Terracide: Salvaging Hope

[Xavier Onassiss]

From the personal log of Captain Iris Quinlevan,

interstellar salvage vessel Coprolite.

 

241-2312, Omicron Colony: After nearly four months in space, we're finally ready to get turned around and head for home. This place may be the worst cesspit in the Core, but at least getting here has been a routine cruise.

 

We dead-headed from Terra to UV Ceti; there's neither salvage nor cargo to be hauled out there for any price. But six weeks later, we docked at the former corporate HQ of Terran Galactic Operations, and loaded up.

 

TGO moved their HQ decades ago, but there's still an enormous, aging complex in UV Ceti, and they're writing it all off according to some schedule only their fiscal software understands. What do I know? We just haul the stuff away. Terra doesn't want it, so we pick it up on the outbound leg of the trip, on our way to Epsilon Eridani.

 

The Ammonites at Epsilon Eridani were more than happy to take TGO's cast-offs, 23 days later. ISTAR crawled all over us, of course, looking for alien contraband, but that's not what we're after on this trip, so I let 'em look all they wanted. Instead, we stocked up on stuff the locals at Omicron would need: nutrition supplements, water purification, air filters, and other basic survival gear.

 

Another short transit to Omicron, just 29 days, and we found the neighborhood had gone straight to hell. Right there in front of everyone, obvious as a solar flare, a Solar Express Fast Clipper had parked its fat ass 10,000km from the colony. And nobody wanted to talk about it – not one word.

 

We met our usual contact and made arrangements to fill our hold. The stuff we brought got us a good haul; the whole place is really just one giant junk-yard, practically free for the taking (if you don't mind getting shot at) but prices have gone up a little. We got our usual full load of salvage to haul away, but the dealer just wanted one more thing before we left....

 

Omicron Station was officially evacuated many years ago – the people who still live here are those who can't leave, or won't leave. They're the ones who stayed behind even when the CRF's Ursa troopers tried to relocate them at gunpoint. So what changed? What turned them around so they're desperate enough to send away their children on a flying death-trap of a salvage hauler?

 

The first session of Terracide: Salvaging Hope began with the crew of Coprolite preparing to leave Omicron Colony, with the last load of salvaged equipment for Coprolite's cargo hold. The "crew" consisting of four player characters:

 

Xià Lìng-Zhèn: the accidental spacer who left Terra one step ahead of the Syndicate's enforcers.

 

Zachary Brooks: an Aquila-type from a zero-G colony whose family have been spacers for generations.

 

Yuri Gargarin Yakovenko: an Ursa-type, former CRF trooper who was discharged after disobeying illegal orders during the evacuation of Omicron Colony.

 

Rabbi Sargeant Joe Levi: former member of Isreal's armed forces, now a "company man" for Coprolite's parent corporation, Esoteric Logistics.

 

The Captain, Iris Quinlevan, is an NPC. She's a former POW, captured from the Celestial Guard during the Third Trade War. Her hibernation unit was mislocated due to a clerical error, and she missed every prisoner exchange during the war. Many years later she was finally awakened, but never went home.

 

As the adventure begins, the crews' local junk dealer, Iron Rose, unloads one last container at the dock. It's sealed and obviously has an independent power supply. "Just one more thing, boys... I need you to take this someplace safe."

 

She opens it up so they can see what's inside: sixteen hibernation units, each one holds a young Omicron colonist -- just children, really. "When I say 'safe', I mean it. Anything happens to 'em, I'll know about it." Iron Rose doesn't say how.

 

Ling wants to know why she's making threats. "It's not a threat. I just wanted you to know that."

 

Yuri asks whose children they are. "They come from all over the colony; we had a lottery to see who got to go."

 

"Rabbi Joe" wants to know why they're doing this. "Because as bad as things are around here, they're about to get much, much worse."

 

Ling asks which one is hers. "I didn't win the lottery. Mine are staying here."

 

At this point Zachary realizes they're not alone in the cargo dock; somebody's coming. Rose nervously shuts the container and everyone braces themselves as Solar Express security troops emerge from the shadows between stacked containers, followed by Commodore Anton DeVilbiss, shipmaster of the Fast Clipper Sovereign.

 

"Junk-mongers, I would speak with your Captain."

 

Upon being informed that Captain Quinlevan is still aboard the Coprolite, DeVilbiss delegates one of his flunkies to speak with the PCs. He shows them a holo of a girl: Talitha Borealis. "Seen this girl? There's a 100K reward for her safe return. The Commodore wants her back unharmed. If you find her and she's been hurt, he'll pay the same price for whoever damaged her."

 

Rabbi Joe looks at Talitha's holo. "If I'd seen that, would I be hanging around here?" Everyone else indicates they haven't seen her, but they'll inform Sovereign's crew if they do.

 

Ling does the obvious thing and checks the container full of hibernation units. No sign of the girl there. Everyone finishes loading up the cargo pods and they head back to Coprolite. On the way, Zachary notices that his salvage load seems to be slightly overweight -- he's using too much fuel. Running the numbers, he determines his load is approximately 55kg "extra." He makes an unscheduled EVA and finds someone hiding in the cargo container, but maintains radio silence -- Sovereign is too close by for comfort!

 

Once on board the Coprolite, the crew discovers that their stow-away is indeed Talitha Borealis, a former Solar Express courier. She offers the crew information worth a lot more than DeVilbiss' reward, if they'll promise not to take her back. The Commodore has a Q-Net node on board the Sovereign, from which she downloaded something unbelievable: every Q-Net node in the Terran System went offline within a 24-hour period, permanently.

 

Now it all makes sense: something terrible has happened back home. The entire Terran System may be lost. The Solar Express Company is taking an interest in Omicron Colony, which has been a "free port" for many years. And the Omicron colonists are finally coming to their senses, quietly evacuating their children on board the few ships whose Captains they can trust.

 

But now the crew of Coprolite have to make a decision. They can't go home, and the most valuable thing they have to sell is Talitha's information. News of the disaster is moving outward from Terra rapidly, so the closer to home they go, the less the information will be worth. They decide to set a course for a star with no name: BD-03 1123, site of an abandoned way station on an asteroid known as Naysayers' Rock. It's rumored to have been taken over by a renegade band of mercenaries, and is now known simply as "No Way Station."

 

But Yuri has also heard rumors, that his old unit mutinied, took their ship and left the CRF after the "Omicron Incident", continuing to operate in this region. The "renegades" at No Way Station might be the same people... or they might be a bunch of murderous cut-throats. They also have records of Free Trade League vessels from TGO space leaving Omicron Station in that direction. Something is definitely Going On Out There, and has been for some time.

 

The Coprolite crew decide to visit Naysayers' Rock and have a look....

 

To be continued.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Terracide: Salvaging Hope

 

Episode 2 update coming soon.

 

In brief: the PCs made a deal to work with the mercenaries at Naysayers' Rock, under Major Ekaterina Petrova; Yuri's former commander. Their first assignment was infiltrating the Solar Express Fast Clipper Sovereign to steal the Commodore's QED Link. (An insanely rare and valuable FTL communication device.)

[Tasha]

Re: Terracide: Salvaging Hope

 

I love that the PC's ship is named after fossilized Dino Poo. LOL

[Nolgroth]

Re: Terracide: Salvaging Hope

 

Sounds fun. How tightly do you stick to fuel consumption and similar necessities?

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Terracide: Salvaging Hope

 

Sounds fun. How tightly do you stick to fuel consumption and similar necessities?

 

I try to avoid "bookkeeping in space" syndrome. This is a story about humanity in crisis, so dickering around with details like that only occurs when it advances the plot or creates an interesting complication.

 

Case in point: Zach noticed his cargo container might have a stow-away because his work-pod's fuel consumption was just a bit too high (maybe 1 or 2%). He's an expert engineer/spacer, so he asked for a roll to calculate the exact overage, and succeeded handily. The result was "around 55 or 60kg" which he guessed was just about right based on the holo of the missing girl.

 

Talitha was rather irked at being found out this way, insisting she's not a gram over 55 kilos.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Re: Terracide: Salvaging Hope

 

Episode 2 update coming soon.

 

In brief: the PCs made a deal to work with the mercenaries at Naysayers' Rock, under Major Ekaterina Petrova; Yuri's former commander. Their first assignment was infiltrating the Solar Express Fast Clipper Sovereign to steal the Commodore's QED Link. (An insanely rare and valuable FTL communication device.)

 

Episode 2: the long version...

 

Upon arrival at Naysayer's Rock, the crew of Coprolite make contact with the "corsairs" who've taken over No Way Station. They send out a fully-armed FTL shuttle (w/a torch drive, no less) and after a tense exchange of greetings with several heavily armed guards, Major Ekaterina Petrova herself comes aboard, and welcomes the crew to "her" star system. She remembers that Yuri was a member of her old unit in the CRF, and offers her regrets that they could not get him out of the brig before they departed Omicron Station and "resigned" from the Colonial Reserve Fleet.

 

Captain Quinlevan informs Petrova that they have information, and Major Petrova invites everyone on board No Way Station, promising them safety for the duration of their stay.

 

They inform her of the loss of the entire Terran System, and how they learned of it. Petrova is also interested in their troubles. The crew of Coprolite no longer have an employer, but the underwriter who holds the note on their not-very-paid-for starship had many off-world branch banks. Now they're going to be scrambling to recover from the loss of their Terran assets -- they're probably already looking for Coprolite. "So... you have debts, and no employer? Perhaps I can help you." Major Petrova offers them all a job working for her, which they accept, and tells them to get some rest. The crew decide to rename their ship Little Bear in honor of the Major, who is after all, an Ursa.

 

The following day, Major Petrova discusses their next move with Captain Iris. She expects the entire Core Loop, and the rest of Terran Space, will be thrown into chaos soon, but she's two months off the nearest Core Loop system, and out of date. She wants the QED Link the Commodore is hiding on board Sovereign, and she'd like the Little Bear's crew to help her get it.

 

Aghast, Iris returns to Little Bear and gives the crew (our intrepid PCs) the news. "She's going to get us killed, boys." Not so easily deterred, the crew come up with a plan to lure the Sovereign back to Naysayer's Rock where Major Petrova (and her vessel, the Constantine) can ambush and board it. The plan looks good, nobody gets killed, and they decide to take it to Major Petrova.

 

She smiles sweetly at them, and says "Excellent work. I like it. Except for one thing... Sovereign's FTL drive is considerably faster than Little Bear's. They'll get here several days before you, and I'll be facing them without any back-up. Let's work on this."

 

A second planning session ensues, with both spacecraft going back to Omicron Eridani, and Little Bear luring Sovereign into an ambush much closer to Omicron Station, without falling behind before Constantine gets into the act. This time, everything is coming together, and the PCs are starting to get a handle on how to plan a large multi-ship operation, when the whole thing gets run over by a new development.

 

Sovereign has just arrived at No Way Station! It seems the Commodore figured out where the Coprolite went, and decided to follow them. He'd like Talitha Borealis back, and the people who took her. Now. So the PCs need a new plan, and there's no time to come up with anything. Then they discover just how ruthless their new employer really is.

 

Petrova announces, "We have no choice now, but to give them what they want. You four... get ready to board the Sovereign."

 

The PCs protest, and so does Talitha. They are NOT okay with this.

 

She shrugs. "It can't be helped. Your Captain and I caught the four of you trying to sell the girl to some of my best troops. Such a pity...."

 

"What are you talking about? Are you crazy? We most certainly did not!" The PCs are starting to wonder if she's selling them out.

 

"Of course you did" Her grin is pure evil. "How else can I get my own people on board the Sovereign to help you take it over?"

 

It dawns on the PCs that Petrova has a real plan to get them, and some of her Ursa troops on board the Sovereign. She's turning them over to Commodore (in return for the reward money) locked inside hibernation units. The Ursa troops, including Yuri, will wake up on schedule and release the others. The hibernation units will have the PCs' gear (weapons and extra armor) smuggled inside them.

 

The PCs haggle a bit over the particulars of the plan (no, you can't wear an EVA suit inside a hibernation unit!) but agree it sounds like it'll work, provided the Commodore doesn't immediately 'space' his prisoners. Talitha says no, he likes to keep them around for a while. That's a bit worrisome as well, but with Major Petrova's assurance that she'll come after them if things go badly, they agree to it.

 

The PC's awaken on board the Sovereign several hours later, and realize immediately that something has gone wrong. They're pretty sure the QED Link they're after is in the ship's central module, in zero-G. But they can tell they're in the one of the rotating spin-G sections. And they've been seperated from the Ursa troopers. This is not good. They have a schematic, and quickly determine they're in the VIP medical bay. They retrieve their gear and head for the tube leading to the zero-G decks. Along the way, they hear a disturbance in one of the luxury suites off the hallway. It sounds like Talitha, shouting at someone!

 

In true 'kick in the door' playing style, they open the suite, guns drawn, and find Talitha facing off with Doctor Wakeman, the ship's chief medical officer. She's obviously been smacked around, probably by the Commodore, and Wakeman is trying to treat her. A medical tech, Jason Baker (new PC) stands to one side with sedatives and restraints in case she overpowers Wakeman. Upon seeing a heavily-armed group of intruders enter the suite, Wakeman hits the floor. Baker puts up his hands and informs them he's sick of working here and wants to help them. (He has his reasons.) To make his point he offers to sedate and restrain Wakeman, who is making a fuss. They accept his offer. They take Talitha and Jason with them, and Talitha explains that the Commodore is convinced she's lying about being kidnapped. (It's true, she is....)

 

Down the tube into the zero-G section. After much shenanigans to avoid detection, and one or two minor scuffles with people who noticed them, the PCs reach the main medical bay, where the Ursa troopers are being held. Sovereign's security chief is questioning one of them, rather messily, as the Commodore and a squad of security guards looked on, when the crew of Little Bear burst into the room, flying about in zero-G. This is the Big Fight they've been waiting for!

 

Zachary Brooks proves just how fast an Aquila can be, getting off the first shot and making it count, delivering a called shot to the back of the security chief's head with a shotgun (10ga slug), instantly killing him. His zero-G ops roll was made by half; he kept the massive recoil under control. Talitha delivered a called shot of her own, a vicious spin-kick below the Commodore's belt. Her zero-G ops roll wasn't so good and she took a while to recover; the Commodore was unconscious but alive. Yuri grabbed two guards and proceeded to repeatedly bounce their heads into the ceiling until they went out. Ling went after the stricken Commodore, taking him hostage, and Rabbi Joe opened fire with his gauss pistol, but the guards were too heavily armored. Baker set about releasing the Ursa troopers.

 

After the surprise round was over, things continued to deteriorate... as the guards realized their chief was dead, the Commodore was captive, their prisoners were escaping (and very angry!) they were all either knocked out or surrendered in short order. Since the crew had them in the main medical bay, sedatives were on hand for all of them, and they had no more problems. However, there were still two other squads of troops on board, they'd be arriving shortly, and the PCs still needed to find the Commodore's QED Link and steal it!

 

The Commodore was out of action for a while, but they had two people who'd been on board Sovereign for some time: Talitha and Baker. Between the two of them, they eliminated most of the ship from consideration. The only really large section they hadn't ever checked was the hangar deck, immediately below them. Leaving medical for the hangar section, they found two shuttles, one empty berth, and where a fourth shuttle should be, they instead found the Commodore's private yacht, True Companion. A hasty search turned up an extra data-link between the yacht and the Fast Clipper; tracing the data line lead to a "black box" which the crew determined to be their objective. With Sovereign's security guards banging on the yacht's hatch, they radioed a warning that they had hostages -- the Commodore and Talitha -- and then cut the yacht loose, heading for No Way Station, and safety.

 

Constantine had been parked behind Naysayer's Rock up to this point. Now Major Petrova brought the assault craft out in the open, inviting the remaining crew of Sovereign to leave the system with their lives and spacecraft intact, or be persuaded to leave with considerably less than that.

 

Next time: Can the crew of Little Bear ever show their faces in civilized space again after that little stunt? Who tipped off the Commodore as to where Talitha went? How will the Solar Express Company react to one of its prize vessels being raided by pirates? What was the Sovereign doing at a backwater like Omicron Station in the first place? All these questions, and more, will be answered when the crew of Little Bear (formerly known as Coprolite) Return to Omicron Station.