Game Date

307-1105

Location

Elixabeth

Naval Intelligence Investigation Report

Personal Notes - Aurelius Cassian - Valet to Viscount Iim Davide Urast of New Rome

Game Date

266-1105

Location

Iderati

We are heading to Down Port - current time planet side is 12.30 ish landing 12.45 ish gives us a couple of hours to prep for the meeting. We need to organise ground transport, and make sure all attending meeting have appropriate attire for the meeting.

Junebug wishes for us to spread some vague rumours/doubts around the crew complement to try to throw off an enemy from her past in the Marines, whilst she writes a message to the Marines with a complaint about him.

We get a docking port & safely land & meet customs. In system for 3 weeks, we have access for 6 hours due to our meeting with Mamon. We declare our cargo, but stress not planning on selling here, so it will not be leaving the cargo bay.

Annotated map on Sir Mamon Wakisha's Desk

We hire a ground car for transportation to Mamon's estate. Protesters outside down port no idea what they are protesting about, but give us no trouble. We arrive on time and are shown in immediately & he has a document on his desk. He welcomes us & asks how our survey went. To the best of our ability, then we explain what happened, tell him about the downed ships & explained about the creature and what happened. We give him the evidence photos & samples. He also cannot see the creature in the photo. Explain about Kimbley's assistance in locating it, no evidence of psionic abilities. Any research carried out about creature, ship modified and did not find anyone alive. Sensors also did not pick up the creature. We explain about our attempt to enter the ship but too high a technology for us to figure out how to enter. Mamon is taking copious notes as we give our report. We did not have any other strange feelings whilst doing survey but we do tell him about creature healing itself & returning for further attacks & as we were taking damage we decided to retreat.

We also report about incident on Bularia he seemed a bit taken aback, we explain what happened & how we managed to foil their plan. He adds it to his chart in front of him: He asks us our plans for the next while just in case he has any further questions or follow up & we inform him we plan to have at least 3 weeks down time in system. He authorises the second half of our payment.

Masuyo asks regarding the increased ghost stories around Iderate D, reason for asking is the thing we encountered could be considered a ghost. Strangely he hasn't shown any doubt about our description of the creature, giving rise to the thought he may have had similar reports before. We give him Vexar's name & he is known to him but he does not have enough pull with the Navy to stop him. He thanks us profusely & dismisses us as he has his own work to do & offers us potential future opportunities & tells us if there is anything we need we can contact him.

We get back into our ground car & stop to have a nice meal together. Earl buys some smart casual clothing & some formal attire as well. and gets a hair cut.

Cyn & Chase realise we have been gone for a while and are worried because we only got a 6 hour free pass, but we return at 18.00 hours & we decide to head up to High port, to shift our cargo and get replacement parts for the air raft so I can fix it properly. We need someone to head out to the Scout office to give our survey report on 886-945. The next day we all head out to carry out our own tasks, I go and get replacement parts & some spares (just in case).

Masuyo heads to Merchant Hall with one bottle of the Vodka as a sample to see who would be most interested in it & give us the best price. She finds the least busy trader &approaches them and offers 20,000 bottles of this, trader looks interested but not without a sample first. He seems to enjoy it, but seems to be a bit surprised by the amount we happen to have, so Masuyo explains about how we obtained it. Explaining that we have no intention of returning to the system so he can get the monopoly on it. We sell for 120000 credits. They will offload it themselves.

While Cyn does not see anything unusual, Chase has a feeling of being under observation. The rest of us notice that people are leaving the concourse. Tharbin & Masuyo in particular notice that people are leaving the concourse due some kind of communication. Trader is oblivious - Tharbin decides to follow someone, people who are in military uniforms or should be in military uniforms. Tharbin lets us know & thinks there may be some kind of emergency as the seem to be getting recalled.

We all head back to the transit tube leading back to the ship, as we arrive in the transport area. An announcement is then made. We approach the Security person to report to offer assistance & one of them throws a backpack into the transport tube to the North. There is an explosion, property damage & some injured people. Cyn & myself take some damage from flying debris, the security guards don't look well along with a lot of the civilians. Injured by the blast while running away, was he a fanatic? he shouted something whilst throwing the bomb. The surrounding terrain lessened the blast by the time it reached us leading to only minor damage.

Game Date

239-1105¹

Location

886-945

The approach to the two vessels

Masuyo attempts to cycle the airlock but alas nothing, she does however discover that it is not a standard issue Imperial airlock, it has been significantly upgraded. She turns and asks me to have a look to see if I have any more luck but it seems to be beyond us for the time being. Tharbin runs a scan using the ships systems and it does not show anything unusual in the immediate area, Earl continues eastwards and rediscovers the creature at approximately 25 meters East of him which he relays to us despite the fact we cannot see it, He also takes a picture of it with Cyn's PC. Junebug tells us that Kimbley can see something as well and is quite agitated by it, so they both head towards it as well to give Earl some back up. As there is no way for us to access the ship we quickly discuss our options on what to do, meanwhile Junebug throws some chem lights towards the creatures position to see if it casts a shadow so we at least have something to target, she does catch a glimpse of it but nothing more. We remember the body lying at the base of a ladder from the ship across the canyon and decide it might be best for us to return to the ship and carry on with our mission rather than risk further injuries fighting whatever this creature is as we also don't know if there are more of them. Kimbley is straining at her collar as Junebug holds her back, it seems she is trying to defend Junebug implying the creature is indeed hostile.

Cyn gives Masuyo a hypo designed to help against Psionic powers to see if that helps her to see the creature, but it has no immediate effect, she shouts to Earl to throw some dirt over the creature to see if that helps us to see it and Junebug takes a blind shot at it letting Kimbley go in the process. Kimbley takes off towards the creature and bites it causing injury to it and Junebug chases her taking another shot at it and hitting it. Earl however misses again (methinks he needs to target practice 😉 ). Tharbin turns on the manoeuvring thruster jets to kick up dust in an effort to help but we still cant see it.

Earl yells that it is retreating again and it does appear to be injured and it has apparently left some blood behind on the ground. Masuyo lets Tharbin know we have all made it back to the ship so he opens the airlock for us and we all scramble onboard. Once inside and safe we have Tharbin take some images of the canyon and the ships and immediate surrounding area for later study. Cyn takes the injured team members and Junebug to the Med bay to document their wounds and get DNA samples and treat them. We run an Anti Hijack search for any unauthorised entries to the ship just in case any more of theses strange invisible creatures have come onboard without our knowledge. Cyn decides it is best to quarantine herself, Earl, Junebug and Kimbley in the Med bay for the time being.

We take the ship to 500 meters above the surface to carry out our survey, it is an Earth equivalent sized planet, we take all the usual samples soil, air, water for testing. We run the mapping program and continue with the full survey.

Earl searches the computer for any reports or legends and myths for indigenous lifeforms on the planet but comes up blank on all counts, nothing to be found no strange reports or occurrences. We change the planets classification to E833, 0 Population, 0 Law, 0 Tech² there is no sentient life on the planet (at least as far as we can tell from the scans etc. our experience is quite another thing) there is some plant life.

We check the photo Earl took of the creature and distance does not change our perception of the creature, we still can't see it even in the photo.

Masuyo asks for some clarification on some points, The Imperial ship is it Standard? From a distance yes, but up close it has been significantly modified with advanced tech, the engines are also uprated.

The other ship is 200 tons, streamlined needle formation, possibly a courier vessel, she asks again if any of us have every see a ship of the configuration before, we agree that we are not certain at this time, but it does appear to be more Zhodani than Darrian based upon Masyo's knowledge.

Masuyo speculates that there may be some connection with the 3rd Imperium worlds Goethe, Emape, Mirriam, Jone and Karin, which are all Amber worlds.

Cyn runs tests while in quarantine and there are unfortunately inconclusive, but show them all to physically fit, I am not so sure about their mental health however. Psionic testing may be required, but this will need to be kept off the records as great efforts have been made to suppress Psionics within the Imperium. Cyn tells us what she is planning and we all agree to the tests, these are just basic tests, Earl and myself both show a similar levels of genetic traces of psionic abilities, but only potential at the moment as neither of us has had any training, Cyn and Junebug both have slight indications of potential psionic abilities, Masuyo and Tharbin do not show any signs of potential and finally Chase is somewhere in between.

Game Date

150-1105

Location

567-908

Deck Plan of the remains of the Vigilant Star (click on the plan for a larger version)

After boarding the launch and exiting Vagabonds Hope we make our way to the location of the Vigilant Star, and as we approach we see that the entire front section of the ship appears to have been sheared off and we can see into some of the staterooms on board. We hail the ship as SOP, but get no response. It appears that we will have to use our Vacc Suits to get to the other ship as there are no hatches for us to connect to. We get the launch into position and fire a magnetic grappler over to anchor the tether and then we make our way across, I communicate to Cyndariel to stay on standby whilst we make an initial re-con of the other ship. Cyndariel the relays our plan and current position to our own crew aboard the Vagabonds Hope.

I am first to attach my line and make my way across followed by Earl, we enter into a cabin. it is in reasonable condition, a piece of paper floats away from our passage so i grab it and it shows the flight plans of the Vigilant Star. We are in the cabin of Niamon Eirak and the paper has the Jump calculations the he has made. I take a copy of it and send it to Tharbin to see if he can give any more information on it.

In the cabin of Niamon Eirak can be found calculations for jumps:

In the meantime Earl has continued to explore and finds some cargo containers and I make my way along the outside of the ship to see if i can find any other access points we missed on our initial pass with the Launch. We get a call from Masuyo telling us to be exceedingly careful and stay in a group if at all possible so I make my way back into the ship to regroup with Earl and I also ask for Cyndariel and Junebug to join us at their earliest convenience. Cyndariel suits up and joins us right away but Junebug is tied up with something else and will join us as soon as she is free. We do have gravity on board with a vacuum but no power. With both Earl and I in the cargo area we can cover more space quickly and make short work of that exploration. The crates weigh a few hundred kilos each and most of them have a lot of stickers all over them with various destinations but the majority of them are destined for Flammarion. Thankfully the grav plates are still functioning but the Atmosphere has vented out into space. On her way to us Cyndariel has found an engineers cabin, determined by the debris floating around inside. Earl suddenly comes across another cargo container but this one is very different from the others, there is no location label and there is no obvious method to get into the crate. We spot some airlocks south of our position so we approach and find an iris lock, as there is no power Earl accesses the manual override to get it open, we find the engine room on the other side which has the dead engineer and a terminal which seems to have some power. I access the terminal and a name pops up CAPTAIN KEALIN VEXAR of the BLACK SWAN, I read it out and Earl instantly recognises the name.

We have all the information we can get from here for the time being so we continue to check the ship for possible survivors, Cyndariel has confirmed the cause of death was rapid decompression. The next alcove leads to a ladder to the next deck up and I make make my way up to the hatch and access the manual override to open it. in the corridor here we find sveral empty passenger cabins and Cyndariel finds the Captains cabin in which there is handwritten notes in a small notebook labelled "1105-".

Captain's Notes for 1105

The route from the Captain's Log plus the computed jump from Ator to Flammarion). Click on the map for a larger version

Stave (Spinward Marches 0710)

Date of Departure	010-1105
Duration	4 days in-system
Purpose	Stopover to celebrate Prime Day - even if we arrived on 006-1105!
Notes	Shame we're on this primitive world but at least the beach is a very pleasant stopover (and the locals do have some interesting alcoholic drinks).

Terra Nova (Spinward Marches 0511)

Date of Departure	019-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Our one stop in the Zhodani Consulate on this tour. Papers all in order and no problems negotiating for our new cargo.

Mizen-fel (Spinward Marches 0311)

Date of Departure	029-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Routine fuelling and maintenance stopover
Notes	A minor delay due to unforeseen cargo issues, but all cleared up while the fuel purifier did its work

Prinx (Spinward Marches 0212)

Date of Departure	038-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Smooth transactions with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, high-quality minerals from the Prinxian mines.

Yiktor (Spinward Marches 0114)

Date of Departure	046-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for crew R&R
Notes	A group of our crew members took part in a popular underwater sports event, which was...illuminating, to say the least.

Rushu (Spinward Marches 0215)

Date of Departure	056-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic spices from the Rushuan plantations.

Attica (Spinward Marches 0414)

Date of Departure	064-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Local merchants quite cagey but we made a profit from the minerals and spices.

Retinae (Spinward Marches 0416)

Date of departure	072-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Delivery of supplies
Notes	While the research remains classified (and I "don't have the required security clearance") I was asked to carry a cargo all the way to Andor (and personally deliver it to the star port on the planet's surface!). The accompanying paperwork is in order (including authorisation from the 208th Imperial Fleet). I've agreed to take the cargo but to be on the safe side I'll route via Flammarion and consult with Mr. Casarii since the penalties for violating the Imperial Interdiction are quite severe.

Faisal (Spinward Marches 0518)

Date of departure	082-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	Picked up unrefined ores for Dekalb. A vessel of a few thousand tons spotted leaving system but no record of it present in the star port’s (hand-written!) records.

Dekalb (Spinward Marches 0618)

Date of Departure	091-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth cargo delivery - the local stevedores are very efficient!

Winston (Spinward Marches 0620)

Date of Departure	099-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for minor repairs
Notes	Jump Drive capacitors needed adjustment; Kaida reports the 'refined' fuel we bought on Dekalb had a very high concentration of Deuterium which affected the jump.

Terant 340 (Spinward Marches 0622)

Date of Departure	109-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic spices from the Terantian plantations.

Jacent (Spinward Marches 0624)

Date of Departure	118-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of high-quality textiles from the Jacentian textile mills in exchange from the spices from Terant 340.

Rorre (Spinward Marches 0526)

Date of Departure	126-1105
Duration	1 day in-system
Purpose	Brief stopover for crew R&R
Notes	We allowed our crew members to take part in a popular recreational activity, which provided some much-needed relaxation.

Darrian (Spinward Marches 0627)

Date of Departure	136-1105
Duration	3 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A successful transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a shipment of rare, exotic minerals from the Darrian mines in exchange for the Jacent textiles (though the profit margin on the textiles was quite low).

Ator (Spinward Marches 0729)

Date of Departure	145-1105
Duration	2 days in-system
Purpose	Commercial trade exchange and cargo delivery
Notes	A smooth transaction with local merchant guilds; we took on a three ton shipment of redundant electronic components. They may be scrap but the shipyards at Flammarion's highport will pay enough for them for us to make a significant profit.

I open the iris valve to the common area which has another empty cabin, I come across another body which i search for ID and request Cyndariel have a look at the body, again cod is rapid decompression. She was Elara Aurora a courier from the Federation of Arden on her way to Iderate, there is no indication as to why she was aboard this ship. was she working to pay her passage, she is carrying encrypted documents on her which we decide to take with us. The Captains cabin also had an encrypted crystal which we also take with us. throughout our entire search we have not found a shipping manifest. Junebug has finally made it on board with us as as she approaches the strange create she has bad feeling about it. Having found no survivors we contact the Vagabonds Hope to request they put in a salvage claim for us so we can tow the wreckage back into the range of the plant and scavenge what we can from the derelict.

We get back aboard our Launch and set up the tow to get the Vigilant star onto orbit around 567-908, as we begin we get confirmation that our salvage claim is successful, it will take around one day for us the get it into a rough geosynchronous orbit over the settlement. Masuyo requests that we load the unmarked cargo crate onto the Launch and to take any and all suspicious materials down to surface with us. We get the Vigilant Star into a relatively stable orbit. Masuyo and Tharbin traced the route of the Star back to Zodani Space skirting Querion Darrian - it appears that a mis jump brought them to 567-908 and this is what caused the ship to be sheared apart. After landing Junebug tells us all about the bad feeling she has around the crate but cant explain why it make her feel this way so she asks those of us affected by the singers performance aboard the Liner to get close and see if we also get the same reaction and now that we have to time to focus on it we do in fact get the same strange feeling around it. What is inside? we need to get it open.

We drop off the cargo we picked up from Walston and Masuyo is offered a strange crystal for 2,750 from our cargo takings so she buys it. When she gets back she asks me to take a look at the maneuver drive to see if I can coax some more power out of it, i make moderately successful attempt it's not 100% but it is an improvement. Earl suggests the Junebug have Kimbley take a sniff at the strange container and she suspects that he is also having a strange reaction to it

Vagabonds Hope is refuelled and ready to go, all salvage has been recovers and loaded. we make our Jump successfully and continue our training from the previous jump.

I'm running a new traveller campaign - pages about it can be found here:

• Character Back Histories
• Traveller Session 1
• Detached Duty Contract Terms
• Traveller Session 2
• Traveller Session 3
• Traveller Session 4
• Traveller Session 5
• Traveller Session 6
• Traveller Session 7
• Traveller Session 8
• Traveller Session 9
• Traveller Session 10
• Traveller Session 11
• Traveller Session 12
• Traveller Session 13
• Traveller Session 14
• Traveller Session 15
• Traveller Session 16
• Traveller Session 17
• Traveller Session 18
• Traveller Session 19
• Traveller Session 20
• Traveller Session 21
• Traveller Session 22
• Traveller Session 23
• Traveller Session 24
• Traveller Session 25
• Traveller Session 26

Game Date

308-1105

Location

Elixabeth → Grote → Smoug

The Hope is orbiting Elixabeth, can we go to the surface to refuel from the sea​?

The Anya Vaska is heading to last known location of freighters along with the Zairlur. They have been warned by Masuyo not to trust them. Meanwhile Earl orders Chase to head for the surface, and the rest of the crew to carry out any and all repairs: I look into what needs to be done.

Why are the Imperial ships here? Reason is Viscount wanted more information and was doing a Tour of the area around edge of Third Imperium, which has been getting raided recently, but no raiders here now. He was given two ships as an escort, but everything seems too convenient about the whole situation as we don't have much information on the Viscount. We decide to put down on the surface of the water as it is tidally locked, we land closer to the desert edge of the water. We take on enough to refuel for a Jump 2: We are discussing our next move and where we are going. We think the best option is to head back into the Imperium, the only thing left to decide where we want to finish up?

The Anya Vaska is launching small ships towards the freighters and Zairlur is launching fighters to act as cover for them. The Anya Vaska has arrived in position and the freighters launch missiles, which is not unexpected by us. Most of the small craft are out of action, the Anya Vaska is badly damaged but fires one final shot and takes out one of the freighters. Jump points are forming, a number of ships are emerging from the Jump points, but the radio chatter suggests they are not friendly.

The Zairlur under attack

We have enough fuel on board for refining and we lift off and head off for the pole to put the planet between us and the ships coming into system. A 100,000 ton ship (which was at Iderati), two 20,000 ton ships and a host of smaller ships ranging in size, the ships are Zhodani. We launch on our planned course to leave system towards Grote. Active scans are being carried out over last half an hour before we Jump. No other Jump capable ships around Elixabeth. The Anya Vaska is a complete wreck. The 3,000 ton freighters no longer exist, One of the 20,000 ton ships is very badly damaged as is the Zairlur, the other 20,000 ton ships looks to carrying out a boarding action overlooked by the 100,000 ton ship¹.

Captain Earl receives a message from Vexar. We make a successful Jump. The Captain decides our final destination will depend on what happens when we arrive at Grote, then adjourns the meeting. We have an impromptu celebration for our escape.

A small amount of activity in the system as we arrive, a couple of 200 ton ships in system, one is about to leave and the other is in orbit around Grote. The decision is made to go to the Star Port to get refined fuel. Masuyo contacts SP control to request permission to land, which is given, There are several incoming messages offering us fuel, we choose the closest one to our landing pad. 20,000 credits for the fuel. A very gentle landing ensues. There seems to be no real organisation at the SP and it takes a while to get the fuel line connected. Masuyo and Tharbin arrange a meeting with SP manager to pass on the news of the conflict Masuyo stays behind but Junebug goes along for added security, Earl loans Junebug his slug pistol.

The air raft arrives to take them to their meeting, Tharbin asks Junebug to secure the area and keep an eye on things. Tharbin tells the SP manager about what happened at Elixabeth and we felt it was necessary to pass the information to at least alert them of the potential danger. He asks about the Viscount, a flicker of recognition at the name but denies any knowledge of him passing through. Is anyone heading to Marastan any time soon, so we can forward a message to them, but they only get things in regularly from Mithras, essential supplies. Can we send a data package? We can email a message using the automated messaging service installed at every SP. SP manager unaware of a war going on. Asking SP manager not to broadcast any messages until after we leave. He wishes us a pleasant onward journey. Tharbin leaves with Junebug. Tharbin comms the Hope that the people here have no idea what is going on.

Refuelling is complete team were reasonably efficient. Our next Jump destination is Smoug and we successfully make the Jump.