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--- game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:adventure_journal [2026/02/18 15:57] – [Rally at “The Crow’s Shoulder] Bryan Stephens
+++ game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:adventure_journal [2026/03/11 20:38] (current) – [The “Offer” of a Job] Bryan Stephens
@@ Line 1318: / Line 1318: @@
 Sharri goes ahead of Rally and company find the manger, “rushing” ahead of Rally as if this is some sort of sudden impulse by her is able to get them in. She meets with the manager to ask for special support. Unfortunately, she has misread how popular Rally is here, or maybe just how little the manager cares and the additional bouncer protection for Rally ends up costing of Cr10,000. The VIP rooms are all booked. Sharri comms the crew just as Rally, Tangie, and Hanson arrive.
-{{:game_systems:traveller:npcs:02_rally_at_the_crows_shoulder.png?400 |}}
+{{:game_systems:traveller:npcs:02_rally_at_the_crows_shoulder.png?500 |}}
 Hanson is looking every bit the bodyguard, including high tech mirrored sunglasses as he exits the aircar first. His head swivels around like he is expecting assassins in the crowd. Rally follows with Tangie hanging on his arm, like the professional she was trained to be. They appear totally uninterested in anyone around them, though Viktor notes that Tangie does an able job of …dissuading … any women trying to approach Rally.
@@ Line 1438: / Line 1438: @@
 Sana looks quite nervous, but her father’s old partner ha a small grin.
-//”Sounds good to me. I don’t like being ordered to do this. That’s why Sana’s dad and I went into business together in the first place. What do you need from us?”
+//”Sounds good to me. I don’t like being ordered to do this. That’s why Sana’s dad and I went into business together in the first place. What do you need from us?”//
 //”Jump suits for KDV, for myself, Galen and Hanson. The women can sit that out. Rally, well, he needs to just hole up for the duration.”//
@@ Line 1448: / Line 1448: @@
 ==== The Inspector and the Security Manager ====
+{{:game_systems:traveller:npcs:03_confronting_inspector_strann.png?400 |}}
 A week after the parts were shipped out, Inspector Jaila Strann comes to KDV and Demanding to speak with Kestrel and Deveraux. She is shown into the conference room, with Viktor, Galen, and Hanson. Sharri, Rally and Tangie are in the next office over, with Tangie “snooping”. Strann balks at the room being full. Hanson starts to speak a lie, but Viktor steps in and simply smooths her over with his words of finely spun silk.
@@ Line 1472: / Line 1474: @@
 //”And he does this out of the goodness of his own heart, then?”//
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:npcs:04_meeting_kendran_hoss.png?400|}}
 Strann’s shoulders sag.
@@ Line 1477: / Line 1481: @@
 //”I occasionally do him a favor. Nothing illegal. Sometimes pressure or expedite things.”//
-//”Perhaps then,”// the steel blade emerges from the cotton, //”You should look at what he has been sending through this shipyard. Viktor shows her the data collected, and the clear illicit material. The inspector can see its illegal nature. Hanson did not think someone could get more pale without bleeding out. Galen has seen it many times.
+//”Perhaps then,”// the steel blade emerges from the cotton, //”You should look at what he has been sending through this shipyard.// Viktor shows her the data collected, and the clear illicit material. The inspector can see its illegal nature. Hanson did not think someone could get more pale without bleeding out. Galen has seen it many times.
 //”I did not know!”// she says in desperation.
@@ Line 1494: / Line 1498: @@
 Now the question for the group is if they push further forward, or do the let Capt. Orvelle take care of things from here on out.
+====== 14 Ship in the Lake ======
+|Game Date|3/1/2026|
+|Campaign Dates|1099, 232-257|
+==== The “Offer” of a Job ====
+{{:game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:characters:viktor_tells_is_all.png?300 |}}
+Viktor gathers the group together in their suits at KDV. They have decided that staying at the Highport is the best option moving forward, just in case there is any blowback from LSP. This did not make it any harder for Captain Orvelle of Military Intelligence to contact Viktor and assure him that KDV was in the clear, and this his organization was managing things. He also asked Viktor for a small favor.
+//”We have an opportunity for a little mercenary work…”// the former agent begins.
+Sharri snaps back //”We are NOT mercenaries!”//
+//”Um, Sharri, we kind of are,”// Hanson shurgs, //”I mean we did that job for your friend on Maitz. We saved a mob boss’s daughter. There have been the jobs for Viktor’s buddies.”//
+//”Fine. But that is not all we are.”// sighs the Captain of the //Starlight Drifter//.
+//”As I was saying, it turns out that Hazel, on parsec rimward from Trin, was long ago surveyed for mineral deposits and found to be unviable as an extraction site. It turns out this was a lie and the world has been kept as a reserve for various interests here on Trin. Thus, Hazel has suffered as a TL5 world. Trin’s major industrial concerns naturally have the ear of the ruling elite, which includes the subsector duke. Outside concerns are discouraged from investigating Hazel’s possible mineral wealth by various means; smaller companies are generally swatted away by difficulties in the marketplace or with legal obstructions dropped in their path. Larger corporations are subject to more subtle influence.”//
+//“Sternmetal Horizons appears to have sent a ground team there 7 years ago which had promising findings of resources. They have the clout to push through development, which the Imperial Ministry of Colonization wants. They are going to approach us with a job. I have documents here you can review. They will double what Sternmetal Horizons pays us., or pay us half if we are unsuccessful. We are just sitting here doing nothing but spending money.”//
+//”I take it we are being asked to take this job when offered?”// Sharri notes.
+//”Well, “asked” is a nice word, no?”// Viktor says with sardonic smile.
+The next day the Sternmetal Horizons proposal arrives and Sharri accepts it. Within the day they group is in motion.
+The deal is a success-only contract, with a payment of Cr200000 if the Crew can locate the survey data obtained by a Sternmetal prospecting party lost seven years ago during a guerrilla attack on a Lake Okayama steamer. The steamer’s rough location and course is known but the details of the sinking are not. What Sternmetal has been able to discover is that it was attacked by rebel gunboats whilst attempting to rescue off world tourists and local civilians from the city of Cocta at the north end of Lake Okayama. Cocta remains in rebel hands and should be considered too dangerous to visit.
+It is known that the survey team boarded the steamer, which began to cross the lake when it was fired upon and badly holed. According to reports, the rebels ceased fire when it became apparent the steamer was not a government vessel but a non-combatant, although other sources say it was pounded into scrap. It seems that the steamer made some progress down the lake before suffering rapid structural failure and sinking with great loss of life. The survey team went down with the ship.
+If the Crew can enter the sunken wreck and bring up the survey team’s records and instruments, they will receive full payment. An additional Cr10,000 is payable for the bodies of the five-strong survey team if they can be recovered and preserved in some way. The precise location of the wreck is worth Cr100000 but no other outcomes are considered a success. Sternmetal’s representative does not say but the firm wants proof that the rebels killed their team, just in case it proves useful in future negotiations.
+Sternmetal Horizons arranges for the Crew to be conveyed to Hazel aboard a scheduled passenger ship and for suitable cover stories to allay suspicions. They will have to get from the starport to the lake using their own resources, although that should not be difficult. It is quite common for tourists to rent boats to see the sights, although there are restrictions regarding destinations.
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:characters:hanson_and_galen.png?400|}}
+Once clear of the starport, the Crew will receive a package drop containing any equipment they chose not to carry through starport customs. Hazel has Law Level 7, so the Crew will not be permitted to bring in guns through the starport. Diving equipment would not provoke suspicion if the Crew seem like the types who enjoy underwater exploration, or it could be dropped outside the city. The drop will be made by a free trader crew who have been paid well to kick a bunch of crates on one-use grav landing units out of their airlock and then depart the system. No backup will be available after this point.
+Sternmetal Horizons will provide personal armament for any crewmember who wants it. This amounts to basic body armor such as a flak jacket, a handgun and a larger weapon such as an assault rifle, combat shotgun or submachinegun, with a modest amount of ammunition. Equipment will be ‘clean’, with no connection to crime, and can be kept. It is a deliberate hodgepodge to avoid suspicion that this is a corporate operation. The weaponry on offer is of a personal-combat nature and superior to what the locals have. Gauss guns, plasma weapons and the like are not available from Sternmetal Horizons and the firm does not really want the Crew deploying them on its behalf, even deniably.
+Rally tries to put drugs into the items they will hand over to drop. Clearly he was high when he did it, because Hanson was easily able to find the stash. They buy some diving gear for each of them, though only Rally and Hanson really know how to use the suits. Rally as a playboy, and Hanson having leared on their vacation during his time …playing… with the uplifted dolphins. Viktor gets an automated underwater drone to help them search.
+Tangie holds down the fort at KDV, with Reigns in standby mode as she is not needed.
+==== Travel Time ====
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:characters:rallyengine.png?300|}}
+The group books passage on a far trader not unlike their own, //Stalwart Stout//. It is odd to be in double occupancy cabins, though Rally is given his own based on his social status. He spends his time sulking that Hanson took his drugs and studies in his cabin. Galen similarly takes time to study in jump. Even Hanson, normally playing security, works on his own development. Viktor is always working and observes the people on the ship. He nudges Sharri to talk to the ship’s Captain, Morric Saranac. They hit it off as fellow captains, and Sharri seeks this as more learning for her.
+Arrival at Hazel and insertion is simple. Rally wants to go fishing and scuba diving. It is an easy sell, and the group decides to take the train to the city of New Okayama on Lake Okayama. Rally, ever the enthusiast for antiques, is taken in at an actual steam engine. He easily gets a tour of the engine, delighting in what to him is a step back in time. Hanson, as bodyguard goes along and is bored to tears. However he does keep the crew talking and finds out the old ferry sinking was in the northern end of the lake.
+Upon arrival, they check into a lakeside resort and find an eager young man waiting for them, Rowan Vell. Rowan is their official government guide. With the flagging tourism industry and the high profile of Rally, the government is going all out to make sure they have a great time.
+The group does a good job to hide they are nonplussed with this out come and decide to spend two days fishing. Rowen helps them hire a boat captained by Marion Quint, an old naval hand with Hazel’s military. They act the parts of tourists, all the time asking questions about ships lost on the lake, gathering clues about where this ferry might have gone down on the lake.
+The evening of the second day, Viktor takes Rowan aside. In the past two days it has be come clear to Viktor that Rowan is a patriot who is not unsympathetic to the rebel arguments. The standard of living is low on Hazel and its tech level low living in the shadow of on of the greatest worlds in the Imperium. Viktor takes a chance to open up to Rowan about their ultimate goals for Hazel. The old agent is more than able to convince Rowan to help them out. There is a drop in two days they need to pay for.
+Hanson meets Qunit is a rather seedy bar, clearly meant for locals only. The old military man has fought rebels in the past and Hanson knows he has a kindred soul. Qunit is not quite the patriot that Rowan is, not anymore. He has seen too much on both sides. He is, however, a businessman. For Cr50,000 he is more than wiling to go along with helping the crew on their mission //”Provided that government lad can be trusted”//.
+==== The Search ====
+{{:game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:patrol_boat.png?400 |}}
+The next day is spent getting ready to pick up the drop on the next day. Hanson and Quint pick a location and Hanson comms the ship the instructions. As the others prepare, Rally is approached by a stranger, Hannis Jonne. Jonne wants Rally to take up the cause of the rebels as a celebrity. Rally, who is quite unhappily sober at the moment, is able to drunkenly refuse, saying politics was what drove him to drink in the first place. Telling the rest of the crew, they feel they are on the clock.
+The drop is the next day, and Hanson and Galen wade ashore at the side of the woods to retrieve it. Two locals stumble upon them, out to fish at the side of the lake. The young men stare wide-eyed and Hanson pulls out a rifle, not aiming at them, but sweetly intimidating them they best be on their way. The men flee before Galen even understands what is happening. The two hurry back to Quint’s boat.
+It takes three more days of searching the lake and they find what they are sure is the wreck at the north end of the lake. It is around 40m down. While Viktor is retrieving the drone, a armed patrol boat pulls alongside. There is no hope they can outrun it, so they allow it to near, but the crew picks up arms. Hanson hides with a shotgun, while Galen and Viktor grab SMGs. Sharri grabs Rowen and Quint and they huddle in the wheel house. Sharri notes that Quint grabs his how shot gun.
+Rally runs cover, ridiculously suited up, flippers and all, claiming they are just diving. He fails on his deception miserably, and the leader of the rebel boat boards. Viktor kills the boat’s gunner and sweeps his fire along the boat, even as Hanson kills the leader mid step onto Quint’s boat. The enemy pilot drops dead from Galen’s fire, and as Viktor’s gun sweeps forward, Rally gets into the act with a heavy pistol, both striking one of the crew. Hanson takes aim at the remaining man and sends his body into the lake.
+It is over in 15 seconds.
+Galen leaps into the boat and rigs some of their grenades to blow holes in the bottom, while they lash the bodies to the boat. In mere minutes, the rebel boat is sinking, taking its crew with it. After a brief discussion, they push on to dive on the wreck today, even though it is mid-afternoon.
+Using the drone to drop fast and retrieve items to the surface, Hanson and Rally (rolling well) are able to quickly find the bodies of the Sternmetal Horizons team and their data. Within hours, they have everything at the surface and the two men begin their slow ascent. It is dark by the time they return to New Okayama.
+==== Getting Offworld ====
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:starlightdrifter:characters:sharri_arrested.png?200|}}
+The crew decides to take the bodies off world and back to Trin for proper burial at their home. Sharri immediately pours herself into the lawbooks for precedent, and Rowen carries the ball from there. The whole series of arrangements takes another three days or so, in which time, Sharri has attracted the attention of local government. Unfortunately, Rowen is away when a local officer comes by to ask questions.
+Sharri does a poor job with a poor story.
+Sharri is arrested.
+//”Again?!”// says Hanson as she is escorted in cuffs out of the building. Viktor calls after her, //”Don’t say anything to them!”// Galen immediately scours the local city and startown for a lawyer and hits the jackpot. A Cr3000 fee later, and Sharri is once again free.
+The bodies are loaded into the train and the whole crew heads back to the downport and books travel on the first ship leaving, an A2 type Far Trader. It is another week to get back to Trin.

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