GM Tarondor's Secrets of the Ancients - Traveller

Game Master Tarondor

I imagine the shuttle is more or less like an airplane? So no room for an improvised examination of the artefact?

I am still here and reading it all, but I'm not going to post further storyline until we have more information. That's how we got way ahead of ourselves last time.

"Yeah, all thos lifepods failing all at the same time..." He commented, glancing at Zirelle. "Lot of bad luck there."
Last one off the platform, history of piracy... He wondered quietly. How long before she disposes of us the same way?

Once the explosion happened, Linc will throttle down to minimum to try to avoid premature detection by sensors covering this area of orbit.
He will pull up local sectional maps, looking for a discrete orbital platform or groundside landing pad.
Pilot (Small Craft): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 1) + 2 = 4
"Blast it, I can't find any charts in this bucket."

Last one off the platform, history of piracy... He wondered quietly. How long before she disposes of us the same way?

Ha ha... priceless. :)

"I think getting anywhere but here and lying low for a bit while we figure out where to go next is key. Hiding the artifact is great since we need to hide ourselves. That explosion will be noticeable. If we are tied to it, that artifact may be the least of our concerns." Ben says as he leans his head back and closes his eyes and waits to hear if a clarion call goes up as red hot explosive debris rips through the ship.

"Good idea. I'll put us on track to match the exploded debris from the platform. Make us look like another piece flung off to anyones sensors." He said.
Pilot (small craft): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 2) + 2 = 5

"I think getting anywhere but here and lying low for a bit while we figure out where to go next is key. Hiding the artifact is great since we need to hide ourselves. That explosion will be noticeable. If we are tied to it, that artifact may be the least of our concerns." Ben says as he leans his head back and closes his eyes and waits to hear if a clarion call goes up as red hot explosive debris rips through the ship.

that's the spirit! Preferably somewhere with a laboratory with all staff being completely loyal and sworn to secrecy?...or if we are fresh out of those, a flat table that's not rocking from explosions would also do the trick - don't want to be too demanding - so I can start examining.

As the rush of adrenalin ceases and the option of destroying the artefact seems off the table, Malaxius starts to reflect on events and starts to be ashamed and a bit surprised at his willingness to just let someone behind to die. He desperately aims for a lighter tone of conversation.

Lots of good questions and ideas. Let's see if I can focus your options for you.

First of all, this is an in-system craft. It has no potential for jumping to another system, so you're stuck with Regina. Second, Regina (being a subsector capital, home of Archduke Norris and a heavily populated world near the border of the Zhodani Consulate (a powerful enemy of the Imperium)) is a heavily-regulated world with strict laws against piracy, smuggling and transporting weapons. And like anywhere in the Imperium, possession of Ancient relics is tightly regulated.

Regina is a Trinary system with a sunlike F7 Yellow dwarf star ("Lusor"), a close brown dwarf companion ("Speck") and a distant red dwarf companion ("Darida"). The system includes 8 planets, 3 of which are gas giants. The "main world" (Regina) is actually a moon of one of the gas giants ("Assiniboia"). Regina is only one of seven worlds in the systems which boast a breathable atmosphere, and only one of four habitable planets in the life zone of Lusor, in orbit around the gas giant Assiniboia. With the best conditions of the group, it was settled first and soon dominated the system. Regina has a population in the hundreds of millions and has many cities. In addition to the Class A highport, there are two main downports, one in the capital of Credo and another at the slightly smaller Luck Gibson Down. There are also landing fields all over the system.

Taking time to sort through your messages, you have been contacted by: 1) The Regina High Port, responsible for traffic; 2) Dragonfish, a Dragon-class system defense boat some 100,000 km distant; Duchess Anne, a Dominion-class troop transport parked in orbit over Regina some 70,000 km away, six different civilian craft, including another slow boat, a yacht, an ore hauler, two far traders and a luxury liner. At the moment, all the calls are seeking your status and want to know if they should render aid. Dragonfish and Duchess Anne are powering up to intercept, though some of the others are closer. The ore hauler is closest, though as a civilian craft it's not yet begun to divert towards you.

I am happy to run with any plan you choose, but I can see three main ones: A) Brazen it out. Come up with a cock-and-bull story to give the authorities and try to move on with the investigation. This could include either accepting help from another ship or simply heading for Regina yourself. B) Running for it. Probably not a good strategy long-term, but you could possibly hide or even hijack a ship if you've decided on a life of piracy. C) Come clean. Tell the authorities everything. Talk to Pallod Norrim of the POC (Public Order Commission). BTW, landing on the Highport will take you about two hours. Landing on Regina will take you about four, plus whatever bureaucratic delays you encounter.

Either way, your long-term options are fairly limited. Maybe there's something you've recovered that will give you a clue to the death of Vlen Backett. Maybe you could look up Professor Ujinka's assistant Juni. Also, you still need to pick up Vlen Backett's body and return it to his home on Alell. Maybe there are clues there.

______________________________________________________

Linc, the ship is operable to the extent that you can maneuver it and land it, but it will need an engine overhaul as soon as possible and probably a whole new wiring harness. You're not going to repair it in space.

Malaxius, yes, the slow boat is a lot like an airplane - no labs. But you do have the statue itself and perhaps more importantly, the data crystals you swiped from Harlen's desk. You might be able to find something in those and that you can do from right here onboard the slow boat.

Linc, with so many ships and other data systems watching you, you don't think you can pull off a discreet landing anywhere in the system. Fast, maybe, but discreet? No.

Zirelle sends back to those asking whether they need aid

Thank you, but no aid needed here. We are uninjured and the ship should be able to dock safely. We think the pods malfunctioned, because there were other people there, but we don't detect any other survivors. Maybe someone with better sensors could check though?

Zirelle scans through the names of the other ships, looking for one that they could dock with if needed, and maybe even take passage with. Are there destinations listed in the computer for each ship (assuming they have to record that somewhere, but not sure if it is public)?

My idea is to claim the statue belongs to professor Ujinka. She owes us, and perhaps this was meant for her to see anyway. As for where to dock though, not sure... As a former pirate, how likely does Zirelle think it is that they could get back to Professor Ujinka with the statue without getting hassled about it? Does she have any piratey insight on what other ship might be able to help them confuse the issue if she doesn't think that it is likely that they could just head back themselves? Maybe the far traders or the lux liner?

Also, are there passenger lists that they might have access to? Maybe they could find out where the people came from that they met on the station. The ship that brought them might be out there.

"I think we play this straight. Trying to hide this isn't going to work. We have some allies on Regina. Lets go in and be public and depend on them to offer support. Whoever was working with Harlan will likely want to end loose strings. If we are in public that is harder to do." Ben says as he pulls out his pistol removes the clip and starts cleaning it nervously.

Earlier

Nic grumbles back, "Am I speaking in Vargr, Grissh whatever? I never said anything about destroying anything just hiding it."

Now

"Okay, do we have the flight log of this craft, to make a consistent story of where, why, and how we were and what we were doing. Without that no story will hold up in any investigation." Nic says that when Ben chimes up. Looking at him incredulously he says, "So we tell the authorities that we came here commit an assassination and in the process killed five people other than our target and stole the only working way off the place to escape. Best start my breathing vacuum exercises now, I guess." Nic continues grumbleing.

GM is there nothing Nic can do, at least get computer systems up enough to identify the owners of this vessel and the recent flight log so any story we craft is at least slightly plausible. And did Nic call up the specs of this craft?

Linc sweated as he worked his way through the sensor readouts.
"Dammit. Sorry guys, too many eyes on us. No way we can dock anywhere anonymously. I can maybe land quickly, but that's only delaying the inevitable." Linc reported back.

Malaxius soon looses track of the conversation around him as he pulls out the data crystals he snatched from the desk and starts to dig into them:
Edu+science archaology: 2d6 + 0 + 3 ⇒ (3, 5) + 0 + 3 = 11

Nic: Yes, you have the specs and flight logs. The boat is registered to Winter Holding (the very organization that helped you get up here), with an address in Credo, and all inspections and permits are up to date. The logs show it was last flown seven months ago when it was inspected by the authorities at Credo downport.

Malaxius: the tapes reveal that before his death, Vlen Backett acquired a curious statue, resembling a winged pillar made of a substance like ivory. It was recovered from a trader in the Boughene system centuries ago. The statue is of unknown, possibly Ancients origin but it appears to be a work of art, not a technological device.

The tapes describe how Backett found the statue on a metal-rich asteroid in orbit of the system’s gas giant; they also note problems with the ship’s transmissions in the G-band, just as Professor Ujinka theorized occurring in the vicinity of an Ancients site.

There is also a note from Vlen, reminding himself to acquire the professor’s G-band sensor system and use it to scan the Boughene system.

Assuming that Nic and Max share their insights, we likely have a plan.

It's okay, Linc. Just land as soon as you can. We'll have to talk to the authorities, but I think we can talk our way out of giving up the statue. It clearly belonged to Vlen Backett, and was possibly the reason he was killed. We heard of a trader out here that might want it, and were provided transport by Winter Holdings, but after we boarded there was a self-destruct countdown and we tried to help others, and took the ship back out ourselves. All of that is technically true. We don't have to add additional detail. We'll head back to Professor Ujinka and see if she can help us with some scanning equipment. If not, we know where her assistant is, and might be able to get her to help instead.

Does that sound good for going forward?

Zirelle scans through the names of the other ships, looking for one that they could dock with if needed, and maybe even take passage with. Are there destinations listed in the computer for each ship (assuming they have to record that somewhere, but not sure if it is public)?

The civilian ships have to file flight plans if they're outbound, but not if they're headed into the system. These aren't secret but would require accessing databases as its not a public record. Port records aren't encrypted, but there would be an electronic trail made by the search itself.

My idea is to claim the statue belongs to professor Ujinka. She owes us, and perhaps this was meant for her to see anyway.

Might work.

As for where to dock though, not sure... As a former pirate, how likely does Zirelle think it is that they could get back to Professor Ujinka with the statue without getting hassled about it?

Zero. Bureaucracies and hassle go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Does she have any piratey insight on what other ship might be able to help them confuse the issue if she doesn't think that it is likely that they could just head back themselves? Maybe the far traders or the lux liner?

Either class ship has confuscatory possibilities to Zirelle's devious mind. Easy to play 3-Card Monte when your mark doesn't know the cards exist in first place. If she's of a mind to hide the truth, the civilian ships are probably better bets than the military ones.

And with more information we could also confuse the issue by docking with some other ships, inquiring about passage out of the system or whatever. The more ships we visit, the less reason the government has to believe that we got anything at all from where we just were. We already have a reason for having it... one of our group was the closest relation to Vlen Backett and should have inherited everything he owned, so we could have gotten it from Ujinka and were inquiring about selling it to someone else for a higher price or whatever, but we weren't able to make a deal (no idea why the self-destruct was turned on... our argument wasn't to that extreme, at least so we thought), and are going to return it to Professor Ujinka, who Vlen was initially planning on selling it to. Visiting other ships could confuse things further... so, group opinions on whether we want to go contact other ships first, or just land?

After Malaxius gave a summery to the others about what he found out, he digs into his own research-database to find some clues about what the artwork could be depicting (looking for examples with comparable iconography and stuff like that)
ivestigation+EDU: 2d6 + 0 + 3 ⇒ (5, 1) + 0 + 3 = 9

He only raises his head at the mention of the professor:
Yes, Ujinka...that was the name. Exactly that's what I was trying to propose. I'm really looking forward to meeting her!

"So, declare emergency and land at the closest landing pad?" Linc doublechecks with the group. "Spewing smoke and on fire? It'll be pretty easy," He said, waggling the controls and peering into the damage control readouts, "Because, we kinda are already."

Nic does tell everyone what he learned, sending the details of the logs everyone's active phone or computer.

Nic starts at Zirelle's statement that Vlen Beckett was killed. "What!, Nic exclaims. "Beckett's dead, killed, what, how, why... why didn't you tell me Zirelle?" Nic, draws deep shuddering breath, then continues more calmly, "However little time we had, and we had some empty hours in traveling, you could have let me know. Keeping cards close to the vest is one thing but really that puts a different light on everything we've been doing, in ways better and worse."

Sorry, Nic. Just looked at your background and don't see anything about Vlen, so not sure how to respond to that. Clue me in and I'll come up with something.

Oops, it's a little too subtle on my part;I had a clear background in my home notes but what I put into my background was in a narrative way that is, on rereading, unclear. Sorry about that. I'll follow with the reference the way I wrote it in the background.

I violated my rule on subtle here. Short version don't be subtle. There are some other vague references that his mother is from Alell. All references to Alell are meant to be connected to Vlen Beckett. Sorry, I should have made it more clear, I misremembered it as that way.
Parts not stated involved a visit by him once when Nic was young that involved him and Nic going to the ancients site. Never put that out there though, my bad. There are drawbacks to a overdone background.

Well, Nic, I didn't know he mattered so much to you. Dev was next of kin, and that is how I got mixed up in this whole thing if looking for his murderer, who is the person we were after by the way, although that certainly isn't the end of it.

I didn't even remember that you had a connection with him. I just called you about a job. But for the record, I'm sorry. I didn't know first of all that it was important to you, and second of all, that you didn't already know. It definitely wasn't a secret.

he digs into his own research-database to find some clues about what the artwork could be depicting (looking for examples with comparable iconography and stuff like that)

He can't find anything. Ancients sites are rare and Ancients artwork... if that's what this is... is almost nonexistent. If the current theories are true, you're talking about a species that's been extinct since the very dawn of homo sapiens on the savannahs of Terra, some three thousand centuries ago.

Okay, enough talk. The messages are getting insistent. Whom do you answer first and what do you say?

I already responded to those asking if we need aid. The message is above, but this is what it said:

Thank you, but no aid needed here. We are uninjured and the ship should be able to dock safely. We think the pods malfunctioned, because there were other people there, but we don't detect any other survivors. Maybe someone with better sensors could check though?

... why didn't you tell me Zirelle?"

"Pirate..." Muttered Linc.

Sighing Nic explains, "I would not say that Beckett and I were close, but it does connect to what's going on which you said you did not have time to explain. Total mushroom treatment. Kill a man that may deserve it. Go right now. Put us in a literal world of danger, with a sketchy plan. So a premeditated homicide and a bunch of felony homicides. I like the rest of what happened sometime, that brought us to this, but that can now wait. Because some smart people are going to have to come up with the most epic story ever told anywhere or we're all really screwed. And let me in on my part of the excuse we give. Given a story I can lie, creating one on the fly, not so much and they, any they, will get our stories separately."

Switching topics, Nic says, "Linc, anything else I can do to help? Most repairs would require an EVA and I'm not great at that. And less so if you need to manuever."

Zirelle, frustrated because they don't really have time for this now either, runs through the main events of everything that happened after they came here with Dev... questioned by authorities, saving professor Ujinka, then getting the very last-minute, time-limited opportunity/demand from Winter.

Okay, Nic. Now you know. If you can think of any way that I could have planned that better given the time constraints and the limitations that were inherent in the offer, I'd like to hear what you would have done. Unless you have a real suggestion, then lay off the criticism. I'm happy to take you to one of those ships and drop you off if you want to go home. In fact...

Zirelle trails off, then contacts the trading ship and the lux liner and asks if they have any medical services available, or cabins available, and where they are heading. She motions to Linc to head towards the ships. If they have to drop someone off or confuse the issue further, then visiting a couple of other civilian ships might help. Maybe they could split up, then meet up later.

Thank you, but no aid needed here. We are uninjured and the ship should be able to dock safely. We think the pods malfunctioned, because there were other people there, but we don't detect any other survivors. Maybe someone with better sensors could check though?

Dragonfish, the System Defense Boat continues to make its way towards you and the explosion at 3G, but that means it will arrive in an hour whereas Linc can land this ship in under twenty minutes with clearance from the Traffic Authority.

Linc declares an emergency and receives clearance from the Authority to land directly at Credo downport. They don't want your potentially dangerous boat anywhere near the Highport.

"WH1207, you have priority to land on Field 27 Right. We've got the emergency lights on and ground crews standing by."

What preparations would you like to make before landing at Credo downport?

Frustrated and unwilling Malaxius pulls himself out of his studies.
"Has anyone of you a device that stands a chance to conceal data from inspection? My computer doesn't, I'm afraid...if I had only known what we would find..."

"Welp, looks like it's Credo downport." Linc said.
He kicked the shuttle around and thrust to kill orbital velocity.
Pilot (small craft): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 2 = 7

Answering Malaxius, Zirelle says

Stay cool. Those people don't have any idea who we are or what we brought with us. It is an artifact that we got from Vlen's belongings and are taking to Professor Ujinka for analysis. I'm sure we'll be hassled, but the story is that we were there to look into Vlen's death, and when the self-destruct went off we ran for the ship. That's all true. Just breathe, and things will work out.

Things may or may not work out, of course, but the important thing now was to get everyone to stay calm. She had wasted time and their choices were now limited. She had no idea what Winter Trading or the government was going to interfere with now. Was the statue illegal? She didn't know, but they needed it either way if they wanted to pursue the mystery. ... Then again, did the mystery really matter? If they confiscated the statue maybe she could just go home. She was supposed to be retired, and she didn't need this hassle anyway.

Nic mutters, "No one listens to me, I asked not to tell me stuff now... never mind. Do as you as always." Then absorbing the meaning of what was said, Nic thinks, It's even worse than I thought. If the government, any of them don't get us, the whatever they are will.

"I have only the junk security that they sell civilians on Regina, Max. The real stuff was outrageous. Need to stop by Efate sometime to get good tech."

"Sure... that's the plan. But I would feel a bit better with a little backup that would save us the data at least...and maybe a couple of pictures of the thing itself. Just for the worst case."

Nic replies, "Sure Max, that makes sense. I'll back up and encrypt the file. Why don't you add a note implying that you are going to review Beckett's research for accuracy and relevence" Don't be direct, just imply that it was requested at some point."

Electronic(Computer) 0, EDU +1: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 5) + 1 = 10 Standard use of his computer's security program to code private files and store it.

Good idea. Nothing like the thing itself, but if I'm forced to part from it, that's better than nothing...

Twenty-five minutes later, your shuttle has landed safely at Credo Downport and is soon surrounded by firefighters and first responders. A trim woman in her fifties awaits you as soon as the medics clear you.

"I am Officer Maridonya, Starport Security. Would you please come with me?"

You are led to an unobtrusive building near the hangars. Inside is the very ordinary-looking office. "I need to take your statements. Who wants to tell me what happened?"

Zirelle steps forward.

She sounds a little bit shaky when she talks, and she says

We did everything we could. We helped all those people to life pods, we really tried to help get them out, but they never launched. We scanned and ... they never launched. I don't know what happened. Why did that man start a self-destruct sequence? We were just asking him about some business he did with our friend Vlen Backett. Trying to tie up loose ends for his estate. I mean, we were standing there talking one minute and the next this warning was going off everywhere telling us that the place was going to self-destruct. We were just asking him questions, and he started the countdown. Why would he do that? I thought maybe he was just faking to try to get rid of us. I was hoping at least, but you can't stay just in case, you know? And then we were launching and it all exploded, and I don't know why he would do that... he killed himself. He killed all of those people. I don't know why, or why those pods didn't launch. Did you find anyone else? We had to run there at the end to save ourselves, but we tried to help everyone else, and I saw people getting into the pods. What happened? What kind of a man would do that? Just to avoid some questions? I mean, the guy must have been insane, right?

Idly looking around and hoping that his pokerface is not as bad as he suspects it to be, Malaxius is content to let Zirelle do the talking.

Nic looks bored at Zirelle's carefully truthful spin that leaves out the criminal details. Like Mal he volunteers nothing. He mentally catalogues all the technical unsafe practices he noticed on the haphazard station.

Officer Maridonya regards Zirelle levelly. "You were on a previously unknown station talking about the affairs of a known criminal with a madman who just killed himself and everyone on the station? Everyone but you? Is that your story? How did you even get there? What had that staion to do with Vlen Backett?"

"We checked the registry of your vehicle. It's registered to a lovely 98-year old widow who's never heard of it. Did you know that? One with no ties we can figure to either you are Mister Vlen Backett."

"We're going to search you and your ship. Do you have anything else you'd like to add before we do?"

The ship isn't ours, we just took it to escape that place that was going to blow up. We went over with the supply run.

The ship must have belonged to that man... Harlen I think. The crazy one who started the destruct sequence before we even got a chance to ask him anything. We didn't have another way off. We would have taken everyone in the ship if we had known the pods didn't work. We tried to save them, but we had no idea he had the pods rigged, or disabled or whatever. How could we have known that? ... And we didn't know he was a madman! We just heard that Vlen had business with Harlen before Vlen died, so we went to ask about it. Believe me, if we had known he was going to blow the whole place up, we would have handled it differently! Don't accuse us of something because we tried to save ourselves!

Maridonya sighs. She pushes a datapad towards you. "Addresses. Names. Planets of origin. And make them the real ones, huh?"

She calls over two other officers to search you.

What information do you give and do you resist the search? Do they find anything interesting I should know about?

Zirelle sighs, taking the datapad and going to sit down to fill in paperwork. That was what the government was best at.

She gives her real name (although her married name is different than most people would know from the past), the address of the planet where she lives now with her husband, and her original planet of origin... she'd never been convicted of piracy, so her official record should be clean enough.

She puts down her title as "security consultant."

She has an awful lot of weapons on her, and authorities might wonder what she is doing with audio/visual/data bugs. If they are patting them down, they might also wonder how she could afford massively expensive subdermal armor.

Nic doesn't resist any search but asks "All the info you want is in my comm. It's all true. I'll unlock those files." Mal files are in the computer not the comm/phone. Nic actully a bit less grim, things are going better than expected.

Linc rolled his eyes and filled out the governments paperwork, as he had many times before in the Navy.
Not sure what the Law level is around here. The most egregious thing he carries is the laser carbine, a light assault weapon.

After several hours, Officer Maridonya returns.

"Alright, you can go. Orders of the Public Order Commission. Seems you've got friends in high places. Someone named Pallod Norrim just ordered your release."

"Legally, I'm authorized to confiscate your weapons. Possession of any weapons is against the law on Regina. But Imperial law is a bit fuzzy about weapons on the grounds of the Downport, which is technically not subject to Regina law. So I'm merely taking custody of them until you leave the planet. If you're leaving from the Downport you can pick them up right here with proof of a purchased ticket offworld."

"Go on. Get out of here before I lose this order."