The Long Night Ends (A Traveller T20 Game) (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

The ships spend a few weeks surveying the system.

Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 10
Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 9
Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 3
Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 8
Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 3
Resources: 1d10 ⇒ 3

The small asteroid belt around the sun is rich in metals and rare earths, as is the planet just out from it. The middle planet in the system is also very rich in the lighter metals and rare earths. The system would make a decent mining system, if it wasn't so far away from home and a dead end system. No doubt if Nutejas ever decides to expand, they'll put in a mining facility here.

They had landed of a 8km wide asteroid with in the small belt. What had pulled them to it was its mass, the thing was full of heavy metals. After a few days of taking samples one of which was a 2kg lump of metals that was 27% gold. It was in the lab now being inspected.

A few days they found a fragment of a large crystal formation again samples and where taken to be placed in the lab.

A few days later the lite lab ship come back to its docking birth.
Locking into place the 5 crew came off, with them where crates of socks and other items taken form there run in the inner system.

They headed to the ships lounge for a drink and to talk over their work.
Sitting around a table with there PDAs, Prof McMillgon and his team worked until late.

"Sooo... You think the Nut's wents us to report our prospect to them too - do they think this is their spece? Or should we just leeve e fleg?"

"I think we should just follow standard procedure and log the survey. If we leave a flag indicating possession, I think it would just antagonize the Nutejas. Let the diplomats take care of that." Aramis replies to Cat.

After the system survey is all reported, Aramis commands the Stargazer to return through the warp point and and explore SG-017. "Let's finish surveying the neighborhood and move on."

He asks Ivan to organize a going away (from the Nutejas) party for the crew after they survey 17.

Ivan smiles at the Captain's request before replying, twisting his accent to match the Nutexans. "Will do Sir! And if I may say I think it's right time to break out the good stuff!" before breaking into a coughing fit and mumbling "How do they twist their vowels like that?"

- - - - -

Going ahead and posting party information, but feel free to preempt it as necessary.

Ivan works through the supply numbers, utilizing their small surplus since their captors had provided food during their stay. And between the food surplus and opening the liquor stores a little, there was plenty to be had. Entertainment was broken off by cabin section, with the standard electronic games in engineering, dancing in the mess hall, and the rec hall getting cards and a couple of Nutexan movies that Ivan had managed to haggle for. Alcohol was provided at a bar quickly set up in the mess hall, with each crewman given 'beer tickets'.

Ivan put Thomas Jackson in charge as bartender, figuring this was a good time to test the progress and recovery the man had made. Not that he had stopped drinking, though he had cut down and controlled himself better. And the man managed to keep himself from getting overly drunk, though his habit of finishing drinks others had left was a little odd. Still Ivan considered it a job well done.

Overall, the night seemed to go well. People enjoyed themselves, only a couple of fights had to be broken up, and there was little damage done to the ship or furniture. And there was still a small bit of food and punch to be recycled into the next few meals. Overall, Ivan felt very satisfied with the results.

Feel free to add scenes to the party, if anyone wants.

The Geo team spent the night chatting and mixing. The Prof was a stiff as ever, did not drinking that much alcohol so as to keeping an eye on his team. Mirice Wilson *Astrophysicist [Scout Pilot] found a young flight eng that had the same sexual orientation and he spent the night dancing
Trever Gill *Chemist [Scout tech] go very drunk and into a heated debate over the locals use of power units and pop music, that come close to a fight but ended with hand shakes. Doc Reese Linton *Xeno/Biologist [Scout tech] Told the Prof more than once how much she liked and admired him. Touching his lag a little to much for his liking, late she was seen leaving with a scout pilot. Paleen Rill *Engineer [Scout Tech] brought her bangolaly, playing and drinking with the add hock ships band all night, she was last seen kissing her Ex-Boyfriend the bands drummer for which she felt really bad about after, Becouse as she kept telling everyone with a hangover, "hes a real @@&*"

all is all it was a good night.

"No Gill! Eesteroid Treeckers 'r e TETEL! seelll-out since theer sec-*hic* therd elbm!! End whe pets e XeeaRrFifSev-socc't to e meen lene eneweej?!" Enjoying herself immensely thanks to the mostly overlooked perk of zero-g adaptation - low muscle/fat equals low alcohol tolerance. And she did get into this really interesting debate with one of the chemists. Totally cool type, just a little misguided!

The day after, she spent the day wearing her welding goggles.

Aramis played the cheerful chaperon for the party enjoying the revelry but remaining the responsible one. It was good to see the crew relax for a bit. They were the odd events, but those were what would make the night memorable.

The next morning, he takes it easy on the crew slowly ramping up to full activities after lunch. The next day, they move on to SG-017.

The ship's retreat and proceed to SG-017. The previous probes found no signals of any kind.

Jumping through, the crew spends a couple of weeks exploring the system

1d10 ⇒ 10
1d10 ⇒ 1
1d10 ⇒ 5
1d10 ⇒ 5

Star Type : Red Dwarf Size V
Spectral Class/Color M/Red
Warp Points : 3
Orbital Specs
Orbit 0: (Habitable Zone) Planet - Asteroid Belt No Gravity(0 G) Density (Light)
Orbit 5: AB - Asteroid Belt
Orbit 8: AB - Asteroid Belt
Orbit 10: LGG - Large Gas Giant, 90,000km, 2.5G
Orbit 12: AB - Asteroid Belt
Orbit 14: LGG - Large Gas Giant, 90,000km, 2.5G
Orbit 16: LGG - Large Gas Giant, 90,000km, 2.5G
Orbit 19: Planet - 3200 km Very Low Gravity(0.25 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (0 degrees) Rotation (10 hours) Atmosphere (No Atmosphere) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (7797464 Years S)
Orbit 20: Empty

The system is a freakish system, with 3 gas giants, which seem to have caused all the non-gas giant planets to break up before they could fully form, resulting in a system with three giants and lots of asteroids. Surveys find that, other than the inner most ring, the system is mostly resource poor. The inner most ring is heavy in radioactives.

The lone planet that isn't a gas giant appears to have been captured, not created locally. The rocky thing not matching the rest of the system.

There are two warp points located within the system.

Heads out to do a servery but is back soon, reports and then spend time with his team working on samples as they come in.

Aramis orders a more detailed survey of the lone planet and probes to explore the two new warp points.

Given the order they head out to the lone planet to land and do a fuller survey.

Probes come back after an hour in each system.

SG-018 : A dual star system, both red dwarves.

SG-019 : A sub-giant yellow G star.

Ivan looks over the survey of SG-017 and makes a note in his report.

System would be good for a supply cache. Gas giants can be used for fuel processing. Asteroids could hide supply caches and would disrupt ship sensors. A front of a science outpost for the radioactives could hide local activity.

He snickers to himself quickly as he finishes his report.

Hmm, maybe the Nutexans were right, maybe we are particularly sneaky... or at least some of us...

After the probes return and the detailed survey of the lone planet is complete, he orders the Stargazer to SG-018. He appears reluctant to let the parasite ship warp away from the Stargazer.

The scout ships and probes begin to scan the binary system. The two small red dwarves are over 5 light hours apart, meaning that it will take months to reach the second star, if it's decided to go to it. Technically, the system isn't a binary system after all, it's just two extremely close stars to each other.

Star Type : Red Dwarf Size V
Spectral Class/Color M/Red
Warp Points : 4

Orbital Specs
Orbit 0: (Habitable Zone) Planet - 1600 km Very Low Gravity(0.125 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (80 degrees) Rotation (2 months) Atmosphere (No Atmosphere) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Cold ) Avg Temp (-25 C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (0.1 Years S)
Orbit 1: Planet - Asteroid Belt No Gravity(0 G) Density (Average)
Orbit 3: Planet - 3200 km Very Low Gravity(0.25 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (70 degrees) Rotation (2 months) Atmosphere (No Atmosphere) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Warm ) Avg Temp (35 C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (1 Years S)
Orbit 4: Planet - 1600 km Very Low Gravity(0.09375 G) Density (Light) Axial Tilt (70 degrees) Rotation (Tidally Locked) Atmosphere (No Atmosphere) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Tropical ) Avg Temp (25 C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (2 Years S)
Orbit 6: Planet - 11,200 km Average Gravity(0.875 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (30 degrees) Rotation (3 months) Atmosphere (Thin) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (12 Years S)
Orbit 8: Planet - Asteroid Belt No Gravity(0 G) Density (Very Light)
Orbit 11: SGG - Small Gas Giant, 50,000km, 1.25G
Orbit 13: SGG - Small Gas Giant, 50,000km, 1.25G
Orbit 16: LGG - Large Gas Giant, 90,000km, 2.5G
Orbit 17: Planet - 3200 km Very Low Gravity(0.25 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (30 degrees) Rotation (2 weeks) Atmosphere (Trace) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (974728 Years S)
Orbit 19: Planet - 3200 km Very Low Gravity(0.125 G) Density (Very Light) Axial Tilt (0 degrees) Rotation (2 months) Atmosphere (Very Thin, Tainted) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (7797464 Years S)

The system is extremely dense for a red dwarf star, with no less than 5 planets, two asteroid belts, and 3 gas giants.

1d10 ⇒ 3
1d10 ⇒ 7
1d10 ⇒ 8
1d10 ⇒ 9
1d10 ⇒ 6
1d10 ⇒ 4
1d10 ⇒ 4

Resources are scattered around, but there's a nice mix across the board, with a couple of the planets being rich in metals, especially the one in orbit 6.

With the party incident comfortably behind her Cath is eager to stretch her legs a bit. And by that she didn't mean her actual real legs - but the metaphorical one of her prospecting profession. She was, all in all, itching to get back to work! Looking over the survey results she comments.

"Went us to teke e look et the rich one?"

"Have at it and good hunting."

and with the Prof and his team head out to do there Job.

Cat and Andy head off to the planet the probes identified as having high resources.

After a two week survey, the group finds that the planet is rich in gallium and aluminum. Both are used in electronics and power systems.

Coming back to the mother ship his team reporting and dropping off samples. Not to bad a trip they find some good sites for mines.

After they they restock the ship and get ready for the next jump into a new system.

"Neet. Pity stuff is so fer ewey from home!" Cat comments once they go over their findings.

Sorry for my slowness/sparseness! Last midterm was last week, just catching up on all the stuff that suffered because it : )

After reviewing the provisions with Ivan, Aramis reviews the surveys of the probes to SG-18 & 19. As long as both are equally boring, he orders the crew to 19.

SG-019
Star Type : Sub-Giant Size IV
Spectral Class/Color G/Yellow
Warp Points : 5

Orbital Specs
Orbit 5: Planet - 11,200 km Average Gravity(0.875 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (10 degrees) Rotation (16 hours) Atmosphere (Dense, Tainted) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (8 Years S)
Orbit 6: LGG - Large Gas Giant, 90,000km, 2.5G
Orbit 7: Planet - 11,200 km Average Gravity(0.4375 G) Density (Very Light) Axial Tilt (70 degrees) Rotation (19 hours) Atmosphere (Thin, Tainted) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Chilly ) Avg Temp (0 C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (84 Years S)
Orbit 8: (Habitable Zone) Planet - 6400 km Low Gravity(0.5 G) Density (Average) Axial Tilt (90 degrees) Rotation (2 months) Atmosphere (Thin) Hydrographics (50% surface liquid) Climate (Temperate ) Avg Temp (15 C) Biodiversity (Minute) Planetary Year (165 Years S)
Orbit 12: Planet - 1600 km Very Low Gravity(0.1875 G) Density (Very Dense) Axial Tilt (40 degrees) Rotation (Tidally Locked) Atmosphere (No Atmosphere) Hydrographics (No free-standing liquid. Desert) Climate (Frozen ) Avg Temp (-41 or lower C) Biodiversity (NONE) Planetary Year (5395 Years S)

SG-019 is a massive yellow sub-giant, filling a major portion of the screen as the ships transit.

The probes, after about 2 weeks of scanning, begin to flash an alert about a life bearing planet in orbital slot 8.

Packs up his lab ship ready to head to a new world with life, SG-019 Orbit 8 was at last a word they could do some real ground braking research on.

Aramis assembles the command crew for a meeting about the life bearing planet. "Besides planning its survey, I want to know if you think we should rendezvous with our supply fleet before warping into the system to explore the life bearing planet? While Ivan can tell us how much supplies we need, it would also give us an update of the Nutejas system. What do you think?"

"I think that would be a wise idea Captain, also would we be able to send a longe range probe or ship back home with messages for family and such?"

"Es long es we don't offend this world too with our ceution!" Cat chuckles. Looking at the data again, she points to the temperature and rotation times. "But should give us plenty of choice es were to drop down yes? Cen't imegine the tempereture to be thet uniformely eligned with those deys!" She adds - "Or thet tilt."

The other ship indicates that the Nutejan's are busy industriously moving asteroids into position around their warp points. They do so by surrounding one with ships, then using their drives to move the asteroid!

Once in place, they begin hollowing them out and turning them into fortresses. They seem to be extremely industrious, and the local comm chatter seems to indicate they are having the time of their lives figuring out better ways to blow "Commies" out of the aether if they come to Nutejas.

You are able to send one of the smaller scout ships back with updates if you want. You haven't received word back on the Nutejas situation from home yet, you had sent one of the ships back with updates. If you send the other scout ship, you'll be left with only Cat's ship left for scouting.

The planet is an oddity to say the least. The length of day is actually somewhat moot half it's orbit, as the north or south poles point toward the sun. For 40 years, the North pole faces the sun, then for 40 years, the planet has a 'normal' day night cycle that takes 2 months for one 'day', then 40 years of the south pole facing the sun, and then another 2 months of the south pole facing the sun.

This results in cycles of storms and calm. Terrestrial plants would almost certainly wither and die in such an environment. During 'Summer' the north pole reaches, likely, 100C while the south pole reaches -50C. During 'Spring' and 'Fall' the planet has an average temperature of 15C. It is currently in Spring.

Noon, with the moons showing

Closeup of most advanced life found, at sunset

Mostly the planet is covered with lichen and very primitive plants.

Dos his job on this world, his team getting as much data as they can.

I was suggesting to take the Stargazer back to SG-011 before surveying the life-bearing world. That's it.

Amazing, Aramis is amazed of the life on the planet. This is the reason that he joined the Scouts.

After the crew complete the survey and take tissue samples, he orders probes through the four new warp points.

I wanted to make a GOT Winter's Coming comment about the life-bearing planet but couldn't get it to work. :(

Sorry folks, getting to it, but been busy, and this takes about half an hour of uninterrupted time.

The probes eventually send back readings...

SG-020 : An old red dwarf that sputters visibly
SG-021 : A pair of small red dwarves orbiting each other at nearly half a light year.
SG-022 : A standard red dwarf
SG-023 : A bright cheery yellow star

Cath squints and takes a second look at the probe images. It wasn't a trick - and it didn't appear to be a visual glitch or anything.

"Sters. They ere not supposed to sputter right?"

Sits and waits, it had been 200 years from her time out on the scout ship.
She was fine with that. As an agent of SC, sent by the Culture to help the world link and grow, She had done her job well. Now as the 1st GCU "Im fooling you not" came out of hyperspace she looked up at its bulk.

"Missed me"

The vast IA mind said into her nurallace.

"Yes , its been a while, so any good partys to go to"