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--- game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:adventure_journal [2025/10/28 10:35] – [Keeping Secrets] Bryan Stephens
+++ game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:adventure_journal [2025/11/12 16:23] (current) – [Good Evening, Professor] Bryan Stephens
@@ Line 1126: / Line 1126: @@
 Davie makes his report to Commander Adams, presenting the detailed information Lucas compiled. Adams invites David to stay on base, and David accepts. He soon finds himself in Officer quarters, with a wonderful view of the inside of the Oneil habitat inside the asteroid of the naval base. He sends a message to the others he has reported and invites Anson to join him. As it was in the Navy, it is now time to hurry up and wait.
-Richmond joins Maria on the trip out. They are headed for a small Mandala outpost. These sorts of thing are contact points, not the research and training spots like the Brotherhood of Sol. This one is an office of the Wimariaus Research Foundation. The Foundation conducts aptitude testing and provides vocational counseling. It uses a variety of tests that have literally centuries of development and refinement for Humans, Vargr and Aslan. Each Wimarius office collects its data and shares it with all other offices across the Imperium. It is an old and legitimate organization, with an office in every sector capital. Unlike some of its competitors who target mostly highly social nobility, Wimarius is open to all levels of society, with sliding scale fees.
+Richmond joins Maria on the trip out. They are headed for a small Mandala outpost. These sorts of thing are contact points, not the research and training spots like the Brethren of Sol. This one is an office of the Wimariaus Research Foundation. The Foundation conducts aptitude testing and provides vocational counseling. It uses a variety of tests that have literally centuries of development and refinement for Humans, Vargr and Aslan. Each Wimarius office collects its data and shares it with all other offices across the Imperium. It is an old and legitimate organization, with an office in every sector capital. Unlike some of its competitors who target mostly highly social nobility, Wimarius is open to all levels of society, with sliding scale fees.
-The Wimarius Research Foundation office in Glisten is housed in one of the largest and oldest habitats that is not Glisten City, Glisfour. While smaller than Glisten, this city-habitat supports Glisten Institute for Technology and Coventry Naval Academy and is a natural place for Wimarius. It is also a natural place for a Mandala front. This particular Wimarius office, unbeknownst to Wimarius headquarters, is owned and operated by Mandala. This is a much smaller operation than the Brotherhood of Sol. In fact, it is all of 4 people. Operations close to a sector capital are always dangerous, so a low profile is a must.
+The Wimarius Research Foundation office in Glisten is housed in one of the largest and oldest habitats that is not Glisten City, Glisfour. While smaller than Glisten, this city-habitat supports Glisten Institute for Technology and Coventry Naval Academy and is a natural place for Wimarius. It is also a natural place for a Mandala front. This particular Wimarius office, unbeknownst to Wimarius headquarters, is owned and operated by Mandala. This is a much smaller operation than the Brethren of Sol. In fact, it is all of 4 people. Operations close to a sector capital are always dangerous, so a low profile is a must.
 {{:game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:lore:med.png?300 |}}
-While the members of this cell are unlikely to be able to help Sorrel directly, they are most likely going to be able to get her and Kelleys someplace where they can get help. Maria plans to send them to the temple of the Brotherhood of Sol, who helped them before.
+While the members of this cell are unlikely to be able to help Sorrel directly, they are most likely going to be able to get her and Kelleys someplace where they can get help. Maria plans to send them to the temple of the Brethren of Sol, who helped them before.
 Upon arrival, Maria shows her Mandala medallion, and the staff at the desk, Benjamin Addu is a bit tongue tied. While Maria is retired, he does not realize that, and an Mandala agent is an unusual person to be present. She and Richmond are shown to Director Ermur Kad. Kad is also unsure of himself, but unwilling to argue with Maria. She arranges for a donation to the local Wimarius chapter, and they create the background work. Richmond and Maria leave to fly back to the starport.
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 The //Wandering Providence// heads back up to jump. The crew debates where to go from here. They need to get a message to Mercades, but that can be from anywhere. Should they run, head out of Chartered Space? They decide they will report to Her Grace the Lady Avaraja Astaarte Muktheswara, subsector Duchess of Glisten.
+===== 15 the Cost of Knowing =====
+|Game Date|10/30/25|
+|Campaign Dates| 320-359, 1100|
+==== The Trip to Glisten ====
+The //Wandering Providence// races away from Lydia to a safe jump point as fast as they can travel. They all want to put as much space behind them as possible. Weiss is their next destination—a port of call where they are on good terms, even intimate in the case of Miria and Vincent. They chart the jump and leave behind Lydia, its new scar visible even from this distance.
+Once they are in jump, everyone can let go. No one has even taken off their vacc suits. It is time to clean up. To rest. Ama-gi is enough to monitor everything. Anson takes David in hand to help him clean up. Gwith’thin, as a medic, checks on the rest of them. Exhaustion sets in for everyone, and the ship drifts into the silence of background operations as sleep overtakes them. Saving Chartered Space is hard.
+Over the week, everyone who is still biological suffers from illness at various times. Lucas and Gwith’thin monitor the effects on everyone. They come in waves:
+..*Tingling in the spine and nerve endings.
+..*Nausea and aches in lymph nodes and various internal organs.
+..*Weakness, trembling hands, and sudden loss of control over extremities.
+..*Blinding headaches and temporary vision loss.
+Each time the process goes on for a few hours. Their Ancient Tech autodocs show changes in musculature, neural connections, and even organ resilience. It is not pleasant, but as they recover from each episode, they find they are… enhanced. Thoughts flow a bit more smoothly. They have more energy. Things seem a bit lighter and their nimbleness is higher.
+Perhaps even more strange, for everyone but Maria, they keep finding snippets of thoughts. At first they think it is imagination, but soon they cannot ignore their minds touching one another. Maria and Ama-gi have a growing awareness of this communication. Even Vincient experiences some of it, as his psionic state stabilizes. None of them are powerful, but each of them has limited abilities.
+Lucas feels violated by the effects and grabs a bottle. Several bottles. And walls himself off in his cabin. David is worried about the effect, and that ancient tech can “uplift” others. He broods on the effect this could have on the Imperium. This is not a technology he wants being sought as it is too destabilizing. After all they have been through, the retired Captain of the Imperial Navy can no longer fully trust his old command. Service to the Imperium is greater than orders.
+Gwith’thin and Aurther are both disturbed by the changes, but the logical Bwap is not prone to the anxiety of Humans, while Aurther decides to focus on using his newfound intelligence to hone his skills and teaching the Gwith’thin, who reluctantly agrees, how to use a gun.
+Vincent frankly feels what he calls “Big Damn Hero” energy. He knows he did not seek this, but here it is. His own psionics are now more stable and more powerful. Anson agrees with him, and the two spend some time like siblings with talking about their new toys. This works well for Anson, as her lover is spending time brooding.
+Maria is the least affected of all. This is what happens with Ancient technology. This is what she did with Mandala. She is already used to being, well, frankly, //better// than everyone else. Even among her peers at Mandala, no one else mastered all the psionic disciplines. No one else was a P15. If anything, she feel more aligned with her past life, as violent and sometimes tragic as it was, than she has in years.
+But the former psion agent feels bad for her friend Lucas. The two who started out with friction have grown into a relationship of mutual respect. However, neither have a confidant among the crew. Lucas has always been proper as //Professor vin der Volk// to the rest. David has Anson have each other and Vincent is friends with everyone at some level, Maria and Lucas maintain a certain professionalism with everyone. It is in this space that Maria decides to act.
+Lucas is surprised when Maira walks into his cabin with a bottle of fine whisky she had been saving. She notes that he as been drinking the gut rot stuff. Maria sits next to Lucas and says nothing, simply being a presence. The old Vargr blearily stares up at her then collapse against her shoulder, sobbing. Time passes. Nothing is said.
+A layover is Weiss is called for as they refuel. The terrible Bwap and Human duo immediately head to the star town casino. Anson coaxes David into dinner and a room at the Highport. Vincent looks up Miria for an afternoon, evening, and then morning of fun. Even Maria gets in on the action, going shopping for gifts for the crew, and finds a handsome young man for her night of fun. He awakes sure he had a good time, but not quite able to recall what the woman from last night actually looked like. For Maria, old habits die hard.
+The next day reunites crew of the //Wandering Providence// and they proceed to Glisten. Lucas and David prepare their report and use Ama-gi to organize the notes. They plan a totally verbal report  - nothing written down.
+==== Good Evening, Professor ====
+As soon as the //Wandering Providence// makes contact with Gilsten control, they are immediately instructed to fly directly to the Ducal residence by a standing order. It seems they are expected. They are given a tight flight line, and make their way through to the Oneil cylinder that comprises the grounds, offices, and residence for Her Grace the Lady Avaraja Astaarte Muktheswara, subsector Duchess of Glisten.
+At least they don’t have to ask for an audience.
+They land inside the hanger and note that there are no living personnel: Refueling is being performed by robots. It is time to get dressed in their finest. David asks Maria point blank if she is coming this time. Maria is silent and heads to her room. At the last moment, she joins them, elegantly dressed. She has them pause and spends a few moments of telepathic contact. For each person, she fully reinforces the debrief they are going to deliver. They fully believe it. Even when there are parts where they may lie, their minds, for a time, will not trigger the anxiety of a lie.
+//”I am absolutely sure they will have sophisticated lie detectors. This will help you say what you need to say. I can adjust my own body.”// They leave their psionic connectors behind. Lucas even leaves his ring. There is no reason to take anything of the sort along.
+They are met as they walk off the ship by Ms. Sonesta and four members of Lady Avaraja’s personal guard. They are led, meeting no other souls, to the same anteroom as they have seen before. There are generous refreshments. Ms. Sonesta tells them they are waiting for Admerial Mohammad to arrive and then they can brief both him and her Grace on whatever it is they have been up too. The Duchess has left standing orders for the crew of the //Wandering Providence// to come straight here.
+They eat and drink. Lucas notes there is even Vargr food, but
+//”No one ever has the aromatic dishes”// in a somewhat surely mood. Vincent takes jovial offence
+//”Not ‘no one’. I have, on several occasions, served you food you said was like ‘mother use to make’. Granted, you had to eat it in your cabin alone so the rest of us could enjoy the more human flare. //
+This sparks a round of general laughter and a much needed release of tension. The four friends, bound by fire, actually relax just a bit, or as much as they can before a significant debriefing.
+They meet again with Lady Avaraja, Admiral Mohammad, and Dr. Isa Hill. Over the course of seven hours, they relate their experiences, emphasizing at least one Ancient is left alive and the significant threat posed to //all// of Chartered Space. They leave out details of their own ship’s upgrades with Ancient technology, especially the 300,000 year old Terran mind running it. Also left out are the upgrades to their own bodies. This has been by mutual agreement. And they are believed. No one calls them out for lying. Maria’s work was successful. There are several weighted looks between the Duchess and Admiral when Omicron is mentioned. It is clear neither is happy with that organization. When they are done, her Grace speaks,
+//”Thank you for your service to the Imperium. It is terrifying that such a threat could be inside the subsector We will need some time to decide what to do. In the meantime, you will be my guests here on my grounds. Have your crew join us.”//
+Ms. Sonesta takes them, and the rest of their crew, to several villas. It is beautiful, with a cluster of homes around a central “long house”. Servant robots tend to their needs. There is even old fashioned Vargr cuisine. For three days they are in a garden, with no contact with the outside world. Other than Maria, who keeps in contact with Ama-gi who confirms that no one is approaching the ship.
+At the end of this respite, their crew and luggage is shipped back to the //Providence// and they again meet. This time it is to hear the plan.
+//”Omicron’s fooling around has almost resulted in an threat being unleashed on the whole subsector, if not Imperium,”// Lady Avaraja begins, //”Imperial Warrant or not, this is unacceptable. I have decided to take my case to the Emperor directly.”//
+The room blinks. This will take a minimum of 27 weeks, with almost no stops. Closer to over 30 with her jump-6 ship.
+//”This will serve both the need to talk with the Emperor, but also ensure no one shows up to serve me with an Imperial Warrant demanding to know what I know. My immediate staff will be with me, also out of reach.”//
+The Admerial speaks up, //”And I will be going on an intelligence tour of the subsector. No filed flight plan for security reasons. Provides the same level of avoiding. Captain Swift, you might remember Nelson on old Earth putting his telescope up to his bad eye.”//
+//”Or Cunningham saying the message was distorted when it was out of date,”// David agrees with a chuckle.
+Her Grace continues, //”I am going to give you a Ducal Writ. This will get you service, fuel, and whatever else you need within this subsector or Regina. I have been in contact with the leadership there in the past, and I am sure this will be honored. However, I suggest you make yourselves scarce. District 268 might be a good choice. I will have word sent to you as I can.”//
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:characters:soral_at_brethern.png?400|}}
+//”We have a contact on Avastan,”// David notes, I’ll get you the information for secure transmission.
+With that, the meeting breaks up. They are escorted back to their ship, and Anson notes they are already cleared to leave. It appears their time is up! As they clear the dock, they see the 1,200 ton Duchal Yacht, //Glisten Queen// being readied for departure. It is easy to clear the 1,000 diameters from an Oneil cylinder, and the crew is on the way through Jump Space. First to Mille Falcs, then Collace, and finally Avastan.
+Hailed by Avastan control, Lucas tells them they are here to “worship” and the //Wandering Providence// flies down to its old “home” at the Temple of the Brethern of Sol. Even before they land, Maria reaches out to the Head Mandala Rep, Jenna Breeland, and gives her a taste of her report. This one will be unredacted. Mandala has stood between the Imperium and forces for which it has no defense for centuries. This is the job. Maria has returned to work.
+The hanger is still cold from opening to the outside air as the seven organic members of the crew disembark. Standing their to meet them, dressed in the robes of the Brethren, are Kellys, and their old friend, Sorrel. She throws back her hood and races to embrace Lucas. As the camera pans back from the ship, old friends surround Sorrel.
+End of Season. The Crew of the //Wandering Province// will return in **Secrets of the Ancients**

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