steep and cliff like. It was a little past here where we spotted the small land slip. By the end of the day we had travelled through the gorge and could see the rolling plains to the east and the forests to the north and northeast. We had come up on the left, eastern, bank of the Kaney, as the knight’s fee was on the west bank and Oran didn’t want to arrive traipsing across the gardens of the knight.

 

[ptolemy]

We arrived at the Trade Bridge, as it is called. The Trade Bridge is the main point of contact between the locals and estate of Sir Tayce Gazishpa, imperial knight of Pyramus. The river marks the eastern border of her lands and the bridge, the Trade Bridge, is where locals bring the food and products which the fee purchases. As Pyramus is a low tech planet with horse power driving most vehicles and farming there is not much in the way of imperial currency here. What little there is comes from trade with or employment on the estate. There are generally a handful of hopefuls hanging round and a moderately sized lodge sits on the right bank where the noble’s representative and a small staff reside. Oran explained that the estate purchases more than it needs and rumour has it food sourced on Pyramus has graced (terrible pun intended) the table of Her Grace The Lady Miraii Abani Arahailli, Duchess of Trin, herself, which is obviously a source of pride for the locals. The small complex of buildings at the Trade Bridge includes a small food processing and freezing plant. We weren’t sure what to expect but it turned out to be a trim series of buildings built in a rough U shape with a courtyard which opened to the north where the road to the Manor House passed. It was built using very high tech materials - fusion stone by the looks of it - and although we suspected the architecture was based on local styles (we hadn’t seen enough to really form an opinion) it looked somewhat out of place on a planet on which fields are ploughed using horses.

Oran greeted the few people at the Bridge by name but led us straight to the representatives house. After waiting for a few minutes, during which time we watered our horses, a middle aged man came out of the house, greeted Oran and asked what was wrong. Oran explained about the Alderson’s Predator and impressed on Rax (which was the rep’s name) the importance of the situation. Rax obviously took Oran very seriously but did not want to disturb Sir Gazishpa as she had so recently arrived on planet and had indicated that she did not want to be disturbed. As Oran didn’t appear to be getting anywhere Helena went into noble-mode. She commented on how badly it is looked on at court when a knight allows an environmental disaster to occur on their planet and the embarrassment which would follow an imperial funded project like the Artemis Project failing in the wake of preventable environmental upheaval. Rax had obviously spent enough time around nobles to recognise one own full flow, and this as much as the content of Helena’s speech made a strong impression. Ordering some refreshments to brought out to us Rax excused himself so he could contact the manor for directions. We were only half-way through our spiced Barix kebabs when Rax returned and extended to us an invitation to visit the manor proper. Helena made a friend in Oran by her help and, although her manner towards us had not been anything short of polite and efficient Oran seemed to warm to us as allies after this. We finished eating, stabled our horses and waited for the air/raft which Rax informed us was being dispatched to pick us up. Despite her worry Oran regarded a trip in a grav car as a rare treat. We handed over our weapons to one of Rax’s team and waited.

The air/raft took a little longer to arrive than we had expected but arrive it did and soon we had been whisked off to the Gazishpa residence. Waiting to meet us was Blaise, an assistant estate manager. He instantly annoyed Helena by wrinkling his nose at our appearance. Our clothes were appropriate for trekking and we hadn’t bathed for several days so I can’t really blame him. But Helena evidently believed he should have appreciated that looking (and smelling) this way was perfectly acceptable as we had been conducting important work. Her manner was very cold as she gave her name, Sir Helena Rhoanion. There aren’t many Rhoanions in the Imperium and only one family with titles, as far as I knew. Blaise evidently thought so too. He showed us into an antechamber which contained a LSP Stylomatic. These things scan you, assess your colouring and make appropriate clothing. Helena told us that it was set to Good Taste and Exquisite Taste. It would provide us with stylish but reserved outfits, suitable for presentation to Imperial Nobility but the clothes would start for fall apart after being worn a couple of times. While it worked its magic Blaise whisked us away to our rooms where he suggested we refresh ourselves. By the time I was dry after my bath the clothes arrived. I dressed and wandered into the corridor and met Peter who was stifling laughter at seeing Lily, visibly feeling awkward in a shimmering sea-blue frock. We teased her as much as was safe and then knocked on Helena’s door. She was working her way through the various settings of the automatic make-up system she had found. She commented that it was quite a good one and better than she had expected to find in a provincial residence.

As if by magic Blaise appeared and invited us to meet “Her Ladyship”. We dutifully followed and were led into a tasteful study with several comfortable armchairs, an old and very expensive looking desk and, seated behind the desk, Sir Tayce Gazishpa. She hadn’t placed the name before, but Helena immediately recognised Sir Gazishpa from the wedding of some baron or other and they soon fell to talking about goodness knows what. Tayce wasn’t at all rude, but she obviously favoured talking to one of her own class and appeared delighted to find such a one among us. Just as the merest hint of impatience appeared on Oran’s face she became the centre of Sir Tayce’s attention and a full report was requested. Oran began and we all added detail as she spoke. Sir Tayce, as she insisted we call her, while referring to Helena as ma’am, asked if we were certain it was an Anderson’s Predator, how many had we seen and if we thought there might be any nesting to the north and east of the river. She expressed concern regarding “my people” and summoned her head of security. A mid-aged, somber looking man arrived within a few minutes of the call being made and was instructed to organise a network of drones (permission was given to manufacture as many as needed using the fabricator) and also to send a security detail to alert the villagers without causing undue alarm. With this business was concluded and Sir Tayce begged our understanding that she had ongoing reports for the court of Trin to work on and insisted that we stay the night so that she can welcome us (Helena) properly with dinner. Oran was chaffing somewhat but hid it well. She was the least comfortable of the lot of us with nobility and wanted to get on with the work of solving the mystery of the Predators. Granted the liberty of the estate we were greeted by some of Blaise’s staff who waited outside of the study to attend us. Helena and I went for a walk in the gardens.

We returned to our rooms to discover more clothes. Helena commented that the “exquisite taste” limit had been removed and it wasn’t hard to tell how she knew. The outfits looked fit for court. I sniggered to myself as I dressed for dinner at the thoughts of Lily’s face. Much to everyone’s but Helena’s surprise Lily’s outfit was less flamboyant than her earlier dress. Helena tutted at me: “Any noble would have noticed her discomfort and arranged for it to be taken down a notch.” Lily certainly appreciated it.

Dinner went smoothly. I say dinner, it consisted of seven courses and a number of remarkable wines. The usual observation that it’s a shame when families fall out (I can only assume some sort of round-robin email was sent out about Helena’s refusal of her arranged marriage, they all seem to know!) which was delicately deflected by Helena. Having “put us at ease” Sir Tayce focused on Helena and we couldn’t blame her. Helena had filled us in. Sir Tayce had risen to her knighthood at an unexpectedly young age after her pedants died young in a grav-flyer incident. She tended to avoid the estate as it must be full of ghosts. The fee was small and the planet undeveloped so she would most likely be the recipient of a ducal stipend which would allow her to focus on court and effectively be an unofficial part of the duchesses administration for the subsector. She must find the quiet of the family seat boring as times. The evening passed uneventfully…