"Thou wouldst only meet a fiery death with such an aggressive strategy. The Azlanti defenses would torpedo thy ship into oblivion, ergo thou wilst require a clandestine approach -- perhaps pretending to be a supply ship. The Azlanti regularly contract external parties for logistics."
Talmrin scratches her chin again, continuing her thought. "Methinks a high-security Azlanti prison isn’t likely to let a ship dock simply because it claims to have brought supplies... such shipments are all tracked in the prison’s computer systems. Concordantly, thou needst a current resupply contract."
"Assuming this scheme were to proceed as hoped, that just gets thee into a docking bay. To further infiltrate the prison and locate thine friends, thou will require a passkey. Happily, I have such a thing, acquired from a careless guard on respite here a few cycles past." She flashes a wide, toothy grin.
"Within the cell blocks, thou needst be stealthylike to survive. The Azlanti won’t be mistaking thee for anything but Pact Worlds critters, so thou shalt needeth a disguise to look like Azlant folk. If thou shouldst be caught, or show up where thou shouldst not be, the Azlanti will imprison or kill you. Be certain thou hast a clear escape route to run back to thy ship, for thou shalt need it."
Blax-9 nods wisely. "Also a good plan, I guess. Though I still prefer Lasereater's idea. How much do you want for the passkey?"
"Where we gets resupply contract? Longshanks hacks 'puter?"
Lasereater looks at Val impatiently.
Val'nor says "Let me see if that is even possible." He looks doubtful, but jacks into the local network.
If he can get into the system, he'll look around for some clues on who hands out contracts, and how one could get assigned one.
Names
Workflows
Talmrin shakes her head. "No payment required. Indeed, I will pay thee to do a service and rescue some acquaintances of mine... They art non-Azlant and thus should be held in the same block as your friends."
"A vesk named Mothkala, a shirren named Tseekchik, and a slivara whose name I’m not twistytongue enough for speaking. They were past-diggers, archaeologists. They smuggled things off Azlanti sites that once belonged to us Azlanti aliens, and gave them back to the people who were supposed to own them. I smuggled for them for a long time, but one day they picked up something powerful the Azlanti wanted, so the Azlanti went and picked them up. I saw the Azlant ships moving in and flew off, never came in for the rendezvous. They probably think I’ve abandoned them, but I haven’t forgotten. I am just a coward." Talmrin ducks her head and looks a bit embarrassed.
Val'nor searches the local infosphere for anything regarding supply contracts. It takes some time to sift through the unfamiliar Azlanti architecture and phrasing. You find some recent message traffic regarding a supply ship, the Relic, which was scheduled to deliver fresh water, UPBs and various sundries to Gulta three days ago but has not yet arrived. There is no mention of contracts, but one of the last messages has a contact code for information and a request for help.
Blax-9 smiles and winks at Talmin, "Don't worry, we'll get your friends and give the Azlanti what they got comin' to 'em."
He turns to the others, "Looks like the Relic may be our way in. Let's see if we can make contact."
Val'nor says "sounds like a plan. Lets see who answers."
He will punch in the contact code, and make sure his comm is set for audio only.
Val'nor's call is answered by a woman speaking in Azlanti. Nyssian Transport Lines and Logistics. Is this in regards the disposition of the starship Relic?
Blax-9 nods at Val'nor. "Tell her we're merchants and got a contract for her and to come pick us up."
Val'nor raises his hand, in a shushing motion, then says to the Comm (in Azlanti) "Yes, Captain <static-ee sounds> of the Starship Barazad, What information do you have."
<- oh oh..../fingers crossed
"Captain... of the Barazad. NT2L were hoping you had some information for us. The Relic has been overdue for three days and we are seeking any information regarding its whereabouts."
Val'nor will say (in Azlanti) "We have not heard any news. We have just arrived at Outpost Zed after delivering cargo out of the system. We are willing to help in the search. Our hold is also currently empty, and we are looking for any cargo we can haul. Do you have any contracts available?"
"Cants we just finds Relic and sneaks in?"
"Standby Barazad," she says, and the line cuts to innocuous music.
A couple minutes later, she returns. "Barazad, you have been approved for an emergency resupply contract, per ASE Interspacial Trade Code 23 dash 11 point 05 alpha. Send us your address and you will receive a limited transponder code and PPR for Gulta Penal Facility. With the access codes, you will also receive a manifest of the required supplies. Acquire these and deliver to Gulta within the next seven days."
"Upon confirmation of delivery to Gulta, you will be reimbursed for the supply drop, and receive a 15,000 credit contract payment."
Val'nor's eyes bulge out at the payment amount and attempts to keep his cool. He then, very quickly, creates a new (email?), and then gives it to the agent.
"Copy NT2L, Here is our contact information ... Did you say the Gulta Penal Facility? Interesting. We are currently berthed at Docking Bay 004 - Zed Station. We can source the supplies here, hopefully. It might take some time. Is there a time factor involved? We await the code and Manifest."
Then he will frantically search the web for "PPR"
"OOOOOOH! We gets payments AND sneaks in! Long shanks do smart thing! So proud"
Lasereater jumps up and down and claps.
Once we get the manifest required, Lasereater will lead the shopping.
About a minute after Val'nor sends the address, he receives the contract and manifest. The supplies listed are mostly mundane things that you probably find at the marketplace, worth a total of 3,000 credits.
Val'nor signs off the Comm "Barazad out"
He then tells the group "ok, that worked. Thank you Talmrin! We will find your friends, and we will return." as he turns to go, he almost slams into Goro. He stops and looks back at Talmrin and says "I don't suppose you know where we can find something to disguise the big guy? Maybe we can get some azlanti uniforms too?"
"Upon confirmation of delivery to Gulta, you will be reimbursed for the supply drop, and receive a 15,000 credit contract payment."
Lasereater has 681 credits and 77 UPBs. The rest of you lot?
Blax-9 looks over the equipment. "Maybe Talmin, Glest or Half Red can find us a buyer?"
Talmrin suggests you check around the promenade market, but they don't know any art specialists on Zed. Since you've already met Glest and Half-Red and seen their goods, you're reasonably assured that Half-Red would be the more likely buyer of the Azlanti relics. After some back-and-forth trying to understand her language of colors and patterns, you come to an agreement and she buys the relics for 3500 credits.
Val'nor says "Ok, now, lets buy stuff! The manifest items first, then if we have enough left over we can get at least one holoskin for Goro, and maybe one for Laser.
With a little bit of legwork around the marketplace and some multi-lingual haggling, you are able to get the requisite supplies within a few hours.
Purchases in hand and supplies delivered to the Loreseeker, you make way back to your ship and prepare to launch. Leaving Zed Station behind, Goro plugs in the coordinates to Gulta and lights the thrusters. The navigation computer quickly relays that it will take you days to reach the prison moon.
Val'nor will dig into the ancient laptop, to see if he can find information on the light speed drive.
Spend 1day Cracking Tech
Then he will spend a few days researching Gulta prison, attempting to remain undetected by them.
Spend 2 days Computer Research (Multiday)
1 day spent maintaining his gear
Last day spent Maintaining Readiness - By using the ships scanners to look for trouble as we get close.
Blax-9 will spend the time maintaining his readiness by patrolling the area, servicing his weapons, etc.
Val'nor will dig into the ancient laptop, to see if he can find information on the light speed drive.
Prior to the Gap, before the discovery of the Drift and the advent of interstellar travel, the Azlanti Star Empire was confined to a single solar system. The Azlanti had spent thousands of years painstakingly clawing their way across their home system from their original colony world, New Thespera, until they had conquered all the planets orbiting the star Aristia. But without interstellar travel or the magical portals of their ancestors, the Azlanti could go no further. That didn’t prevent the Azlanti from trying, however. Over the centuries, Azlanti engineers launched dozens of ships into the void, testing out various experimental starship drives that, if functional, could carry the Azlanti to distant stars. None ever returned.
Four years ago, imperial scholars who were researching the pre-Drift history of the empire unearthed reports of some of these early attempts at interstellar travel. The discovery of these historical records attracted the attention of Zolan Ulivestra, a sardat (an Azlanti noble of moderate status) and high-ranking officer in the Imperial Vanguard Scout Corps (IVSC), a specialized branch of the Imperial Fleet responsible for exploration, reconnaissance, and forward military operations. With Ulivestra’s prompting, the IVSC began sending out Drift-capable survey probes along the flight paths of the ancient voyages to discover the fates of those lost interstellar expeditions.
While the IVSC hoped to find any of the prototypes, one mission was of particular interest to Ulivestra. An Azlanti noble named Ameondria had installed in her personal vessel, the Royal Venture, a unique engine that the ancient documents called a rune drive. An experimental technomagical interstellar drive, the rune drive incorporated as part of its power source an aeon stone from the Aeon Throne itself. Ulivestra made finding the Royal Venture his personal mission. Recovering any vestiges of the early interstellar voyage would be an achievement certain to earn the IVSC, and especially Ulivestra and his family, the favorable attention of the Aeon Throne.
Recently, an IVSC probe suffered a malfunction that dropped it out of the Drift and into an uncharted system somewhere in the Vast, far from the probe’s original flight path. The unexpected transit back to the Material Plane damaged the probe’s thrusters as well as its Drift engine, sending it on an uncontrolled trajectory toward a nearby planet. Despite its malfunction, the probe dutifully initiated its primary programming to scan the planet for any signs of an ancient Azlanti expedition, and it transmitted its location and findings to the IVSC before it crashed.
When IVSC analysts examined the probe’s data, they learned that the probe had detected the magical signature of an exceptionally powerful aeon stone and found signs of an ancient crashed spacecraft on the planet. The probe’s data also established that the planet was habitable for human life and revealed the existence of a small humanoid settlement on the world. Ulivestra was convinced that the probe had discovered the crash site of the Royal Venture and its experimental rune drive. Though the data was inconclusive, it was certainly possible that the humanoids living on the planet could be the descendants of the Azlanti crew who survived their ship’s crash. Ulivestra dispatched a nearby military transport and support vessel called the Barazad to investigate the probe’s crash site.
When the Barazad arrived at the planet, it found that the humanoid settlement reported by the probe was not a lost colony of Azlanti but a Pact Worlds outpost, which the settlers called Nakondis Colony after the planet’s name. To make matters worse, the colonists had witnessed the imperial probe’s uncontrolled fall through Nakondis’s atmosphere, and when they investigated the probe’s impact site, they also discovered the ancient spacecraft crash site the probe had detected. To prevent the possibility of the Pact Worlds finding the rune drive first, the Barazad landed the forces it was transporting on the planet to occupy the colony and annex Nakondis in the name of the Azlanti Star Empire. The most senior non-Fleet officer aboard the Barazad, an Aeon Guard lieutenant named Sharu, took command of the invasion force, which quickly overwhelmed the colonists and established a garrison in the colony’s main settlement, Madelon’s Landing.
Besides notifying Sardat Ulivestra of the successful annexation of Nakondis, Lieutenant Sharu’s initial report stated that the Pact Worlds colonists had removed some sort of technomagical relic from the original crash site. A pair of scientists, a shirren Starfinder, Meico, and one of the colonists, an android scholar named Cedona, had been studying the relic prior to the Azlanti’s arrival, and had hypothesized that it might be an ancient starship drive that didn’t rely on the Drift for interstellar travel. Now even more convinced that he had discovered the fabled rune drive and unwilling to wait for the imperial bureaucracy to officially verify the findings, Ulivestra dispatched a high-speed courier ship called the Silver Needle to Nakondis to immediately recover the technomagical relic as well as Meico and Cedona for examination and interrogation.
Val'nor can find no information about Gulta from the local infosphere. Any and all mentions of the prison have been quite deliberately purged.
Goro spends time learning the system we are flying into and has a few escape routes planned, if possible, for when things go sideways
The five days pass in relative peace. Sarigar keeps to himself for the most part, but joins with Goro in researching the system, particularly the traffic lanes and patrol patterns of Azlanti ships in your vicinity.
When you are a half-day out, Sarigar sounds general quarters and announces over the intercom. "We have Gulta on visuals. An Azlanti warship is guarding the approach. They have just made a vector to intercept us. Let's make this look official." He nods to Val'nor, the only human on your ship.
A few minutes later, you are hailed by a female voice speaking in Azlanti. Vessel approaching Gulta, this is the Zandamant. You are approaching a restricted zone. Identify yourselves and state your business.
Val'nor checks that the video is off, and replies, in Azlanti: "Zandamant, this is the transport 'Barazad', we are delivering emergency supplies to Gulta., per ASE Interspacial Trade Code 23 dash 11 point 05 alpha. Transmitting clearance codes now." Val'nor then sends the codes and the PPR information, confirms the comms are muted, and whispers: "Dear Desna, please, for once, let bureaucracy work in our favor!"
Science station bonus (if applicable)
Lasereater was gonna work out whilst we had down time, best I could figure about something to do.
For the diplomacy session, he sits around watching Val'nor while picking his nose.
"Standby, Barazad." There's a long pause, marked only by the crackle of low comm static, before the Azlanti responds again. 'Very well, you may proceed. Gulta will assign you a landing spot."
You continue onward and begin your descend towards the moon's surface. Gulta itself is largely featureless but for a surface of pale rock broken by jagged crevasses and countless impact craters.
The Gulta prison complex -- a series of dull gray domes connected by narrow corridors -- spreads out a like a spider web across the surface. The entire structure encircles a large series of docking bays with hatches that iris open and shut. Auxiliary landing pads suitable only for the smallest of shuttles are connected to each wing of the prison.
As you near, you are hailed from the prison. An Aeon Guard appears on the view screen, face masked by a green helmet with a single red eye. "Barazad, we have you on sensors. Report to docking bay 6B, docking code 785-Ultra-1."
Val'nor leaves the video off, and unmutes the mic, and says, in Azlanti:
"Acknowledged Gulta Control. Confirming, Docking Bay 6B, Code 785-Ultra-1."
If possible, Val'nor will also attempt to use the comms system to scan through standard frequencies for any ongoing chatter. Any chance we have a dual band/multi band comm system, so we can listen to the Control tower at the same time?
The ship's comm suite is fairly robust, but you aren't picking up any unsecured chatter.
"Goro, lets head in..."
Goro moves the ship towards the docking bay
Goro flies the ship down to the indicated bay, one of the ones designed for larger vessels, and lands the Loreseeker gently.
The docking bay is spacious, with bright lighting and steel walls. It is currently empty except for your ship and five cargo crates -- wheeled, 5-foot cubes -- ready to receive your delivery. Each of the bay’s four corners contains a security camera.
After you shut down engines, an Azlanti prison guard enters the bay, holding a datapad.