Prison Pit

Cell B-003: Good Apples and Bad Apples

jumpspace bucroth-Lyrar, 9:47 shipboard time 124/1106

DM Note: No Derek or Allan this week, making for a bijou Manx and Alice session!

The Hand of God - click it for larger image!

During Jump, Alice spent a fair bit of time loading a variety of rounds for the sniper rifle. She looked the weapon over, considering whether it could be rebored for a larger cartridge, but realized she did not have the tools required to precision drill and re-rifle the weapon. It was possible, but she needed specialist gunsmithing equipment.

Manx spent more time getting to know the ship's systems, tuning the sublight engines to squeeze a bit more of the speed he knew they'd need one day out of them.

Outer system, Lyrar/Flavin, 17:40 shipboard time 128/1106

Drotnur

The Hand of God emerged cleanly from jumpspace eight million miles from the gas giant Drotnur at the edge of the Lyrar system. The sensors sprang to life, picking up power plant signatures and radio waves from the rest of the system. Four other starships shared the ecliptic with them, but all were headed inward towards the mainworld. Leaving aside the obvious question ("Why?"), Manx took the controls and lit the manoeuvre drives for the flight in to the gas giant.

During the ten hours of the flight, the four command crew discussed the locations of their most probable customers for the stolen Terbium process. Lyrrath and Inversar were the only ones with all three companies operating, and Inversar was the biggest. As a result, it seemed the most suitable destination.

gas giant Drotnur (Reckphur VII) Lyrar/Flavin, 13:55 shipboard time 129/1106

Drive Room

Twenty hours later, the vessel had successfully skimmed a tankful of raw methane from the atmosphere of Drotnur. They'd stayed within the swirling mists of the giant's atmosphere while the patient purifiers stripped out the native hydrogen from the unpurified soup, despite the danger - dip too low, and the massive gravity and pressure of the lower atmosphere would crush any starship. Lyrar was unattractive enough that they'd decided not to bother heading into the mainworld, but to jump straight out. While the LS they'd bought on Bucroth wasn't rated to take them on for another jump, the additional foodstuffs they'd collected was enough to keep them alive until they reached their next destination. Skipping the standard starport service on the ship slightly increased the chance of a misjump, but Manx was confident his engines would manage.

Lifting out of the dense clouds of Drotnur's atmosphere, they flew out to its' 100-diameter point and made the jump for Gravla.

jumpspace lyrar-gravla, 02:47 shipboard time 132/1106

Jebediah Hurker

While in jump, Alice called a conference of what was now referred to as the command crew - the four prisoners who'd made the initial mental leap and killed guards. She, Manx, Martha and Gripper now considered their crewmates quite seriously. Top of the list was the question; do we need to get rid of Hurker? Almost anywhere they went, he was liable to be - well, a liability. Someone asked, could he change? Was he really as bad as he seemed. Alice chose that moment to share his personnel file, and Manx, Martha and Gripper descended into the abyss of Jebediah Hurker's personality. It left Manx at least sick and shaking, and in no doubt that they wanted to get rid of him. "Can we ditch him on Gravla?" asked Manx. "Untidy, and not fair on Gravla," commented Alice. "How do we do it then?" asked Manx. For answer, Gripper pulled his pistol and cocked the mechanism. Alice grimaced. "If we mishandle this, we could have a disaffected crew," she said.

"We could tell the crew he's decided to stay, and then whack him as he leaves," suggested Manx. "I have no problems with his death," said Alice.

Taxi Ardan

Over the next few days, they sounded the rest of the crew about splitting off on Gravla. Only Taxi Ardan was interested; "I always dreamed of 'avin a farm," he said reflectively. "It's a real backwater by the look of it; man could lose himself there." Unfortunately, Hurker had no desire to leave, what with a ready supply of porn and the prospect of a big city to enjoy. Manx shuddered at the thought of his probable plans there, and also the significant danger he might lead vengeful lawmakers to themselves. "What if Hurker wants to stay too?" he asked. "Didn't realize we hated the place that much!" commented Taxi.

Alice thought of something. "Benkin?" she said. "Too many people on Bucroth know that the Hand of God is us. We need another set of ship's papers. The forger whimpered slightly. "I spent ages on those papers," he said defensively. "And we can use them again - later," replied Alice soothingly. "But they're risky here. Make us another set for, oh, the Intero-Vise-Plann" she said, reading words at random. Manx chuckled. "The IVP?" he asked. "A name pregnant with suspense," said Burkins.

Outer system, gravla/flavin, 03:23 shipboard time 140/1106

It was a full eight days before they emerged from jump, and several people were becoming nervous; an overlong time was one of the early signs of a possible misjump. All was well, however, and the ship had come out in the Gravla system as planned. The fairly small system of planets orbiting the red subgiant star Koga had only one gas giant, Darceten, in orbit IV, and as usual their first item of business was refuelling. That done, they plotted a course across the system to the mainworld.

Gravla (Koga I), Gravla/Flavin, 20:02 local time 140/1106

Gravla

Evening was just drawing in at the starport on Gravla as the Intero-Vise-Plan broke cloud cover and spiralled down towards the landing pads. Around the starport, green and golden fields rich with crops spread out across the landscape. It was their first sight of an even part-way terranormal planet since being convicted, and it raised everyone's spirits somehow.

Gravla was rated as having a class B starport, but even at a glance it was apparent that this was a borderline classification. There was no orbital highport and many of the facilities dirtside looked as if they hadn't been used for a while. The landing pad they were directed to was in good order, though, and after paying the berthing fees (which were rather low) and restocking the lifesupport, Alice and Manx prepared to say farewell to 'Taxi' Ardan.

Alice and Manx had both felt bad about the minimal share of the group's loot given to Slippers, Spanners and Chris when they mustered out, and Taxi had been a stalwart of their escape from the beginning. This time, they paid Taxi off with KCr15, and gave him the Odegran crawler into the bargain. There were several good reasons for this; he was the only member of the crew actually qualified to drive it, it would give him a good leg up to starting a farm - and somewhere to live to begin with - and there was always a small chance, standard though the design was, that someone would recognize it.

Taxi shook hands all round as he disembarked. "God luck, mate," said Manx. "You too," said Taxi seriously. "Stay free, and you're always welcome to visit. Preferably without the law chasing you - but always welcome." Then he turned and walked down the ramp to the crawler, climbed in and drove away.

Xavier downport, Gravla/flavin, 09:51 local time 141/1106

PAN with a fairy interface...

Once the ship's engines had been properly serviced, Manx set up a connection from the ship's computer to the Gravla PAN net, and logged in with the cashcard they'd used to pay for their previous access on Bucroth. His credit balance and settings, stored on the card, transferred to the Gravla system, and the custom interface Martha had requested was duly delivered. Manx sighed. He'd forgotten about the fairy. He ran his usual searches on outfits in his old trade, and checked the news, downloading the updates for the keywords and for Alice's searches as well.

Alice and Manx announced to the crew that they were going to take the launch up and scout for suitable farmlands for Taxi. "Come on Hurker, we'll need to call him if we find something," she added casually, "do you know anything about farms?" Hurker shook his head. "I know about farmers' daughters, though, hur hur hur," he answered. Alice suppressed a grimace. "Well, come on then, we'll see if we can find something suitable for you," she said .. truthfully in some ways.

DM Note: Inevitable echoes of Gordon's famous launch crash came to mind here. History did not repeat itself though!

Gripper unlocked the launch from the IVP's bridge, and Manx lifted the small craft free and into the air. Gravla TrafCon provided a flight plan for Morris, a city about six hours' leisurely flight away, with permission to sight-see on route. For four hours they skimmed along over gently rolling countryside interspersed with the patchwork of farms. Although Gravla's atmosphere was sufficently different from terranormal that filtermasks were needed, it wasn't nearly as posionous as Odegra's, and with minimal geneering, regular crops grew just fine. Fruit and vegetables seemed to be a majority rather than grain. Technology was by no means cutting edge, with electrical and even IC powered vehicles visible here and there, and even the occasional person riding some kind of animal.

Manx and Alice in the Launch - click it for larger image!

The twinkle of sunlight on a river caught Alice's eye. "Is that a river down there?" she asked ingenously. "Farms need water, don't they? That might be a good place; put 'er down." Manx brought the small spacecraft down gently on the soft grass near some trees and killed the engines, and the three disembarked, stretching their legs. It was a warm afternoon, and the local equivalent of birds were singing in the trees beside the river. Alice glanced at the river. "Did you like to fish as a boy, Hurker?" she asked. For a moment, the unhealthy cast to Hurker's face faded and the ghost of a small boy drifted across his mind. "Yes, loved it," he said softly. Alice pointed. "Look! Fish!" she said. The dark desires that drover Hurker receded into the background, momentarily overpowered by an older, purer yearning. "Where?" he asked eagerly, leaning over to stare down into the sparkling water.

Smoothly, Alice drew her gauss pistol and brought it up as Hurker leaned past her, stepping back slightly as if to give him room. The muzzle was nearly touching the back of Hurker's head as she squeezed the trigger, and four steel needle bullets blasted through the back of his skull into his tortured brain. Hurker dropped without a sound, killed instantly.

Job Done - click it for larger image!

The launch turned out to have a crash survival kit which yielded a small entrenching tool. Half an hour's work produced a reasonable hole and the deviant's corpse was unceremoniously bundled in. Manx went down to the river to collect some largeish stones, and while he was gone Alice gave expression to her opinion of Hurker's crimes by relieving herself into his grave. Some stones went on top to keep any native scavengers from digging him up again, and Alice used some long-ago combat engineering training to conceal the signs that the excavation was there. The sun was setting as the pair met each other's eyes across the turf. Their gazes were level, their consciences clear; justice had been served. "Let's go home for tea," said Alice.

On the flight back, they called Taxi. "Just thought I'd let you know," she said, using the alias Benkin had created for Hurker, "Paul Anthony's staying as well." Taxi didn't sound overjoyed when he replied. "Thanks," he said, "I'll keep an eye open for him." Alice chuckled slightly. "He won't be troubling you," she added." Taxi paused a moment. "If I ever get married down here, I'll think of you and raise a glass," he commented. "Be safe out there."

So ended the unsavoury story of Jebediah Hurker.

xavier downport, gravla/flavin, 19:16 local time 141/1106

DM Note: Trade goods for interstellar shipping generally fall into three categories. Spec cargoes are items the ship's cargomaster can buy and hope to sell for profit on another planet where they're worth more. Consigned Freight is generally packaged in standardized 1-ton containers and charged at Cr1,000 per ton per jump (regardless of jump distance). Passengers are people travelling either in cabins (High or Mid Passage) or in frozen sleep (Low Passage), all at generally standard fares.

Back at the ship, Manx and Alice explained that Hurker had liked the look of the place, and was going to stay - basically true - and that they'd drop his stuff of with Taxi in the morning. Whether or not the remaining three crewers believed them was hard to say, but no-one challenged the statement or raised a protest.

Legik Ugakish

Manx's connection to PAN had linked the ship to the cargo exchange system, and when he called her up PAN had several items for his attention. "There is a spec cargo of non-ferrous ingots, two hundred forty tons," she explained as a tranparent list of the details appeared in the air next to Manx, "and a consigned shipment of local produce, twenty tons." The IVP could carry 150 tons, so Manx followed up the consignment. A new window opened and a weatherbeaten face appeared. "er, hello, Legik Ugakish here, can I help you?"

It turned out that Legik's normal transportation company, Braxis Transit, had let him down, and he was desperate to find another trader travelling to Inversar who would take his produce before it spoiled. "We'll be in touch," said Alice.

After he hung up, they called Braxis Transit, who turned out to be a single-ship free trader, obviously the victim of some kind of mechanical failure and unable to afford the repairs. Nothing seemed to point towards a trap, so they called Ugakish back and accepted the contract to lift his cargo. "Great," he said, in relief. "I'll be there in three days." The pair exchanged glances. "No, you stay put," said Alice, "We'll come to you."

Legik's apple farm, gravla/flavin, 08:58 local time 142/1106

Early the next morning, Manx carefully eased the IVP down into a fallow field near Legic Ugakish's farmhouse. After the dust and leaves had settled, the old farmer came out to meet them - wearing no mask, they noticed. He and his wife, they later learned, were geneered humans, altered like their crops to fit into this world. Legik was massively grateful to them for agreeing to take his produce, and as the four HUMP-R class cargo robots started work on loading the cargo canisters his wife came out of the house with a large apple pie for the crew, to which he added a case of apples for the galley. Happily accepting these, Manx and Alice closed up and lifted ship as soon as loading was complete. Manx had been getting some practice in as time went by, but Gripper still whimpered slightly at the angle the IVP took through the atmosphere.

Outer System, Inversar/Flavin, 03:47 shipboard time 149/1106

Inversar

Inversar's sole gas giant, Mergacas, provided the usual refuelling, after which the IVP turned her nose inward towards the mainworld of the Trunweir system. Trunweir V - Inversar - was one of the subsector's High Population Worlds, star systems with more than a billion inhabitants. Although Inversar was only just within this bracket, the mainworld itself was home to a full billion people, while being five-eighths the size of a true terra-normal planet. The land surface was densely covered with cities, and the sight of a planet growing bigger in the front viewports that had its' darkside liberally spangled with the knots and chains of light that meant big, high-tech cities felt like coming home for most of the crew.

When they were two hours or so from the mainworld, Manx put through a call to the comm number Legik had given them. A recorded voice, heavily Vargr accented and trailing its' sentences in that unmistakable Vargr manner, informed them that they had reached Inversar Imports and would they please leave a message?

An hour later the call was returned, by a Vargr naming himself Zughznodong (Zugh for short). "We're brought your apples," said Alice. The Vargr eyed her for a moment. "You're not the usual mob," he commented, then shrugged. "No matter. Land at the usual place." Alice coughed. "We are new," she said, "and we don't know where that is, do we now?" Zugh let his tongue hang out in a Vargr smile. "So you don't," he admitted. "OK, transmitting." A data signal briefly rode the voice/data connection, and a landing pad was marked out on the map to one side. "TrafCon know we have an ongoing rental here," he said. "They'll plot you a path there."

Stansky Downport, Inversar, Inversar/Flavin, 14:55 local time 149/1106

Zughznodong

Descending along the path mapped out for them by TrafCon through the thick grav traffic criscrossing Inversar's atmosphere, the landing pad opened out beneath them. A large square area of concrete ringed with connections to the fuel and LS outlets formed the primary landing pad; a high square hangar large enough to take a ship twice their own size. Sensors indicated a ship was parked under it now, by the profile a Vargr trader with its power plant run down to tick-over.

Manx put them down on the concrete, and Alice, Gripper and Martha dropped the side ramp nearest the hangar. Five Vargr appeared from the hangar, heading towards the IVP. One, carrying a datapad and wearing a leather pilot's jacket was Zugh; one of the others was guiding a large grav trolley. Manx, arriving from the bridge, turned to the nearest bollard-shaped HUMP-R robot lurking in the hold. "Unload that lot," he said, gesturing at the apples.

Zugh and another Vargr mounted the ramp, the former hefting a datapad. "What do you want, Rover?" muttered Alice, keeping her voice down. The only better way of starting a fight with a Vargr was to use the d***ie word. The merchant greeted them cheerfully enough, and proffered the pad. "Sign here, please," he said. Manx took the pad and was just about to scrawl "Manxolio Orin" across it when he remembered and hastily revised it to his fake identity of Lester Chapman. Zugh took the pad back, scowled at it and thumped it a couple of times. "Kueghkotouoth human-made junk," he cursed, "it's broken down again. You'll need to come into the office and sign." Alice glanced at Manx, and the pair set off down the ramp with the two Vargr. "Martha." hissed Alice, "apparently we need to go sign in the office. Keep an eye open up here." The other woman nodded and Alice carried on down onto the tarmac and across into the hangar.

The office was a little cubby built of sheet metal at one end of the hangar, most of which was full of a sharp-nosed Vargr starship, probably a trader and very possibly a pirate and smuggler. As Alice entered, the Vargr guard had taken up position against the far wall, idly watching his boss who was bent over a computer tapping away at the old-fashioned keyboard. Alice kept her attention on the guard, but Manx very subtly moved himself so he was able to see the screen. Reams of incomprehensible Vargr script flowed across it, but as he watched an image flashed into view and was gone - a prison mugshot of Alice. A moment later his own face replaced it, then Martha's. As he watched, the Vargr's finger flashed out and dabbed at the squawk button of the nearby comm unit. "Trouble," he said quietly as he reached over and toggled it off again, drawing a pistol from his suit pocket.

The IVP berthed on Inversar- click it for larger image!

On the other side of the room, Alice and the guard both moved. Vargr are fast, but Alice had her pistol against his forehead before his assault rifle was halfway around to the horizontal. "Why cause trouble?" she said reasonably. "Slide the rifle over here." A wave of the pistol indicated a direction. "On your knees, facing the wall," she snapped. Manx fooled with the screen, but couldn't get back to his picture. "Bring that page with me on up," he demanded, "and translate it." A couple of clicks and it was done. Internal Maximillian corporate Xmail, names and descriptions of the four 'command crew' over a Dead Only bounty of KCr500 each; names and descriptions of several other cons, some with them, some not and presumably dead. Forensics hadn't been able to determine who had escaped yet; only the ones seen at the Science Base on Odegra were known to be loose. "So what what were you doing, then?" asked Alice with deceptive calm. Zugh swallowed. "I was just calling the lads, you know, my guys out there," he nodded towards the hangar where the Vargr workers were loading the apples onto the Vargr ship. "Just business, you know, just business." Alice nodded thoughtfully.

"I have a proposition for you; more business. Something to make those," she gestured contemptuously at the bounty figures," seem like chickenfeed. We have ... some information - very valuable information - that Maximillian won't pay to get back - but their rivals will. Big time."

Zugh's mouth fell open and he panted, his ears going down, sure sign of a nervous Vargr under stress. "I'm a trader, lady," he pointed out plaintively, "franchised to Maximillian Industries. I don't know anything about espionage." Alice grinned. "No need to worry; it's just a trade, a business deal. Come on, let's discuss it over a cup - or a bowl - of coffee." She glanced at the disarmed guard. "You too," she said, "leave the rifle." She slipped an arm around his shoulder. "Let's laugh and talk as we cross the hangar," she said, "like it's going well. We don't want any nasty incidents." The Vargr gulped and did their best to act natural, which wasn't a very good best; at least one of the loaders looked at them a bit askance as they passed. Nonetheless, they reached the ramp unchallenged and disappeared into the IVP's cargo hold. "Watch the door," muttered Alice to Gripper and Martha as they passed.

	Session Date: 15th June 2011 (166/-2507 Imperial)