Return to Hefry and The Pirates of Keng

STARLIT spent seven days in jump space from Feri, jumping out at Roup (on target) on 1105-0109.  A message from Blast was waiting.  “Orders: Upon arrival in the Roup System land at Downport and meet Alan Gunderson, a bureaucrat and agent with Tilden and Company (who you saved from a shooting).  He will be accompanied by Josh Ludlow (Gunderson’s, security agent) and Reggie Backswat with a valuable cargo."

Upon arrival, Sir Vornif was immediately taken into custody for questioning by Imperial Marines.  Gunderson thanked the crew for delivering Vornif and invited them to lunch.  Only Pytor went to lunch with Alan and Regie; the others offloaded the 40-tons of weapons and onloaded the 50 tons of “valuable” new cargo (pearls).

At lunch Alan explained that Vornif was wanted for tampering with Ancients tech, and that Duke Norris himself (on Regina) was unhappy with the dangeorus experiments.  Blast would have details on Hefry when they arrived there next, but  STARLIT has just made things easy for the Duke.  And the pearl business that Tilden & Company had set up (Roup to Hefry to Regina) was going to help all involved.  After lunch Alan showed Pytor around, explaining where the new Roup school and hospital would go, how the planet would benefit from the increased trade, and how one day Roup would no longer be an Amber world.  Alan’s wife Rayan was a gracious at dinner that night and they talked until midnight about pearl “branding”, plans for trade, and the University on Regina.

When Pytor returned to STARLIT the new cargo was aboard, the old cargo was off and unpacked, and Tabitha had waited up.  They locked the ship down and she quickly turned in, while Pytor reviewed the cargo security vids and saw the “search” his ship by a security official with a blue orb accompanied by Albert who was looking for bombs.  It appeared nothing was found.  Pytor worried about the cargo they had delivered for Tilden & Company to Sir Gurech who perhaps was also involved in Ancient’s tech, but eventually fell asleep.

The next day John warned Pytor about the orb “search” the day before.  They both wondered what it meant.  John stood duty and Pytor hung around the ship.  It was an uneventful day.

But, the third day on Roup while Rachel had the watch, Pytor and John took an air raft up, dressed in combat armor sporting laser carbines and rifles, and observed the rural nature of Roup, the flying Screw Werms that nobles sometimes hunted as big game, and located the SEER training facility on the east coast of Lurka (the small continent west of Port Tai Dek).

STARLIT then took off for Hefry, spent an uneventful week in space with its crew exercising and working on skills, and found a waiting message from Blast upon arrival.  “Come to HQ for a briefing.  Well done.”

Blast was very happy and handed over a 10,000 CR bonus each from the Duke for delivering Vornif into custody on Roup (where he was then taken to Regina).  In addition to bringing in Vornif, the crew had built a strong alliance with the Minot Family on Feri which was expected to be both lucrative and ultimately lead to a better government on the planet.  This greatly suited the long-term goals of Tilden & Company.

Vornif was wanted by the Duke for tampering with Ancients tech on Boughene and conspiring with Sir Ekh-agh-gaen Gurech who was tampering with a related (teleport?) Ancients site on Pixie.  Unfortunately, Gurech is not only a hero but could raise trouble with Vargr in and out of the Imperium if taken into custody by the Duke; hopefully the arrest of Vornif would serve as a warning to Gurech.  The Duke also wanted to avoid arresting the scientists involved and each was now being interviewed by ISS intelligence agents on their respective worlds.

Blast sad he is thinking of completing the Anti-Hijack install, replacing the #1 beam laser turret with a triple beam laser turret (or triple missile turret), and adding a secret compartment in the engineering space.  All of which would belong to the crew if the crew bought the ship someday.  The crux was, would the crew accept a high-risk mission with a payout of 20,000 CR each?

The mission would be to the “The Pirate Worlds” in and around Keng where a hostage needs to be ransomed and brought out and a special cargo needs to be dropped off.  The crew would be briefed by a member of the ISS Intelligence branch on Hefry but it would be a solo mission without promise of cover or help.  No questions could be asked after the briefing, and silent comms are safest during the jumps in and out.  There will be a very real risk of being killed or captured, but a 100,000CR insurance policy will be paid to the "relative of your choice".  Blast also said that if the ISS briefing points to a mission that Tilden & Company should not be involved in, Pytor should return and tell Blast.

Pytor agreed to the terms and was led by a (trusted long-term secretary of Tilden & Company) to an ISS briefing.  It was held in the Detached Duty division of the Hefry Scout Base which managed both detached scouts and the intelligence.  A tough elderly man with scars led Pytor, Tabitha, and Albert back to a man named Tom in a small briefing room.

Tom explained their assignment.  Proceed to the “The Pirate Worlds” with 200,000 CR in jewels hidden in a new secret compartment.  Head to a specified drop point near Keng where a hostage will be traded for ransom in exchange for the jewels.

This will be a solo mission without promise of cover or help because the Imperium does not permit ransoms.  But this is about Goetz vonHorndren, the ten year-old son of Kinneas vonHorndren, who is a key stockholder of the GSbAG megacorporation and a friend of ArchDuke Norris.  Therefore, no questions may asked after the briefing, and silent comms are expected during the jumps in and out.  There will be a very real risk of being killed or captured, but a 100,000CR insurance policy will be paid to the relative of your choice.  The code word "Grapefruit" was chosen and a Navy ship escort could be expected on the way out.  The code word would ensure that they would receive protection thereafter.

The crew must bring Goetz to Hefry before the next Tilden & Company assignment and a debriefing on the pirates should be anticipated at ISS intelligence.  If successful, the crew of STARLIT will then be eligible for extended missions on behalf of the ISS as well the usual high value missions for Tilden & Company.  They will likely also gain favor with the valuable GSbAG megacorporation family.

Most Scouts know very little about the pirates of Keng and its surrounds.  Tom provided a schematic of Freeport where he thinks they are based.  The source (an agent) was killed before being able to answer questions.  Tom handed over the agent’s final report.

[Note: images grabbed quickly from internet during the game; if you own these, please let me know so I can credit you (or take them down from this public site if you require).]

The pirate to deal with is Captain K’rall Vosting.  Should he die in a high-visibility manner after Goetz is rescued it would bring a doubling of pay and likely the award of the Starburst Cluster.  The SC is the highest award possible for a civilian and is often accompanied by a small land grant within the subsector of award.  Captain Vosting has attacked a dozen imperial merchant ships over ten years and is known to operate near Keng.  His fence is not known.  He personally destroyed a Type-S Scoutship and has a bounty of 80,000 CR on his head (for recorded proof of kill or capture).  This would of course accrue in addition to pay and other benefits. 

There were a few questions before the brief ended.  Tom and Pytor agreed that the route in would be Hefry to Roup to Feri and then Enope to Keng.  The route out would be Keng to Shionthy to Pscias and out with a Navy ship waiting along the route to provide cover if needed.

Pytor also gained a bit of information about Captain K’rall Vosting.  Vosting's ship was believed to be BLACK WITCH, a Type P-Corsair.

 [Note: images grabbed quickly from internet during the game; if you own these, please let me know so I can credit you (or take them down from this public site if you require).]

Corsair (Type P): Based on the type 400 hull, the corsair is fitted out with jump drive-D, maneuver drive-F, and power plant-F, giving it a capability for jump-2 and 3G acceleration. A Model/2 computer (3/6) is installed, and often contains a standard software package (1-Target, 1-Return Fire, 1-Predict-1, 1-Launch, 1-Navigate, 1-Auto/Evade, 2-Anti-Missile, 1-Jump1, 2-Jump-2, and 1-Library) upgraded over time. Most important to this ship are the three triple turrets, although each turret is often initially equipped with only one beam laser. Ten staterooms serve as quarters for the crew (pilot, navigator, three engineers, and assorted thugs and cutthroats numbering up to five more); twenty low berths are available for emergency use, or to hold captives. The ship is not streamlined, and there are no ship’s vehicles or boats. Fuel capacity is 120 tons, and cargo capacity is 160 tons.

Notable features on the corsair are large cargo doors and variable identification features. The large clamshell doors can open to reveal the entire cargo bay; the ship can accept a 100-ton ship into its cargo bay. The ship has several centrally controlled identification features which can alter the shape and configuration of the ship at a moment's notice; fins retract or extend, modules appear or disappear, and radio emissions alter frequency and content. The ship’s transponders can be altered to identify the vessel as having any of a variety of missions and identities.

The approximate value of the corsair is Cr180,000,000, but this price would be difficult to obtain on the open market, as the ship is of a non-commercial type, and its lineage and paperwork are of uncertain origin. It could probably bring about one-quarter its value.

Agent’s Report - Piracy in the Regina Subsector

              It is no surprise that pirates avoid worlds with large Navy bases, and to a lesser extend Scout bases.  They will also generally avoid world on a main shipping corridor as it attracts too much attention and response.

              In the Regina subsector pirates congregate on the trailing side, particularly around Keng and its asteroid world of Freeport out in Keng’s Oort cloud.  Keng, Shionthy, and Moughas are all pirate dens and the worlds around them are either victims or collaborators or both.

              Keng is low tech and isolated from trade.  It is difficult to reach due to Red Zoned worlds and planets with very poor starports along the way, and those trade ships that do come to Keng find little to offer in the markets besides agricultural products.  As a result piracy is openly tolerated by an Imperial Knight of loose morals and a large black market helps maintain the economy and his lifestyle.

              Freeport itself has a long history of independence and is also half a light-year from the world Keng, enabling the Knight strategic denial when transgressions are egregious.  Freeport is carved from a rocky asteroid and is an independent port open to ships of any description, and a home to some 11,000 permanent residents living in habitat tunnels within the Freeport Rock.  It has facilities equivalent to an E class starport, and a transient populace that doubles the number of permanent residents at times..

              Shionthy (or Shinothy) is a ring of many small planetoids incapable of retaining an atmosphere or water. The system has a population of about 300 million sophonts, contains archaeological sites from the Ancients, and is a TAS Red Zone world interdicted because of the extreme danger to traffic posed by the presence of small anti-matter particles. Contact with even a microscopic particle can cause severe damage. 

              Before interdiction, Shionthy had already acquired a population of belters collecting anti-matter fragments, worth several million credits per gram. Imperial law allows established populations to remain in a system after interdiction, and despite periodic disasters, the population has grown to an estimated 70 million. The inhabitants sell their finds to the Imperium, which finds the present arrangement too valuable to abandon.

              Socrates Station is an established trade station located within the Shionthy belt. It is on a planetoid trapped in a stable Lagrange point trailing behind the gas giant Socrates. Socrates Station is well known to Imperial Authorities and is considered one of the more modern and civilized locations in the system. Fuel, accommodations and minor maintenance or repairs can be obtained.

Also scattered within the asteroid belt are angry anti-matter miners and traders, Socrates Station dissidents and outcasts, and outright pirates.

Moughas is a large water world (around a binary star) with 500,000 sophonts governed by a civil service bureaucracy and restrictive laws.  It holds the estate of an Imperial knight, who is effectively a tirant under continual threat and siege.  His ships have been known to destroy without warning.

Moughas was settled about two decades ago in 1085 by refugees from Feri, fleeing the continuous wars that raged between the hundreds of states. The group consisted of pacifists, intellectuals, persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, and others tired of constant strife and disorder – all seeking a way off the planet. Coming together, the leaders approached the Imperial Ministry of Colonization seeking an Imperial Warrant to settle

Moughas, which was duly approved. Selling up, the group moved off world over five years. The granting of the warrant of settlement to the dissidents greatly angered the various nations and laid the seeds for another world war between the pro- and anti-Imperial states.

An asteroid belt around Moughas is filled with angry belters, dissidents, and diehards.  Piracy is rampant.

Late addition - the following diagram was found in the dead agent's files without explanation.

 [Note: This image is altered from Spinward Marches, Supplement 3, using MS Paint.]