Our heroes awaken groggy and disorientated. This is not atypical after a period in a low berth, but the symptoms are worse this time, possibly due to a rapid emergency wakeup. A middle aged human awakens first and does not initially realize what is happening. All he knows is that he is confined somehow, in a small and claustrophobic space with wires and tubes attached to their bodies. A calm and soothing voice says meaningless things he cannot make any sense of them. He is wearing a plain grey jumpsuit with turned-back cuffs at the wrists and ankles for wires and tubes. These are withdrawing, and the tiny cell is opening. Outside, there is a small chamber containing several other pods or capsules or whatever the devices are.

Low berths. The name comes to mind unbidden. Full consciousness arrives with a stabbing shock of adrenaline from the final wake up procedure. The man climbs out into the room. The chamber outside is decorated, if that is the right word, in tones of light grey and beige. It is small but tidy and uncluttered. It is lit only by dim emergency lights, and some of those are flickering. It is ankle-deep in water. The chamber door is slightly ajar and water is trickling in. The deck is canted at a slight angle, with the port-forward area of the vessel lower than the rest. He has no idea who he is, or how he got to be here.

There are other low berths (the man does not know how he knows what they are). He see as Vagr emerging like a dog man he muses. The Vagr is dressed the same as he is. Another pod opens to reveal an attractive human woman. They start to speak, however, a fourth pod sounds an alarm. Its blond human male occupant is in trouble. Our first hero, dashes over and deftly overrides the process to get the blond man out. It is only after that he wonders about that skill. There are other pods in the room, but unfortunately, their occupants have died do to low berth failure of shock of exit.

A brief discussion shows that none of them know who they are or each other. They start to search around. It seems as if they are on a ship. Hearing an alarm from another room, the dark haired man and Vagr race in to find a woman dying in a pod. Somehow, they both know enough not only to stabilize the pod, but stabilize the women. The Vagr stays with her, as she is even less aware than they.

As the blond man and woman search the area, the man staggers under the effects of his ordeal. As she reaches out to stabilize him she calls him “David”. The name seems very right to both of them. At least it is something, though neither can remember her name at the moment. She heads fore to check out the crew quarters while David head aft to the bridge.

David is searching the bridge of this ship as the other man comes in, he notes

”Vincent, this looks like a small hauler,” startling both men. In a rush, they remember that over most of a six month period, they were together, on a tour. They don’t remember the tour ending, but they do remember their friendship, and each other’s names.

The woman comes to report on the condition of the crew quarters to David and Vincent. Flush with more recent memories, Vincent now recognizes the woman as Maria. He excitedly recounts how she helped him manage drugs planted to frame him, including how he helped her use her Vacc suit for get away. This is encouraging to the crew.

The three keep searching while the Vagr comforts and aids the other woman who is slower to recover thanks to her emergency. He goes out to report on progress, and finds he now can recognize David as Captain Swift, the man who flew him and others on his special training with Omicron years ago. The two reminisce about that time, and Davis is able to remind the Vagr of his name. Dr. Lucas vin der Volk. Now at least the group known something about their pasts, even if recent events are still fuzzy. Other memories continue trickly into place, filling the gaps.

Her head clearing, and former missions returning, Maria asks Lucas if he remembers her. He blinks and slowly nods, now suddenly unsure of her intentions. Maria was the woman who snuck into his first site, and while all cameras were disabled, took an Ancient artifact and simply teleported away. He remembers her face, which does not seem a day older, because she looked right at Lucas with a grin and a wink before the vanished. The Doctor feels even more uneasy.

This has to be put on hold as the two professional spacers note this ships is sinking. Lucas goes back to the woman, who now remembers her name, Anson. They gather and decide to strip the ship and escape. They find five total TL8 Vacc suits which they can all use, as well as a shotgun, two revolvers, and a cutlass. In the cargohold, Lucas and Vincent open secure crates to take food and remote ops parts. They float these up in the emergency bubble while they use the vacc suits to surface. There is a beach nearby on this lake.

They take stock of what they have. There does not seem to be any sort of rescue underway, and the they have limited communications gear. The radios on the suits do little They have limited food and no shelter, and the low TL of their suits means they are not well suited for long term survial. The lake blocks progress to the west and north, and to the south they can see an area of open grassland with scrubby bushes here and there, finally giving way to some kind of forest. There is no sign of habitation in that direction. A few kilometres away to the east, there seems to be a structure atop a hill, though little can be seen of it except a tall antenna tower. In addition, three sets of tracks head that way. It seems likely this was their intended destination. There is nothing else within reach, so it makes as good a destination as anything. They build a sledge to drag their parts and head out. Vincent and Maria take turns pulling the load.

Heading east is fairly easy at first. The lakeshore curves away to the north after a while, and the ground rises. steadily. Bushes and trees dot the landscape, becoming thick in places. After a couple of kilometres, it becomes apparent that reaching the antenna site is going to take a lot longer than expected as the Travellers detour around a few areas of thick, spiny vegetation. The going is especially hard for those used to a climate-controlled environment with flat and nicely carpeted corridors.

Along the way, Lucas spots what looks like a body on the ground ahead. Upon inspection, they can see it is dressed in a typical shipboard-type coverall (but with decent boots), with a bright orange ship-jacket over it.

It appears that this person was injured in the crash; he has a splinted right forearm and bandages on what looks like a bad gash. It is not clear what killed him – he has not been mauled or bitten, nor shot or stabbed, as far as anyone can see. However, Lucas does a quick check and it is clear that he received basic first aid for injuries that are unlikely to have killed him and managed to get this far, but collapsed and died from serious internal injuries presumably received in the crash.

The dead man’s clearly companions abandoned him, as two sets of tracks go on from here. Some of the things he had in his pockets have been taken; pocket-covers are torn away here and there. All that remains is a multitool and a few ration bars that look like they came from an emergency kit.

Somewhere out of side, the group hears rustling. Nothing is easy to see. It could be a harmless creature of a local predator. This makes them feel the urge to get to the tower. All they can see from a distance is that it stands on high ground, atop a flattened-off hilltop. One side of the settlement is bounded by a curved earth berm, presumably made from the soil cleared to flatten the hilltop, and there are log piles along two other sides forming an intermittent barricade.

Within this stands a cluster of prefabricated huts, of a fairly typical type. The packed earth between them is littered with odd bits and pieces of equipment, though there is a clear area that obviously serves as a landing pad. There are a couple of vehicles – four-wheel-drive field buggies – close to the buildings and a tall antenna mast in one corner of the settlement. Beyond the landing pad is a depression in the ground with what appears to be a spoil heap on one side.

There are two large workbots immobile in the depression, and several smaller mining robots plus automated sample-processing equipment. This seems to be a very small open-cast mine, and clearly there is something wrong here; there are people waving urgently to the Travellers as they approach. They seem to think it is very important to reach the buildings quickly….

Two people come out from the settlement to meet the party; a tall scrawny kid and a woman of maybe 35-40 who has a revolver on her belt and a shotgun in her hands. Both are warily looking around, and seem to feel threatened by something out there. The woman briskly tells them all that questions can wait; they need to get inside. She leads the way back to the settlement, looking nervously around the whole time. The party complies with some comments as they head inside the settlement.

Approaching the settlement, it becomes apparent that there are several other people here. One is at the edge of the cleared area, apparently trying to build a barricade between two log piles. Another, peers briefly from the largest of the buildings, then disappears inside. In addition, there is one other person in the compound. He is digging a hole; a curiously grave shaped hole. Once they get close to the settlement’s buildings, the two who came to meet the group introduce themselves as Katriona and Corey and they start asking and answering questions. They want to know who they are and where they came from… and if they’ve seen any ‘creepers’. Our heroes have some questions of their own.

Corey recognizes Captain Swift and gushes while Maria wastes no time in reading the surface thoughts of Katriona. It seems the story the miner is telling is true.

This is Stenmore Minerals Proving Site Nine, a small mining outpost set up to find out if the local deposits of copper and iron are worth exploiting on a large scale. ‘Nine’ as Katriona calls it, had a complement of eight until the early hours of this morning. Now there are three, plus two new arrivals from the smallhauler. Katriona has met them before.

Early this morning, long before sunrise, the regular smallhauler from one of the mining ships in the system’s planetoid belt approached the landing area. A sudden microburst from the remains of last night’s storm caught the ship and it struck the communications antenna. The smallhauler dived away to the west and was lost to sight. The settlement was hit with an electromagnetic pulse which flatlined its power system and killed the electronics as a result of the collision. It also apparently killed the smallhauler; the crew of ‘Nine” lost sight of it in the pre-dawn after all the lights went out.

Clearly, the smallhauler crashlanded in the lake nearby and the crew were able to get out. One, Daveed Maxanni, died en route. The others reached the settlement a few hours ago. These are Captain Hambley and Sayelle.

Not long after the power went off, the outpost’s leader and one of the workers went to have a look around. They did not return. Soon after this, creepers crept into the settlement under cover of darkness and killed another of the crew. Two more went to look for the first party once it got light. One managed to get back the camp, badly wounded and full of venom. He warned that there was a mob of creepers nearby, and they were very agitated, before lapsing into delirium. He died a few minutes ago. The base medic, “Abe” Telford is digging a grave for him right now. The power is off, all electronic devices are fried and it is getting late in the day. Corey thinks he spotted movement down at the base of the hill.

Katronia is in charge, but it is clear she is willing to defer to Hambley as seems to know what to do. She is scared and was not expecting to be in this position at all.

Outside, Hambly approaches the refuges from the smallhauller as soon as they emerge. Slinging his shotgun on his back as he walks confidently towards them. He clearly likes to be in charge and opens with his version of events before they can even speak. Unknown to the Captain, there is a psion before him, and Maria turns her mind to listen to his surface thoughts. Hambly routinely ships personnel to Axilos in low berths. That part is not untrue; people do take passage this way to keep the costs of getting to a new job down, though ‘routinely’ suggests this happens it more commonly than it does.

He claims the group came aboard ‘prepacked’ as he calls it, with the correct paperwork to take them all the way to his next stop after Proving Site 9 – the Axilos starport. He never questioned any of it; shipping orders are shipping orders. As to abandoning the low berths, he adopts an aggrieved attitude. His ship flatlined under him in the dark, over a frontier installation at the far end of nowhere after a microburst. He managed to dead-stick what amounts to a flying brick for a controlled crash in the lake using nothing more than residual inducted energy in the lifters. That was a miracle all by itself. But the ship was holed, and water was coming in and there was a fire in the control room. And his crewman– nice kid, had a lot of promise – was hurt.

Hambley says he thought the low passengers were dead Daveed, the deadcrewmate, checked on them and said they were. This is plausible; two of them were dead and the hurt crewman might not have checked thoroughly, given his injuries. However, it is also a lie.

In short, his position is that he did the best he could under the circumstances and if anyone thinks they can do better, they are welcome to try. Meanwhile, there is something bad out there, no way to call for help, and night is coming. So maybe everyone needs to pitch in.

What goes unsaid are his thoughts about a skilljacking ring the heroes had been kidnapped for, or that his surviving shipmate was in on it. Vincent lances into the man, his normal affable mode gone, and in its place the steel of a leader. He lambasts the captain and says there will be an accounting. David calms them and agrees, but that now they have to concentrate on right now. As Hambly departs, Maria covertly tells the others what she saw in his mind. There is trouble to come.

David takes charge of the situation, asking people how they can best deploy their skills in the time they have remaining. Hambly chafes at this, but the civilian captain of a smallhauler is no match for the leadership of the former Captain of ISS Angar. Soon everyone is working on his or her tasks.

Captain Swift wields a force of will that takes command of the camp. Under his direction everyone gets to work:

• Katronia sets up cameras and lights
• Hambley, Cory, Sayelle, and Abe set up the barriers
• Lucas restores power to the main back up generator
• Vincent repairs the radio
• Anson repairs one of the diggers
• Maria, not adept at much besides being a Psi-spy searches the camp

As darkness nears, Vincent manages to contact the Far Trader McGuffy. The ship reports it will respond and is a mere 12 hours away. They are going to have to survive the night! David oversees the barrier construction and the electrification fence attached to the wooden posts. They build a perimeter inside the camp, using the buildings as anchor points. With the aux power system, they can make the fence lethal. Just before nightfall, Maria tells her companions she found the same sort of drug in the medical area. It is clear that Abe is part of the skill jacking ring.

Only Hambly and Katorina have any weapon skills, so they join the heroes as the rest are told to stay in the central hut. As darkness falls, the first creepers begin to appear. They are difficult to make out in the gloom, and avoid strong light. Some have stinger tails, which might trigger some scientific debate among the Travellers. The way the creepers move is disturbing to some, and everyone will feel at least threatened by movement in the gathering darkness. Some of the creepers stop in places like the top of the berm, where they are quite clearly seen and can presumably get a good look at the compound. They then begin to sneak closer, moving from one position of concealment to another. Hambly advocates going out to scare them off, but David forbids it.

As the creepers move forward, David orders the fence electrified. This drives the creepers wild. They charge the fence and clearly are sniffing out the wires. Their mass is going to overwhelm the system. Realization dawning that the creepers must have electrical sense, they shut down the fence and have everyone fall back to the hut with the secondary power. As the creepers top the fence, David is forced to use his saver to protect Sayelle, who is lagging and takes a hard bite from a creeper.

Once everyone is in the hut, Lucas attends to Sayelle’s wounds. The creatures are prowling outside, trying to get in. Suddenly, a window breaks, and a creeper crawls into the room. While they are able to kill it, more are out there. David orders Lucas to make a power pulse with the generator and then everyone will run to the garages. Lucas asks Maria ”Can’t you do something, Miss?”. More creepers slam into the building. These are the large warrior types, with stingers. Anson, Hambly and Cory take hits. Anson’s suit protects her, but Hamble is stung and poisoned. Cory is bitten. Worse of all, Davis is clawed and stung. Both the men poisoned are dazed.

Lucas readies the pulse. More creepers enter the room as the burst goes off. There are screeches outside as the creatures seem startled, but those inside advance. Maria, who has been very still suddenly opens her eyes and the creepers inside and out are suddenly still. The group dashes to the garages. Lucas goes to work with first aid while telling Cory to take control of the repaired digger and use it to block the doors. As it moves into place, more creepers menace the group. Shotguns seem to have little effect on the larger killers, but David’s saber and the revolver penetrate. Under David’s leadership, Cory is able to slam the digger into the last of the killer creepers and block the doors. They are locked in until morning, safe from the monsters outside. This lets them turn to the monsters within.

Vincient turns to interrogate Abe on the drug found. Abe immediately breaks done. he unfortunately, has a serious gambling problem and became involved in the skill-jacking ring to pay his debts. This worked well, and he is rapidly becoming wealthy. His money is held in a covert account, ready for the day when he resigns his position and retires. Abe does not make the compound himself. It is delivered to him when the smallhauler calls, and he originally resolved not to keep any at the settlement. However, there was always some left over and he later decided to have an insurance policy. Telford does not know where the low berth passengers go after Proving Site Nine, but surmises they are taken to the starport since the smallhauler crew usually take liberty there before making the long haul back. After that, they are presumably handed over to the end client or delivered by another ship. Telford does not want to know the details; he just administers the drugs, takes the money, and dreams of retirement.

As he is talking, Sayelle is slowing pulling out her small derringer. Lucas reaches out to stop her, disarming her. Perhaps thinking the are otherwise distracted, Hambly tightens his grip on his shotgun, only to find Maria’s revolver in his face before he can raise it. David relieves him of that as well. Disarmed the other two conspirators talk.

Sayelle is one of the instigators of the skill-jacking ring. She recruited Hambley as a front man and muscle as well as for his spacing skills, and got him assigned to the Neon system supply run. He does not know where the jacked passengers come from; Sayelle does. The usual source is interception of people in low berths (typically new arrivals in the Tobia system but sometimes belters or other spacers) and redirection of the entire low berth unit. Sayelle has contacts at the Neon starport who pay for the contents of her low berths. She does not know nor care who the end recipient of these skilled slaves might be.

Hambley is a willing participant in the skill-jacking operation, able to justify conveying people into what amounts to slavery so long as he is only the transport provider. If forced to confront the reality of what he has been doing, he will displace his feelings as anger towards whomever challenges him. Note that Hambley is unlikely to attack the Travellers unless severely provoked, but will try to engineer situations where they can come to harm and will abandon any who are in trouble if he can get away with it.

At dawn, the creepers fall away from Proving Site Nine. The group stays put until Maria hears the Far Trader’s call on her neural comm. The group emerges to a wrecked site. All the buildings have been breached, and the food supplies ransacked. They quickly get to McGuffy and safety.

Axilos does not have much in the way of government, and it is outside the Imperium. However, the libertarian locals are unhappy with slavery, and lock the three up in the starport holding facility pending a decision. It is clear they have others operating with them.

Katronia has no problem putting the former captives up at Stenmore’s expense, considering they saved everyone’s lives. This is of great help, as David, Lucas, Maria, and Vincent have no ID and no credits at the moment. With over 36 hours with no sleep, fatigue hits them all. Each is ready to collapse. As they take a moment to breath, they find their memories of how they came together come over them, in the shower, as they have a small, quiet meal, or drift off to sleep.

Lucas vin der Volk is packing his personal possessions with the typical sense of bitterness that comes from an involuntary retirement. Lost in thought, he is startled when there is a knock at his open door. Looking up, he sees a face he has not seen in 10 years. She does not appear to have aged in that time, while his own fur is showing a natural silvering of age. Here stands the woman who vanished with an artifact his team had uncovered a decade ago.

Maria launches into here speech, not even introducing herself. She brings for Lucas an Imperial Charter, complete with a half megacredit stipend for a dig in District 268, outside of Imperial borders. While her organization, Mandala, knows it is an Ancient site, the Imperium does not. Lucas is quite wary of this woman but he has no other prospects. Maria further tells him she knows where they can get help. Captain David Swift, hero of the Paula Campo incident, is speaking on campus this afternoon. Maria has worked with Vincent Weiss previously. She helps him with his boxes and tells him she has a car rented.

This is the final stop on a six month tour for Captain David Swift. He has grown to know Vincent Weiss quite well in that time, and the two make a strong pair. Swift is ready for the next stage, and unsure of what it will be. Vincent has invited him along to go with him on the last voyage of Weiss Mobil Muhammad Mal to Mertactor for it to be sold from the Weiss Mobil holdings. It sounds tempting, but for the moment, there is one more speech, and David stands as Vincent finishes the introduction.

Vincent, too, is ready for this stage to be over. Since the last incident with the Psi drugs planted on his ship, life has had turmoil. He is ready to leave his family’s company and head out on his own. He scans the audience as David speaks. There is the usual crowd of fans, including those obviously wanting to have a crack at David. It has been the same at several stops, and the fallout of that has been good for Vincent’s love life. His musings are stopped cold as he sees the woman who helped him dispose of the drugs, sitting in the audience along with a Vagr professor. She smiles as they make eye contact.

As Davis is signing autographs and unwillingly collecting comm numbers, Vincent moves over to the woman he knows as “Samantha”. They chat and he collects David for them to go someplace private to hear Maria’s pitch. Lucas leads them to a conference room, surprised his ID badge still operates. Here, she tells them she, too, is retired from her “Organization” and wants to make things right for Lucas. She is open she is a psion, and that taking the artifact was for everyone’s safety. Besides, Omicron was going to take it anyway. Better it is in the hands of experts. The four decide that going to the site on Dawnworld is a good next step. The Doctor knows some students who would be good candidates, and quickly finds three, Sorrel Tergaii, Auther Hammond, and the Bwap, Gwith'thin. Vincent notes he already has talked with an old friend, Gerwar Long, who is now Captain of a Far Trader, Kharku. He travels that route and is happy to divert to carry Vincent wherever they wish to go, within reason. Arrangements to leave go very smoothly, even with the acquisition of equipment from the University of Regina. Lucas is suspicious of Maria’s help. Things have never been this easy. Then again, both Vincent and David have social status beyond anything he has ever known.

Weiss Mobil Muhammad Mal has been stripped down to a skeleton crew. In addition to Vincient as the First Officer, it has four other Crew: Captain Etoko Ebo. Alston Hiltas as Astrogater and Maintenance. Engineers Ben Sactin, and Vin Garteri, with Vin doubling as Ship’s Pilot. The trip will be 11 weeks long to get to its final destination. Weiss Mobil brokers have arranged for passengers and cargo at the various stops in order to defray costs, but the passage is just basic. The ship is already stripped of anything the company wants to keep.

The journey gives the group a chance to know one another. Vincent is fascinated with Maria and asks about her powers. In a private demonstration she reads their thoughts. While Vincient is impressed and David seems blasé, Lucas is still not trusting of the dynamic woman.

At Durendal they pick up 20 passengers, far less than what they expected, because a connecting ship did not make it in time. Two nights into the trip, the real reason is understood. The passengers are hijackers. David and Vincent are working out in the pool when four armed men tell them to get out. Maria is surprised by two men who enter her quarters. One leaves to search more, while the other stays, with predatory deeds in mind. Only Lucas is not caught off guard. He is in the galley fixing food like his mother used to make, in a traditional Vagr style not known the autokitchen in his quarters. It is here he knows something is up when he catches someone going by.

The most surprised, David and Vicent are forced out of the pool. Vincent exits suit less, using nakedness to support his barrage of disarming speech as he goes for his pile of clothes and towel. He easily whips his small pistol from his pile and blows out the back of the head of one of the four as he grabs the body to use as cover. Now the surprise is on the other foot. David slams the one closest to him into the next man, in an attempt to knock them both down, but the second target manages to stay up, his spacer instincts keeping him on his feet.

A firefight erupts, with Vincent dodging the stunners of the two standing. The man David threw stands and fires, stunning David, while Vincent, seeing his small pistol being less effective against their armor grabs the dropped stunner of his corpse and continues to fire. Unfortunately, he falls to well placed stunner shot. The man in back draws his sword and moves forward to kill Vincent for killing his friend.

Lucas was spending time cooking a Luluook Stew, just like his mother use to make. When he sees the armed man enter, he takes his meal and retreats into the galley freezer. When the door opens, Lucas is ready and tosses his dinner into the face of the pirate. The startled man drops his stunner and claws at his face, the spicy, aromatic mix in his mouth, and nostrils and eyes. Lucas grabs the stunner and in two shots takes the blinded man down.

Lucas quickly takes his radio and ear bud to listen in. He binds the man in the freezer and moves out. It is clear there are many more afoot. The radio traffic has the pirate leader order Vicent and David to be unhurt because they are valuable alive and orders them taken to the others.

Lucas kills the lights in the galley and the next room. He sets up a table for cover and then goes to open the door down the hallway to the ship.

The menacing man is clearly intent on forcing himself on Maria. His snarling command for her to undress is met with icy menace and his weapon being ripped from his hand with a sudden telekinetic force. Maria fires into her attacker, causing him to stagger, but not putting him under. He grabs Maria and slams her into the bed, thinking to get an advantage physically, but he is struck from behind by the stunner again and collapses. Maria checks herself for wounds, but her subdermal armor helped. Her face a mask of fury, She pulls the cutlass from the unconscious man and slices open his neck, with blood spraying all over the cabin and her. This does not phase her at all. She grabs the radio and, now, she too is plugged in.

A quick pulse of life detection tells her where everyone is on the ship. Sorrel, as the only other woman aboard, is clearly in the situation Maria was just in. She charges down the hallway and bursts into Sorrel’s room stunning the man ripping her clothes off. Sorrel is speechless as bloody former agent strides into the room and slices open the neck of Sorrel’s assailant. Maria orders Sorrel to stay here, which Sorrel considers, based on the terrifying woman before her. However, she knows how to use a gun and comes with Maria.

Two men just went up the lift. Taking a moment for them to get up, Maria and her follower ride up, on the floor, ready to fire as the doors open. The men ahead are distracted by the radio traffic. Both are headed down the hall, as they have heard shooting ahead!

The three remaining pirates, two staggering from the effects of the stuns (and one from a bullet impact) are dragging their dead friend’s body and the two unconscious prisoners to the auditorium to be held with the rest of the crew. They are just getting secured and waking up in a daze when there is a cry of a pirate dropping, stunned by Lucas, who retreats back to the next room with more cover.

The pirates charge out to support their comrade. Over the radio their leader, Ruce orders his men to sign in, even as two of them go after Lucas and start a stunner fight. Before the two men in the aft hallway can respond, Maria has padded up one in her stockinged feet and dropped one with a stun, falling to the floor with his body as cover. The man in front of him turns and sees Sorrel in the elevator and charges, vaulting his friend, only to be shot in the crotch by Maria. She motions Sorrel up as she gets up and moves forward to the bend in the hallway.

Lucas falls to a well placed stunner shot. With several of the pirates not checking in, Ruce orders the Vin Garten to lock the ship down. Garten is a traitor! All the doors and irises slam shut, security locked. This leaves the crew in the auditorium alone. And while the crew and David and Vincent are strapped down with space zip ties, Auther and Gwith’thin were not yet so restrained. The groggy David and Vincent implore them to look through the items in the room. David notices that some of his things from his cabin have been brought along. This includes his sword.

David’s blade is contained in a ceremonial sheath, a gift from his favorite Admerial. It appears to hold an ordinary blade, but in fact, it is a security measure for a powerful power blade. Keyed to David’s hand, the pirates could not open it to know what it was. A quick placement against David’s palm, and Auther was able to start freeing the crew. David and Vincent dive for the rest of their things.

Meanwhile, Vin is opening doors on command, but Maria is still listening in. As two more of the pirates head towards her and Sorrel the three in the galley were getting ready to bring the unconscious Lucas out. Maria surprises the first pirate around the corner and stuns him, with Sorrel’s shot dropping him. The second uses the same corner as cover, but falls to the combined fire of the two women.

Vincent grabs his comm and uses the door to access the ship’s systems. As the son of the owner, Vincent has access to the factory reset codes. In a stunning feat of computers, he quickly resets every system on the ship except for the jump drives. Everything dies, including gravity as systems go to reset. Every locked down door stays locked down, save the one already opened.

Moments before the reset, Maria used her knowledge from the radios to charge the soon to open iris. As it snapped open for the pirates taking out Lucas, they were faced with the blood covered agent who dropped the already injured one in the front. Then the systems went down. In the darkness, the standing pirates cannot manage to return fire as Maria takes cover. Before they can advance it is over for them. Vincent prioritized the security systems. That included the doors.

The auditorium door slides open, and Captain David Swift sails through the portal, a gauss gun in one hand, and his sword in the other. Wearing his speedo and his naval combat jacket, he looks like a pulp hero from the distant past of Earth. He bounces off the wall and fires his gun twice, dropping one pirate and sending the final one fleeing, spheres of blood floating behind him. Maria drags Lucas free of the common area and calls for Vincet to seal the area.

Maria stays with Lucas as Sorrel joins the other students. While Vincent, still naked, controls the ship, Captain Swift leads Ebo and Hiltas towards Engineering. As the gravity reboots, Vincent sets off jump drive alarms to distract the people inside, and snaps open the iris. David charges in, firing his gun at Vin and slashing at the pirate next to him. The former Imperial officer looks every bit a romantic hero from an historical drama. Thre three men kill everyone in the engine room, but at the cost of Captain Ebo who is sliced almost in two by one of the pirates.

It is a matter of negotiation to take down the remaining pirates. David demurs from killing them all outright, as Maria almost demands. At this point, there are only 10 left alive as the one in the freezer has died and the other in the galley area has bled out. Easy enough to put the rest on ice in the low births. Maria is, however, able to engage in a deep telepathy probe of their leader Ruce and discover their full plans.

Pirates aboard as paying passengers; deliberately bought berths not used to be able to overwhelm the ship, with the fiction of a missed connection. They were in cahoots with Vin, as he had the handover codes. Their plan was to meet with their contact at the next port of call. The high social members would have been ransomed, while the others sold into slavery. Maria again makes a push to kill them. The men again plan to turn the pirates over the Imperial authorities at Mertactor.

Command of Muhammad Mal falls to Vincent as First Officer. After a very fast stop over at Biter, with an encrypted debrief to the local Weiss Mobil broker, they are off on enroute to their final stop. The rest of the trip is far more subdued. The crew plus David had known Vin well, and are all upset by the betrayal of a man who seemed most gregarious and friendly. Even more deeply, they mourn the murder of their old captain.

Upon arrival, they dock and set the ship up for hand over. Lucas finds a message waiting for him that he has been gifted 50% ownership in a Lab ship by his old mentor, while Vincent finds his mother, going behind his father’s back, has done similar with a Far trader. But it is late, and Weiss Mobil has sent a message to put them all up in the hotel, Open Arms, nestled into the spaceport. After a too long wait time to check in, the four new friends climb into their beds. Only Lucas notices the faint odor in the middle of the night. Then darkness takes them all.

After a night or returning memories, the group, including Anson, meet for breakfast at the best eatery at the anemic Class D spaceport, Breakfast at Betty’s Basic Bistro. The fare is passible but bland. However a lack of means the food is welcome.

Anson, who is much warmer to the group than she was, talks about her memories returning. It turns out Anson is a Belter from Robin in Trin’s Veil subsector. She is 29 years old and spent most of her adult life among belters or working for small mining companies. Anson was working in the Caliburn system aboard an independent support vessel, Jhenkins running supplies to remote mining locations. Anson’s last memory (once she is coherent enough to put it all back together) is entering a low berth aboard the supply boat she crewed during transit from her parent vessel to a distant claim site. She does not know how she came to be aboard the smallhauler, only that she and one other crewmember named Olli Hildsen entered their low berths when the transit's systems suffered a critical failure they could not repair. With no rescue ships in range, this offered the best chance of survival. Olli was not aboard the smallhauler, and she has no idea who the other (deceased) passengers were. She is worried about what happened to Olli.

The group discusses how they might move forward and get off the planet. Lucas is anxious to get to his dig, worried at the weeks who have passed. While this is going on, Katorina enters the diner to seek them out. It is clear she has some skittishness around Maria and she goes around at a distance to talk mostly with Vincent.

Katorina tells them she has a possibility. She has contacted a Bwap named Dalglee Hahsh of Lysani Laboratories who is willing to help in exchange for a quick job. She offers the use of her comm for the comm-less, ID-less group to use.

Hahsh is the agent for Lysani Labs on Axilos. This world has many biological componds that show great promise, and he works with locals to procure samples. He cannot get communication from the Lysani Labs ship, Calendula stationed in orbit. While he thinks this may be a communications glitch and nothing significant, he is past his 168 hours of no communication and he has to take action. Hahsh needs a team to go up and check out the station. He will provide a grav raft and TL10 Vacc Suits. Payment will be Cr12,000 overal all, and Cr1500 per person. More importantly, he offers Middle Passage to Avastan (https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Avastan_(world)). Strangely, he throws in a meal voucher. He has the grav raft ready for them, with all the information they need, including a pass code to enter the station. Hahsh himself is away from the downport. He is investigating acquisition of potential biological compounds for drugs that effect species from Sphere Terra. It seems Axilos has these in abundance, which is why Lysani Laboratories is here.

When the laboratory ship is approached, the most striking feature observed is the ring’s rotation. The play of light and shadow constantly reveals new facets along the exterior hull. Not rotating, however, is the docked pinnace. The structure at the end of the single spoke is specifically mounted to counteract the ship’s rotation, making docking easier for lesser-skilled pilots.

The solar collectors are extended and navigation lights appear to be working as normal. Most of the windows are dark, although a few show light inside. The station obviously has power but does not respond to radio hails. A close flyby inspection of the comms array finds no obvious damage.

Lucas notices a gruesome sight. A human corpse floats 60 meters from the station. The body is of a male wearing no more than a pair of light trousers. The flesh of his back is lacerated. Lucas pulls the body in and identifies that these wounds are not the result of explosive decompression. As they continue the flyby, Vincent notices a filthy, wildeyed face peers out at them before ducking out of sight. Approaching the window for a better look see no one inside. They bring the body with them.

Lucas suggests they land in the The grav/raft bays normally contain an air/raft each.They are airlocks and can be accessed using one of the ship’s vehicles; the air/rafts have remote controls that can open the bay doors. The grav/raft they have is equipped with one of these remote controls.

David, despite his still injured state from his encounter with the creepers, is just able to pilot into the bay near the bridge. David does damage the grav raft in landing it on top of the one already in the bay. He does note the atmosphere is stable and that they are on a clock with their air supply in the suits.

Maria promptly says ”I’ll take it. You monitor me” and pops her helmet. The other four look at her like she has lost her mind, not fully understanding the psion’s ability to control her own body. Taking stock of the landing area, they find the lighting fixtures have been smashed, leaving the room almost completely unilluminated. The standard grav/ raft is firmly secured in place with bright yellow straps. A sliding cargo door leads to the adjacent cargo bay.

Maria uses here life detection. She easily senses 4 sophont minds, four seeming exhausted and one manically on the move. A male human and vargr, and two women, one of who is the one in motion. She also detects some smaller lifeforms, like rodents at large.

Lucas leads the way, having served on labships before. The team advances to the bridge in order to get details. As they enter, Lucas and David hear what sounds to be the footfalls of small animals within the vents, confirming Maria’s sense of them.

The bridge does have a working computer terminal, but access is locked out to station staff. Vincent comments “Oh, this is a Vernok Mark 4. We don’t use these anymore due to their glitches”. He not only easily gains access, but is able to do a quick data scan with little effort Ed. Note: two amazing rolls and a bit of luck spent. The laboratory information is not on the main computer, which makes sense since it is proprietary in nature. They do find several interesting items:

• Regular, routine communicator transmissions of laboratory reports have been made daily to Lysani Laboratories, the registered chartering company for this ship. The transmissions, sent to Hahsh on the world surface below for forwarding are coded.
• A dozen other transmissions were also sent and received over the last five months but any further information about them has been erased.
• The visitor roster for the last four months lists several mercenary officers.
• Profiles for each of the ship’s 20 crew members, including biometric data. This data may be used to identify bodies. Maria is able to ID the body they have.
• Life Support records indicate that at 01:30 one week ago, an explosion occurred in the auxiliary laboratory. A resulting power surge temporarily disabled several functions. Once back online, sensors detected an unknown chemical in the air. Fully scrubbing the chemical took 20 hours. By that time, the chemical had already infiltrated every quadrant of the ship.

Security camera logs show that:

• One week ago, while the crew was asleep, the cameras to the auxiliary laboratory were intentionally shut off for 10 minutes.
• An hour later, an explosion rocked the auxiliary laboratory, destroying the cameras inside.
• Minutes later, several crew members emerged from their staterooms and began savagely attacking one another. Several were killed. The crew began smashing light fixtures and cameras.
• Over the last four months, the ship received several deliberies of cryoberths from mercenary crews. The berths appear to have been occupied.

They are trying to process this information when Lucas hears footfalls of padded feet. He turns to see a Lycur padding forward through the open hatch behind them. He calls for Vincent to back away from the door and pulls out his shotgun. Normally, Lycurs do not attack human sized creatures, and not normally alone. This one seems crazed and is clearly underfed. It had hoped to catch Vincet unawares and drag him off. Now, however, it receives a full face of a shotgun blast to its face, causing it to stagger back. Anson screams and runs to the corner. Vincent is too startled to shoot well and misses, but David’s shot eliminates the threat. Vincent drags the corpse into the room and closes and locks the bridge door. Lucas performs a quick examination and can see the creature was starving.

Maria, who has been quiet to this point, notes quietly that she did not detect this creature. Something this size should have been easy for her telepathy to pick up. The group spends some time talking about next steps. David wonders is a PA announcement would help. The group feels secure on the bridge, with both doors locked, though Vincent notes that anyone on the station with legitimate access can simply open the doors with a code or palm print. They wonder if this is a hostage situation but are not sure. As they talk, they hear a much louder scramble, and a large group of various lab rodents spill forth into the bridge.

The animals are not a real threat, as they cannot penetrate the group’s suits. They grab their helmets and spend another quarter hour killing the invaders. It is clear that there is no place really secure on this damaged labship.

Maria says the closest tired person was the Vargr in the main lab. They head that way, locking doors behind them to at least slow down crew, and stop any other lycur that might be running about. Along the way, they find the drive pods are untouched, based on having all their lights intact. They pass through the cargobay.

The area is dimly lit but all lighting fixtures are intact. Many large crates and storage containers fill the bay. Some are empty. Their markings indicate they once contained scientific instruments.

A large, air-tight crate appears to have been used for the transport of live animal specimens. The remnants of several small specimen cages lay scattered across the floor behind it. Closer inspection reveals blood and fur smeared on the walls and floor but no sign of the animals themselves.

Five empty cryoberths are shoved against the bulkhead. One stands open. Jhenkins is stenciled along the sides, which is the name of Anson’s ship. She is very distressed because she is concerned this might have belonged to Olli.

The group moves on to the main lab. Almost all of the laboratory is in darkness. A multi-colored glow flickers from a single computer monitor near the center of the laboratory. The end nearest the floor access plate is still lit by ceiling fixtures. The rest of the room is dark and the lighting fixtures are smashed. A sharp chemical stink fills the air.

Much of the laboratory is outfitted with various chemical apparatus. Experimental tables line the walls and run down the center of the room.

Two aisles lead down the length of the laboratory; occasional breaks in the tables allow shifting from each aisle to the other every 10 meters or so. Many of the tables are outfitted with various chemical apparatus. Some are knocked over or broken; the rest stand in various states of use or disuse. None of the laboratory equipment is currently operating and many examples are stained from lack of attention, or dirty from lack of cleaning. In a darkened far section of the laboratory, several tables have been overturned to create a small den. It is padded with bedding and trash, and just outside the tables is a pile of garbage, including small bones and excrement.

Lucas is able to smell the Vargr in the den. He moves in and sings an old Vargr lullaby. This works, and a clearly exhausted Vargr comes out. A lean Vargr with grey fur and pale blue eyes. His fur is matted and greasy. His name is Dr. Jan Vartha, one of the scientists here, and he is clearly scared. His story is of the others in the crew dying or going mad and resorting to cannibalism. He has been living on rodents and supplies. He even makes a lame joke about dogs and eating vermin. Lucas strongly feels he is lying. Maria knows it for sure as she reads his thoughts. Lucas asks him to show them what is on the computer. Jan is torn, but moves forward to the concern of Maria and Vincent, but Lucas quickly strikes him on the back of the head with the butt of his shotgun.

Lucas is not the best at hand to hand combat, having always been a scientist. This may explain that in trying to disable the fellow Vargr, he almost killed him. However, a quick round of first aid stabilizes him, and Vincent and David help Lucas secure him while Maria explores the den. It is cramped and she is hunched over. Suddenly, a table erupts at one end of the den!

A tall and muscular woman emerges from the hole. She has short sandy hair with tattoos on her left cheek, her face and hair slathered in black grease. She has bloodshot eyes, an armored jumpsuit, and is holding a laser cutting torch, which snaps on as she sees her next meal.

Pent Stavro was raised as a belter, and has a lifetime’s experience working on starship engines. She has served on the Calendula for three years. Known for her singing, her performances at crew karaoke nights were always a hit. Now, when not in her enhanced state, she hums to herself to silence the memory of her crewmates’ dying screams. She moves forward to Maria and brings the cutting torch against her startled foe. Fortunately, the torch does not hit well enough to penetrate Maria’s vacc suit. Maria instinctively pushes the crazed woman back with her telekinesis. Both Lucas and Vincent race to the entrances to the Den and their weapons roar as they fire at the jacked up woman. The sudden combined blasts are enough to knock her out.

Lucas checks her over and makes sure she is stable, and they drag her from the den and secure her alongside their other captive. Maria investigates the hole in the flooring where her attacker emerged. It leads to the fuel tankage below. The flooring and the tank have been cut with a laser or torch and the jagged edges padded with wadded-up bed clothing. The passage is filthy and well-used. Clearly, the passages have been fashioned in the fuel system.

Looking over both people, it is clear to Lucas this is similar to the effects of combat drugs. Vincent easily hacks the laptop computer and is appalled at what he sees. These are the records on the experiments. It seems the team of Calendula were working on combat drug testing. The computer tells the locations of stored samples, and has the data of the experimentation. What is horrifying are the test recordings. Effects and detailed reports about the five combat drugs being tested. Video recordings of clinical trials on animals and then video recordings of illegal sophont testing. In the videos, the subjects are bound to tables and shouting they do not know who they are, where they are, or what is going on. Once injected, most early subjects experience seizures, haemorrhaging veins and a painful death as scientists in laboratory coats calmly watch and record their findings. Subjects that manage to break their bonds once the drugs have taken effect are subdued with stunsticks and sedating hypos.

Maria notes there are still two more people she detected and is worried about their states. Lucas has an idea and rummages through the wreckage. He finds two does of sedative and suggests they head out. David elects to remain behind while Anson elects to remain with David. The other three head along the curve of the labship towards the other locations. At the stateroom she detecting a human male in, Vincent opens the door, and immediately notices a trap in the form of a tripwire across the doorway. If triggered, a metal arm lined with sharpened spikes swings from the neighboring wall. He is able to easily disarm it.

Looking into the stateroom, he can see the ceiling lighting fixtures have been smashed. The bunk is torn from the wall and materials have been piled in one corner into a barricade as another lair. Calling out to offer help, a man emerges from the lair. Bald with a thinly trimmed beard, his crew photo shows him with a friendly, almost mischievous smirk. Before the incident, Haris always wore crisp, clean and fashionable clothes. Now he wears armor piecemealed out of whatever he could scavenge. Dried blood cakes his unkempt beard and he is missing a piece of his left ear. This is the astrogator, Haris Slocombe. Slocombe does not seem interested in talking, as he is holding a crude shield in one hand and a spiked club in the other. The site of intruders is clearly about to set off a rage state.

Thinking quickly, Maria uses her telepathy to try to put him to sleep. His rage state is strong and he resists but is stunned, swaying on his feet. Lucas races in and injects the man in the neck with the sedative, backing away before the dazed man can respond. As Lucas exits the room, Slocombe shakes his head and starts to charge the door. Vincent shuts it and they hear two thuds, as the man inside the room hits first the door, then the floor. Opening the door, weapons ready, they see the sedated man.

Maria searches the room while the men take Slocombe to be restrained. Behind the barricade, a hole cut in the floor leads to the fuel tank. The hole is concealed beneath a mattress and its edges have been padded with bedclothes, much like the other entrance to the fuel tunnels.

When Vincent and Lucas arrive, they are surprised to see a dead galthin monkey in the room. David relates it came out of the tunnels below the lair and attacked them. It did not hurt him through his vaccsuit, but he was forced to put it down with two well placed shotgun attacks. Shaking their heads, the two return to Maria, keeping weapons drawn at all times.

The three pass bloody handprints on the outside of the hardpoint lock. Vincent unlocks the door and they look inside. Bloody handprints smear the door and wall panel. The door is locked and its surface is dented and scarred from dozens of hard blows. Once opened, a terrible stench wafts out. Inside is dark and there are no lighting fixtures installed. This forward portion of the drive pod is intended to be fitted with a turret and weaponry but none have been installed.

A man’s decomposing body lies curled up opposite the door. This The name “Olli” is printed across the name of his grey jumpsuit. This is Anson’s companion who must have been in the cryoberth. Vincent surmises the disruption in ship’s power from the explosion activated the berth’s thawing cycle. He must emerged from the berth hours later, under the influence of the amnesia drug and no knowing who or where he was. A maddened crewmember attacked her, stabbing her with a knife. He managed to escape and lock herself inside before succumbing to her wounds. The group knows they have more sad news for Anson.

The final living person is Hoolo Ezraham, the lead scientist on the project. Short and stocky with long braided hair, Hollo’s highpitched voice is almost comical. Her front teeth are now chipped and a crooked line of self-administered sutures runs up her right forearm. She constantly fidgets and tugs at her filthy clothes. She is holed up in the auxilery lab, sleeping in her lair. This area is dark and all ceiling lighting fixtures have been smashed. An acrid burnt odour fills the room. The auxiliary laboratory is essentially identical in form and purpose to the main laboratory. The primary difference is that it is smaller.

The entire area is completely wrecked and most of the equipment and apparatus have been destroyed by an explosion. The blast shattered various pipes and conduits in the walls and buckled the floor. Although pressurization has not been lost, hull integrity may have been compromised, making this area in need of inspection and possible repair before the ship is used for any purpose. A pile of broken tables and benches is piled against the wall at one end of the room.

Maria sneaks into the room at a crawl and calls out to the occupant. Dr. Ezraham responds and is quite happy to turn herself over to Maria and Vincent with their promise of escape. Like Dr. Vartha, she claims the others are all cannibals but not her. They walk her to Lucas he offers to take a look at her injuries. She agrees and he injects her with the other does of sedative.

Once their four captives are secure, the group decides what to do. Lucas is clear they need to run. He asks Vincent if Calendula can jump. A survey shows the ship is in bad shape. The Hull will fail in a few weeks, the fuel system is compromised and the power plant is damaged. However, there are two tons of spare parts. Vincent and Lucas set to work repairing, while Maria seeks out the remaining rodents to kill them. David uses the research pinnace to collect and process fuel, as well acquire some rations. Anson elects to fly with him, so as not to be in a room alone on the ship.

Slowly they nurse the Calendula away from Axilos while making necessary repairs. After several days of work they are ready to jump! The group bids goodbye to the planet and jump to Avastan.

It is the longest week any of the crew have ever been in jumpspace. David, Vincent, and Lucas rotate monitoring their broken ship for failures. There is always someone in rotation on the bridge. Anson has dragged a mattress to there sleep, and only showers or uses the fresher is someone else is in the room. No one feels they rest well, and it is a hard trip. Finally, the five gather on the bridge as the Calendula emerges from jump.

They are contacted by the highport’s control and given birthing space. Based on their ship’s ID, Lyasani Labs is billed for the docking. All five are eager to get off this deathstation. David easily flies the ship into the waiting repair ring. It is about this time that Vincent notices the transponder for the Kharku, Gerwar Long’s ship. Hailing it, Vincent is able to contact his old friend. Captain Long is ecstatic to hear from his missing friend and tells him he has all their personal belongings on board. He tells them to meet him at the highport’s main watering hole, and they can her him send someone for their ID’s and comms.

Before they leave, David tells his companions that he is going to get his stuff then take time to investigate what happened to them. He notes that Lucas and Vincent have ships to look into so they don’t have time. More importantly, he does not want to know anymore than needed about Maria’s contacts because he would be compelled to report them. And, they would know what he knows and that seems like a bad idea all around. He says he will talk with the local security of the company who owns the highport. Anson asks to go with David.

At the highport, it is a welcoming reunion. Long welcomes Vincent with a hug and bids them sit with him. They did into decent food and drinks and catch up. Long reports they were gone the day he arrived, with their belongings packed. He took them, but notes their scientific gear is back at Mertractor. The team is startled to see Sorrel Tergaii come in with their things. She catches the party up. It seems she and Aurther both found companionship for the night the other four were kidnapped. Gwith’thin was up all night in a game of “Advocates & Administration” with another of his kind. Thus, none of them ever went to bed in their rooms at the Open Arms. When Lucas and the others turned up missing, the three went to ground. Aurther is working for repair at the highport, while Gwith’thin is helping with traffic management. Sorrel signed on with the Kharku.

Vincent is very distrustful of the whole story but both people seem to be telling the truth to his trained eyes and ears. No one else seems put off so he lets it drop. David and Anson take their leave, and Long promises to send the rest of their things to them when they have a room. Maria finishes her drink and goes in search of a way to contact the Brethren of Sol, her contact.

The Brethren of Sol is a Psionic Institute on it in the guise of a religious sect, The Brethren of Sol. Their story is they left for religious isolation. They act at Sol worship, stellar worship being a common thing, using an odd fusion of Greek iconography and the American Apollo Program. For a historian or anthropologist, it all seems like a typical mish-mash of things that cults do. Which is exactly the point. It even has money from “wealthy benefactors” who believe, which in reality comes form Mandala operations.

The reality is an advanced psionic studies institute. Students play the role of pilgrims and acolytes and learn enough “theology” to be convincing. However, the “priests” are trainers and scientists. As this is outside direct Imperial Control, Maria’s old organization, Mandala, has more of a footprint here than just a single agent in residence.

The Temple is set at some 500 miles from the Avastan Downport, at the foot of some impressive mountains. Because of this distance, it makes sense for the Temple to have its own minor landing facilities. This looks to be mostly a landing pad and a couple of large covered areas.

Maria is so intent on searching on her comm as she walks, she takes three hours before she notices the Brethren have an automated kiosk. Maria uses it to request a live contact and is almost instantly rewarded with a man in a blue jumpsuit. Using the correct coded phrases, she requests to come in with to “friends, not family”. She makes arrangements for a trip from the downport for the next day.

Back at the bar, Lucas is quite upset at the thought of people working for him being in danger because of him. Sorrel gives him a pep talk. Vincent decides he is ready to have some contact with others and proceeds to meet a comely brunette. Maria returns and tells them the departure time and place for a shuttle to the downport the next day. She then heads off to the Travallers Aid Society to obtain a room for herself and Lucas. Vincent makes it clear he will head back to his new friend’s hotel room for the night.

Maria gets herself a room and telepathically makes sure they will comp Lucas a room. She strides into what has often been the closest thing to a home she has had for years, finally able to relax, spending some time at the bar with the other TAS members. Lucas gets the alert on his comm his room is ready and he heads out. He is puzzled when his comm has him stop outside TAS. Walking up, the woman at the desk greets him formally and tells him where his room is. Lucas cannot believe he is here and takes it all in, getting the best night’s sleep he has had in some time.

The next morning, Lucas finds Maria at breakfast, and he cannot believe it is an unlimited buffet. He cannot help but have a little tail wag. After a good meal they head to the shuttle, where they meet Vincent, back from his own fine breakfast with his lady friend. They head down, and once on the shuttle, Maria gives them flyers for the Brethren and explains they are a cover. Entering into the cold, thin air of the planet, all three find no ill effects and find they are quickly adapting. They are met by a nondescript air van and pile in. The trip takes about an hour.

Landing, the temple is in a Greek structure but even bigger. It has large stairs headed up from the landing pad with large burning torches along its sides. High tech heaters also add to the warmth. The whole thing is at the base of an imposing mountain rising into the ever thinning air.

At the top of the steps they are met by the Head Mandala Rep, Jenna Breeland. She meets Maria with a sardonic greeting of being blessed with a true child of Sol from Earth then suggests they head inside. Once in the temple, they see various people, like Maria, dressed in blue jumpsuits with patches on the arms, include what Maria knows is the old American Flag. They are escorted to meet with Breeland and the President of the institute Rewill Whayeson. Whayeson is dressed in what looks like a mid-20th Century buzz cut and dress shirt and vest. His title for the temple is “Mission Director” in keeping with the theme.

Breeland and Whayeson quickly debrief Maria via a group mindlink which they keep up for the meeting. Lucas notes how efficient that debriefing was. Whayeson assure the two men that their mental privacy is important and their minds will not be read, nor will anyone spy upon them here. Then they get down to business.

Breeland notes that Mandala stopped a group of pirates from deploying a ship in the area that would have tipped the balance and brought more Imperial scrutiny. The ship is too flashy for them to use in their normal operations. Knowing that Vincent and Lucas have their own half paid off ships, and the group has a whole ship they want to salvage, she suggests some sales. The temple has as hidden bay under the mountain that can hold a ship. The two are intrigued, but wary. Maria assures them there are no lies going on and suggests they will like this.

After an elevator ride and short walk, they group is lead into a hanger capable of holding upto a 40 ton ship. Inside they are stunned to see an actual Type T Patrol Corvette, complete with all four turrets! Vincent cannot get over it and Breeland notes that, “Yes it is real, and now you see why we did what we did”.

They return to the office and agree to the deal, and use some of the money leftover from sales to upgrade and tweak the ship to their liking. Whayeson also offers to help them shop for anything they may want locally even if it is a bit higher tech than the planet normally has. It is clear that the acquisition of three more mundane ships will suit the needs of Mandala very well, and they are happy to make this deal.

While the others were working on the ship, Captain Swift was investigating what happened to them. A quick visit to Avastan Portways was all it took to kick things off. While the company who runs the Class B Starprot looks the other way for a lot of things, they have no peace with slavery and engages in their own robust investigation with thanks to Sir. Swift. Lysani Labs paid for ship to go to Axilos system, meet with Small Hauler deeper in system before going to Axilos. There, “candidates” were were re-dosed at the mining camp and either sent to the Caudala for testing, or picked up by another ship go on to other sales.

David then heads to trace their trip back to Mertactor, where they were first kidnapped. It is clear there must be some leads there. At Avastan, Lysani personnel are picked up and questioned. Conveniently, the Caudala’s final disposition is unexplored.

When David arrives at Mertactor, he finds out that Weiss Mobil already started and investigation. When Captain Harrus, of the Weiss Mobil Oxford Valley found out what had happened to the son of the owner, he stopped his large freighter and opened an an investigation of his own accord based on this event and the reported piracy. He left crew to investigate and sent messages to other Weiss employees. Using his “Captain’s Purse” he also hired local Private Investigators. The problem was, no one other than the three university students left knew where the others even stayed and they were laying low. All actively avoided anyone. Sorrel fled with Captain Long, Gwith’thin signed on with a local accounting firm, and Auther got a job in the shipyards.

With the return of David the puzzle is unlocked. Not only could he tell the PI’s where he was kidnapped from, he was easily able to involve the Imperial authorities, now he was in Imperial Space. The investigation was quickly able to find out some Open Arms staff were involved. The skill jacking ring would kidnap people from the hotel. They were marked as targets by the ring after they purchased information from a man from Regina, Ahno Jemmian. Jemmian, it seems, was hired to follow Lucas and maybe even join his crew to help subvert to steal his findings. Instead, he simply sold their information to the skill jacking ring.

The ring itself paid the crew of the labship in potential subjects in exchange for their drug supply to keep jacked victims under control. While the skill jacking ring’s leaders were not present, the Imperial authorities made several arrests and rolled up this part of the ring.

Jemmian himself was happy to sing like a bird when captured. He was hired by the rival scientist who helped to torpedo the Professor’s career at Regina University. Loumus Swain. Now, it was clear Dr. Swain was not seeking slavery, but far less. However, he will be getting a visit from Imperial authorities.

It is to this conclusion that the newly christened Wandering Providence arrives at Mertactor. After a day to refuel and load, the ship is packed with equipment. Gwith’thin and Auther join David and Anson in boarding and the adventure on Dawnworld can finally begin.

The trip to Dawnworld take three jumps and the crew is excited to finally be on station at the dig. Davis expertly engages in overflight of the area to map it with the Denitometers from the ship and the hovers perfectly to unload. Whole area is temperate rolling hills with trees region, not unlike what the Marietta area would be like without any development. The site was recently uncovered after significant washout from the river after a “1000 year” flood a year or so ago. It was noticed by ship stopping for fuel (water) going from Caliburn to Elixabeth. It appears to be some sort of unknown alien settlement. Nothing else has ever been discovered on this world, it is not thought to be indigenous. Mandala experts believe it is an Ancients site, based on their analysis of the Imperial report (never mind how they got it).

Dawnworld itself is uninhabited by sophonts. The Class E Downport is little more the poured concreate and self-serve water pumps based on the coast of another continent. It has the basic communication satellites in orbit, including relays powerful enough to communicate with ships the 5 gas giants in the outer system. Ships pass through, especially Jump-1, on their way across this unclaimed area of the Spinward Marches. This means that news updates happen, even in this outer area. The team’s exitance is logged into the local system, and as ships pass, they can exchange niceties. They set up at the site, away from the river, and leave the ship’s boat on the other bank in a raised area. They park Wandering Providence is parked 3.5 km away in a large flat area behind another mountain.

After a day of setting up, Lucas has the 5 achreobots start their own close up scan of the region which will take two weeks. He asks David to reconnoiter the area and map out a pathway they could walk to their ship if needed. Auther notes to David before he leaves that there are strop marks high on several of the trees, indicating a large animal. They easily find several elephant sized creatures the data files on the planet refers to as “Odacos”. They have tough shells, long tusks, and the disposition of a rhino or hippo. While the robots are search, Lucas takes Gwith’thin and they observe the animals for a few days. It is clear to the xenobiologists that something akin to musk from a mating season is coming. They return to the ship’s lab and synthesize a version. Gwith’thin then uses the Air/Raft to distribute it in such a way as to keep the herds, in their mating frenzies, away from the dig site.

After two weeks, the group celebrates the survey’s completion with dinner on board Providence. Vincent offers a wonderful meal using local plants and some game as part food. Lucas and Gwith’thin provide updates on what they have learned. This is like nothing in the existing Ancients literature, but that is common for Ancient sites. The site is still covered in silt and sand from recent wash and it- It will take some time to clear out carefully. The buildings look to be built by something akin to coral but not with calcium carbonate but iron and carbon forming. There is an organic flow to structures. As Lucas reviews the data he is struck by a picture with an clear large stylized carving of the Ancients’ glyph for the #12. This is identical to the image on his ring. Lucas pauses and then says ”This is confirmation”. Maria also recognizes the image as being on the device she stole for Mandala those years ago.

Three days later, as the digging has begun, the com system goes off with a Mayday from ship Harus Kak with grav-lift failure on way down. They race to the ship and charge up. It is clear what knocked down the ships was the category 5 hurricane in the area over the Downport. The whole trip, they cannot raise anyone. Lucas and Vincent man the sensors and are easily able to find the crashed scout ship on the edge of a mountain. David almost strikes the side of the mountain as well, but has a lucky skip. He gets the Providence hovering, airlock pointed towards the downed Harus Kak as close as he dares, 60 meters away. It takes all his skill to keep the ship there.

Vincent tries all communications frequencies to engage anyone. He gets a ping back from someone over their neural comm, Alder Holbrook the ship’s engineer. The man sounds very scared, and says he is most worried about the Captain, but he not heard from anyone on the bridge for the last few minutes. Vincent has him open the airlock on his ship.

While this is going on, Maria uses her life detection to scan the ship. There are five souls aboard, but one is dying fast. Already suited up, they make for the airlock. David tells Vincent to take his grav belt. Maria says,

”The Captain is going to die before we can get to him.”. Lucas nods, and hands Maria his trauma pack and goes to fire the EVA cable to the distressed ship. Vincent places a hand on his shoulder and steps up.

”I’ve done this a time or two, let me.” says the space, though not mentioned it has always been in vacuum not winds over 150kmph. Vincent has the grav belt attached and attacks the EVA line to himself. Before he can launch himself through the space he turns to see reality bend behind him. After a use of clairvoyance to scan the bridge, Maria attempts to teleport. At first she is unsuccessful, but then, her modified suit is outlined with blue-white energy as her second attempt works and she is suddenly gone. Shaking his head, Vicent throws himself down towards the Harus Kak. He adroitly uses the grav belt and land inside the airlock. Attaching the EVA line, he tells Lucas to come on down. Lucas slides down the line, but he is not the expert. Just before he piles into the side of the ship, Vincent grabs him, and they both tumble into the airlock.

Maria is already on the bridge. She is perversely relieved to see the crew unconscious due to smoke. The Captain is clearly dying, his left leg crushed, and now he is bleeding out. Maria uses her awareness to psionically increase her strength and tosses aside the debris on the captain, slapping the trauma pad on his leg to save his life. He is nowhere near safe, but not about to die. Maria throws the switches the vent the smoke and works to get the other three crew up and moving. Vicent and Lucas arrive and help to get the crew fully suited for the transition, other than the Captain who will have to be carried as is. They are stunned at how easily Maria moves the crew around.

From engineering, Holbrook calls panicked, saying that he is unhappy with the fusion plants. Vincent tells him to shut them down, but is quite alarmed when the panels show a sea of rea suddenly. Whatever Holbrook did is not working. Lucas tries the bridge controls, but they are severed from engineering. Vincet and Maria get the crew to the airlock, and Maria uses the grav belt to traverse the line back and forth with the occupants. She sends the belt back and then carries the captain to the autodoc.

Meanwhile, Lucas charges into engineering to shut down the fusion plants that are cascading into failure. As Holbrook stands by, the brilliant Vargr jury rigs a power down to the systems. The ship quickly goes dead. Now, everything starts to tilt as the gravity compensators fail. This also causes the ship to shudder as if it will fall off the mountain. David makes a swift adjustment to stop the whole thing from falling apart. They are running out of time!. Vincent yells over the com:

”Lucas, we are Leaving!”. Lucas and Holbrook come up and quickly get to the Providence. Once more, the grav belt is slid down the rope. Donning it, Vicent begins his trip up, only to see in horror, the scout ship start to slid down the cliff, the EVA line now taunt between them. Vincent cuts the line, now swinging free below it. By now Maria is back at the airlock. She helps to haul Lucas back into the ship. The moment he is on board, Vincent yells for David to go and at four gravities of thrust the Wandering Providence launches into the sky. In moments they are free of the storm and on the way back.

Now the emergency is over, they find that Cpt. Daron Steiger is a former Scout with a ship on loan from the scout service. His crew is Hap Gelfi, Keana Kingston, Quill Amano and Alder Holbrook. They were suffering from a powerplant that was always troublesome. This time, as they exited jump, it began to fail. The Captain used his expert pilot skills to try to thread the hurricane to get down to the planet, but an unlucky wind shear knocked them into the mountain.

It takes a week for Steiger to get out of the autodoc. The crew is able to catch a ride on a passing Free Trader and things settle back into normal. For the next three weeks, the dig is just that, a dig clearing the soil. Gwith’thin becomes quite excited when he analyzes the soil. It seems to be from someplace else on the planet. Was this site buried with a purpose? Lucas orders a scan of the surrounding soil and they are all astonished to discover the hills to the south are similar soil, covering the pyramid shapes. But the returns on the shapes make no sense. They are perfect shapes that seem to either have no density or infinite density.

The discovery of two disks divert the team from the underground shapes. They are clearly of some unknown design. There is no interface of any sort, yet these clearly are parked at the “Coral Settlement” as the group has taken to calling it. It looks as if there were spaces for 12 of these. When Lucas approaches one, he can sense the Ancient artifact ring around his neck pulse. The ring is sending energy into the disk! He figures he had better explain. He tells the group his ring seems to store and release energy, but only around him. Somehow, when he first found it, it keyed to him. With no interface, they are not sure how the disk might work. The disk is now holding itself in place wherever it is put. Clearly, it has a grav lifter of some sort. Lucas asks Maria if she can communicate with it.

Maria is a skilled and powerful Psion, perhaps one of the strongest in the Imperium. She has skill in all the known psionic disciplines, which her comrades do not yet fully grasp. However, her best skill is typical of a human Psion, telepathy. Maria does the impossible (16+ check) and establishes a perfect connection with the psionic interface with this alien device. She is able to fully unlock the device and “talk” with it.

The disks are transportation devices. They use gravity planeing to operate around the planet, much like an air/raft. They generate a force shield and can support significant speeds with the rider moving in comfort. Like an air/raft, they can travel around the planet, as long as they have enough charge. Maria notes this one is rapidly running out of power and tells it to shut down. By then, she has an image in her mind of the locations this thing was programmed to go to. This includes the buried structure they just discovered, as well as 12 other sites on the planet. Maria pops a Navigation wafer into her waferjack and is able to easily locate these on the existing planetary map.

Lucas decides to uncover the pyramids. The top of the tallest is only covered in soil. It takes a day, but the top is revealed. It is a flat surface, that is perfectly reflective of all types of energy. The group quickly surmises this is a statis field, with perfect reflections. Maria sees if the “Floaty Discs” have a way to open the field, but they do not. David suggest that Lucas approach with his ring out. The doctor agrees.

They move the crew and the ship’s boat back to the Wandering Providence. The four heroes are all suited up. Lucas approaches with caution, hand outstretched. As the ring gets to within around 9 meters, it pulses, and a silver light bursts from it, hitting the stasis field. In an instant, the light is gone, and the hard surface of the pyramid is left. On the top is a large 30 meter diameter hole, with a shaft leading down.

They summon their archobots and send two down, using their gippers, like insects walking on a wall. The strange material of the structure, coupled with the feet of dirt and stone reduce the effectiveness of radio communications. The bots can relay signals. What report back is amazing. There appears to be 12 controls rooms around a central circle and then down a hallway. There is some tectonic damage clearly visible to the main hallway. Each room appears to have been a monitoring room of some sort, with silhouettes of 12 different species:

.Terran Humans
.Humanoid (and sized) whales
.Great Cats
.Bears
.Aurochs
.Mammoths
.Muscadine (weasels)
.Rodents 
.Kangaroos
.Hyenas
.Monkeys
.Canids (Vargrs)

Other spaces appear to be a medical bay, storage and barracks. With nothing apparently dangerous, the group rides down, carried by the bots. In the largest room, one apparently designated for humans, Maria lays down in what appears to be a control couch. She attempt to activate it with her mind, and activate it she does! Maria immediately falls unconscious. Lucas and Vincent race to her. Her medical monitor shows her mind is racing, and her body is undergoing stress. They are unsure of what to do, but stand by. After a few minutes, Maria’s eyes open. Even inside her vacc suit, she is drenched in sweat. The world is a bit darker to her, and she realizes she has spent all of her psionic energy, or more correctly, been drained of it as the chair used her energy to power itself.

Lights go on down the hallway, and down another shaft. The group looks at the tired woman. Maria relates a vision she had, her mind touching another that is in this place. It is a man, Anuan, who when he was young was taken from earth by an ancient in human form, Kraverse. He lived here on Dawnworld until he aged and was near death. Kraverse then made him into the Administrator for the complex. Power is damaged and needs to be restored. Maria is quite drained by her experience and asks to return to her stateroom. David agrees and takes her back to the ship in the air/raft.

Lucas and Vicent look at the different rooms. Vincent says he wants to try a chair. Lucas is not sure but agrees to stand by. Vincent is not struck as Maria was and remains awake. The screens in the room spring to life. They are dark at first, but Vincent is able to direct them with his mind, moving the focal point through what is stone now. This looks at the site of the uplifted kangaroos. All that can be seen are the remains of a bronze age settlement. Lucas makes sure to record the footage. Suddenly, the screens go dim and Vincet goes into cardiac arrest. Lucas rips open the ports on his vacc suit and injects Vincent with a stimulant. The stricken man stabilizes. They get back to the surface just as David returns. The two take Vincent back to the ship, even has he assures them he is fine and wants to continue. His protests die down as they reach the ship and the simulant effect fades. The two men wrestle the now stumbling Vincent into the autodoc, where he can be monitored and restored.

The next day, Maria emerges well rested and ready to return. She is appalled to hear what Vincent did, and even more concerned when she meets him and she can sense his mind is horribly exposed. It seems the chair forced his mind open, and while this did give Vincent minor psionic capacity, without any training, he has been left vulnerable to telepathic effects.

Anson points out that tomorrow is Holiday, the annual celebration of the Imperium. Lucas decides to take the day. Vincent goes to work to prepare for the day, and Maria joins him, mostly to keep near him and monitor. Gwith’thin excitedly reviews the data, while Lucas and Sorrel prepare comm units to create a comm chain so as not to fix the bots into place and let them be mobile. Anson, David, and Auther monitor the ship and perform maintenance. Holiday goes well, and it is a good rejuvenation for the crew that has been working so hard. Everyone is excited about exploring the structure tomorrow, but this day is a day of celebration, laughter, with good food and fun.

The next day, exploration begins again. This time, the crew on the ship is monitoring all the feeds closely. The four main members return, this time following the illuminated passageway down. It becomes clear that the power centers on the lower level are blocked by a cave in. They are thermal units, using superconductors of heat driven deep into the earth. The lines are clearly cut by the cave in. Several servitor bots stand dead, unable to finish the work they were clearly engaged in.

As they explore, there are more rooms. Maria enters what looks to be a lavish private quarters, when suddenly a force field grips her and alarms blare. She is unhurt, but the room is blocked off and she cannot move from its grip. She tries to telepathically communicate with the mind she was in contact with before, but it does not seem to be on the otherside of this device. And nothing more happens. Lucas tells the team to watch the feeds around the site, but there is no changes. Having seen a room that looked like a control room, David moves into the room cautiously. He is suddenly struck by a telepathic attack and falls unconscious. Lucas quickly and deftly order a bot to retrieve him and immediately performs first aid to rouse him.

As they are wondering what to do, the alarms stops and the field drops. David surmises this must be an automatic system with its own power. That ran out. No one is coming to answer the alarm because they are long dead. Maria starts a full search of the room, while Lucas has the bot advance into the other obvious control room. It is suddenly depowered by an ion strike, and then something similar to sarin gas is released into the room. While it is evacuated by a fan, that room is still off limits.

Meanwhile, Maria finds 12 droyn coyns, of unique properties, and several crystals which seem psionically active. Maria proposes to the group she take the coyns and declare she is allowed to be in the room, both verbally and telepathically. They agree, but Lucas has a line clipped to her suit’s EVA connector and has a bot on stand by to pull her out. The former agent enters the room, coyns in hand. She is immediately struck with the psionic attack, but her powerful mind holds it off. A voice comes from a speaker and a red hand print appears on the control surface at the end of the room. The voice speaks English and asks for power to be restored. It calls Maria by name and tells her to touch the print. She does so, removing her vacc suit glove. As she does so, psionic attack ends, but she feels her psionic energy being draining to power this computer. She lets is flow. The room comes to life with light.

”I am Administrator. Welcome. You may now enter safely. I have turned off the automatic defenses”

The voice says in perfect Anglic. The other three look at each other and slowly enter into the room. After sensing the ring Lucas carries, Administrator notes that was a control ring for the Ancient Kraverse. He guesses that is how they shut down the stasis field and asks Lucas if he can drain its energy. Lucas agrees and more power goes to support this ancient computer that is more than a computer.

Administrator tells the group that he was once human, or he is copied from a human, he is not sure. He was taken from Earth long ago and brough here by the Ancient Kraverse, the 12th “son” of the original Ancient called “Grandfather”. Here, Kraverse sought to uplift other Terran species, in much the way Vargr had been by Grandfather himself. The man Administrator was, Anuan, was a leader of the project. The humans from Earth ran the project for the enigmatic Ancient, who was most often absent working on other projects. He always looked like a perfect human, but Anuan knew this was not his true form, or original form. When Anuan was old and infirm, he was transferred/copied into this current state: a mind in an inorganic form, housed in an armored shell and hooked into this place, to over see the great project. Then war came.

Administrator heard from Kraverse that the Ancients were fighting among themselves and to hide. Number 7 was coming. The hope was that if this site were hidden, then the enemies would not destroy the world. They were only partially right. Administrator evacuated the Coral Settlement and dumped tons of dirt on it and this site. He then hid in stasis. When he came back out, things appeared to be secure. However, the real effect was all too horrible. Something had been done, and every creature of Sphere Terra had males born sterile. Administrator watched as all the sophonts, so carefully guided, nurtured and developed, died out. This included his own lines, his own family. All died. Administrator when back into stasis with one of the two remaining temporal D-tubes.

Afte this sad story, Administrator asks them to help restore power to the facility. He gives them instructions on how to do this and the group sets to work. It takes four days to clear the debris, and two more to reconnect the leads to generate power. However, once done, the whole facility is restored in all its glory. It is then Administrator drops the bombshell: This place must be destroyed.

Administrator tells them he has a directive, that feels much like a growing urge, to destroy this base. With Kraverse gone and the project devastated, this base must be destroyed. However, he does not have to kill himself. He makes an offer to them: Take me with you, and I will order the ship construction modules to upgrade your ship. His plea is impassioned, and he even offers to give Maria a psionic trigger to kill him. The group is moved and agrees. Lucas orders the crew to start taking as much out as they can from both sites. Administrator uses the strange powers of the last temporal D-tube to remove dirt from the long buried hanger, and Wandering Providence starts its upgrade. The crew collects artifacts and some of the technology. Both man sized autodocs go, as well as Maria taking a psionic interface chair. They find 8 working and 4 non functional floaty disks as well. Meanwhile, Administrator starts the upgrades of the ship’s power plant, drives, and hull.

Maria spends much time in contact with Administrator and helps him understand what was done to his own mind. Once free of the system, he will have room to grow as an independent sophont. He comes up with a new name for himself, Ama-gi, meaning “wanderer” in his old language.

The urge to destroy the base unfortunately grows stronger faster than Ama-gi had expected. He urgently tells his new organic friends to evacuate. He asks Maria and David to disconnect him once the others are safely away and fly out on the floaty disks. Lucas tells the crew at the Coral Settlement to get in the ship’s boat and head to orbit.

On the Wandering Providence the ship is not set to fly. Its fusion reactors are powered down, and its M-drive is not ready. The grav systems will work, but they need power. Lucas adroitly uses his ring to power the systems needed, almost casually making the connections. Vincent then flies the ship out of the hanger and towards the starport on the other continent. The ship responds much faster than Vincent is used too, having cut his teeth on capital ships.

Once away, Ama-gi mind links with Maria and walks her through the steps to disconnect. He is unsure what will happen, but is concerned that internal security systems will try to stop his removal when he can no longer suppress them. He will power them all down at the last moment, but once he is out, automatic programs will take over. This includes the destruct sequence. And he is afraid. Maria can feel his fear and tells him to stay in contact. Her eyes will be his eyes. Her ears his ears. He will not be senseless. She makes the final disconnection and she and David the 1 meter across dodecahedron onto a disk and they jump on their own. The disks respond to mental commands, even of non-telepaths and they race towards the first shaft up.

The shut down areas start coming to life from the computer core room forward, like a wave. Two portals open up and guns emerge to fire at them trio. David fires his automatic rifle in two bursts and take the both out. He tells Maria not to slow down, and the three do a hard 90 degree bank to head up. Maria struggles with the turn and almost strikes the wall, but manages to move up at the last moment. She just clears the shaft as a ring of guns deploy behind them. The activation wave passes them, and between them and the exit shaft are four floating spheres. David easily takes out three with his rifle, but Maria’s laser pistol cannot disable the last one. It shoots David, making him stagger. It is at this point Ama-gi, using Maria’s eyes, reveals he can use telekinesis, and slams it into the wall. The three discs fly free of the complex.

Below, magma erupts, exploding from the sides of the hill, starting to fill the chambers of the ancient structure, and spilling over the Coral Settlement. The abandoned living modules are buried under the flows. That is not enough for the pyramids. The final image from a camera inside is of the temporal D-tube flashing with silver light, and then the whole area goes black. After a few minutes, the pyramids are gone, millions of years of time having passed in minutes. Kraverse’s command center is gone forever.

The three parties regroup at the starport. No other ships are present at the moment. Maria goes to connect Ama-gi to the ship, and he starts work completing the upgrades. Maria refuses to leave their inorganic friend and uses stims to stay awake until Lucas forces her to go to bed after she is up for 72 hours. Four days after the evacuation, Wandering Providence is in her new form (as is the ship’s boat).

No one is quite sure how to make a report. Lucas suggests they remain and look at the other dig sites. They decide to reaming for another 4 months or so doing surveys. Sorrel does not want this. Being on digs is not what she thought it would be. After the excitement of a find of a life time, digging up bronze age sites is not what she wants to do. She leaves with a passing ship after a heartfelt good bye. Lucas promises she will still get credit on the paper. He is also insistent that Auther and Gwith’thin will finished their degrees. This also gives him time to write up their findings in a way they can report them to the authorities. Lucas and Daivd work on a report that makes it easy to pull certain items they understand might be at issue. David also makes the report he will want to give to the Navy. They plan to head to Glisten, the sub-sector Capitol closest to Dawnworld. This time also gives Lucas and Gwith’thin time to figure out why Sphere Terra males are sterile. It is a type a virus that piggy backs on more common viruses. It is easily purged by adult immune systems but not infants. It is very stable, as it is artificial, and a vaccine should be achievable. Further, it gives Maria a chance to train Vincent on mental shields and mink link.

After a little over four months, the group bids farewell to Dawnworld and using their new Jump-4 drives, take only two weeks to arrive at Glisten. Lucas immediately puts in a request to meet with the Sub-Sector Duke’s people, while David makes an appointment with Naval Intelligence at the Naval base in system. Lucas is quite concerned about meeting with people of such high status, and asks Vincent to come with him to the meeting. Maria decides to stay on the ship with the others, and deliberately not run around the city.

While Vincent has taken Lucas clothes shopping, David flies to the naval base to meet with Lt. Commander Adams. He is too the point and Commander Adams is amazed at the story. With a call, he expedites Lucas’ meeting and sends Captain Swift to the Duke’s residence. Vincent and Lucas find their clothes shopping interrupted by the Duke’s security, who take them directly to a meeting days sooner than they expected. All three men find themselves in a conference room in the Duke’s private rotating habitat.

They are met by Ms. Sonesta and Mr. Jordan. She does all the talking. It is clear she already has the report from David and takes the information from Lucas. They are as excited by the possible cure for Dawnworld’s curse as they are the information on the ancients. The three are told they will be guests for three days at the residence. Vincent calls Maria, who by this point, is contemplating hacking the starport’s security feed as she has had no contact for hours. As Vincent gives his rather anodyne report, Maria summons her energy and attempts a very distant mindlink with Vincent. Vincent, to his surprise, is able to make the connection briefly, and tells Maria the full story with memory.

After three days, the men are given the sanitized version of the paper to be published and David’s formal report. Ms. Sonesta suggests David familiarize himself with it for his final briefing. She also tells them they will send an agent to interview the three students to reinforce upon them what they can and cannot say. The three agree and head back to the starport.

David has an easy time of his final report. A few brief questions from the head of Naval Intelligence in the sector, and then David is wined and dined as the celebrity his is by the brass. Back at the ship, Lucas is worried. They, of course, don’t have all three students to be debriefed. Maria notes she can solve that problem and when the agent comes, she will stand in for Sorrel. The next morning, Maria emerges looking and sounding much like their departed student. She and the others meet with the agent and told in no uncertain terms what they cannot say to others. They are even provided with drafts of their dissertations and told to learn them

Finally, everyone is back on the Wandering Providence. Lucas has been looking at possible leads on the Ancient Hunters sites. He thinks there may be a place or three to check out. The ships slides into the black and prepares for their next adventure!

End of Season 1

We rejoin our a year after they departed Gilsten. They have moved from site to site in the Gilsten and District 268 subsectors. Most of the digs have been minor, with no real artifacts uncovered. Mostly they have been following rumors. Ami-gi is no real help, as he had no idea of any installations on any other worlds. Both Gwith'thin and Aurther have defended their thesis and graduated. They have elected to continue work with Dr. vin de Volk, as nothing they expect will compare to what they have already seen. Each has become a trusted member of the crew, and even Maria is willing to be fully honest with them about her special abilities.

Anson has remained with the crew as well. Her experiences with them after being “flatlined” and on the “deathstation” have given her a sense that this is her family. The experience left Anson and David with an attraction that has blossomed into an ongoing romance.

The morning of 162-1100 finds our heroes once again on Dawnworld. This time they have been sent to help a University of Glisten team explore the old uplifted canine ruins. These are not exactly Vargr, but an adjacent uplift and that has the University interested. Because of the security now on this project, the group was asked to help them get set up. That evening, Vincent has prepared a meal with local food to celebrate their completing the project. The meal is well received by everyone, but it is mid meal when Ami-Gi relays an alert. There is a ship sending an automated distress signal from the orbit of the near gas giant Rancke. Before they can respond, the 1000 ton freighter Lenox Linner responds they are going to investigate. It will take them around 65 hours to arrive. While the Wandering Providence could make it in 55 hours with its advanced thrust, the group does not want to reveal that ability. They also say they are responding, and will be there in 71 hours.

It is an in system haul, and one the group is used too, having used more than one gas giant to gain fuel. They race from the inner to the outer solar system. They stay in contact with the Lenox Linner the whole way, and Lucas notes their comm and transponder signals suddenly stop just as they report approaching the ship sending the SOS. Lucas sees energy discharges on the scanners, but neither he nor David is able to make out what they are. Then a communications surge, just a brief message by someone who knows what he or she is doing, sends out a single message “Pirates!”.

David slides into the pilot seat and orders Ama-gi to go to stealth mode. Ama-gi turns off the transponder and the hull of the Wandering Providence goes through a startling transformation. The hull at first seems to convert to a series hexagonal panels that start at the center and flow out to the end. This is followed by the panels turning the darkest black, reflecting no light at all. As the process is finished, the Providence looks more like a black cut out than a three dimensional object. It is darker than the space it is travelling through. David pushes the thrust back up to full and swings off their current course to an entirely new one. Unfortunately, there is no good object to come up behind, blocking them from the eyes of their prey. They are still several hours out, and the group gets ready. With David as pilot, Anson and Aurther take the laser turrets. Ama-gi uses the computer to operate the missile turrets. Gwith'thin stands by in the medical bay, and Maria takes her special psi-link chair. Lucas is, as ever, on sensors, not set to passive.

Thanks to Lucas’ skill, they find a ring of a dozen missile pods, many expended. This surrounds the derelict emitting the SOS, and the Linner itself. There is another 300 ton ship and a ship’s boat docked with the Linner. Clearly, the operations of the pirates are well in hand. The 300 ton ship seems to be emitting the communications jamming. David takes them up to engage one armed missile pod at medium range, but its mate is expended. This means they must shoot another live one at a distance. On David’s command, he orders the skin to change again as the gunners easily destroy both. A missile sent at the enemy ship is jammed with their comms. All along the hull, the hexagons reappear, but this time, the light devouring blackness is gone, replaced with the most perfect silvered mirror imaginable.

At this point, Vincent slams on the coms from the Captain’s chair and thunders,

”This is Vincent Weiss! In the name of the Imperium you are ordered to stand down!”.

While there is no response from the comms, there is no other action either. Vincent bought them some time. In that time, three more armed pods fall, leaving only one as a threat. Now the enemy responds! Three missiles from the pod and two from the enemy ship. Lucas easily jams the trio, and the other two are easily shot down with one turret. Now the fight is truly met.

The two ships trade missile attacks then David takes the Providence to closer range. They bat away the missile attack from the enemy ship, while taking minor hull damage from its pulse lasers. The Providence salvo finds its target and inflicts massive damage on the pirate vessel. In a called shot, one of their turrets is crippled.

During this fight, the ship’s boat attached to the Linner decides to flee. Ama-gi suggests they send their own boat, its own hull in stealth mode to shadow it. David agrees, and soon both boats are headed towards Rancke itself.

As for the main ship, seems the pirates are more than desperate, they are insanely desperate. They attempt a jump to flee, deep in the gravity well of the moon of Rancke. Unfortunately for them, their engineer and astrogator failed to make the math work for this difficult situation. The whole ships flickers, and then its J-drive detonates, taking the remaining fuel and M-drives with it. Fire and plasma are forced through the hull. The pirate ship sits dead in space.

From the Linner comes a communication telling, “Weiss” to stand down or hostages would die. David has had enough.

”This is Captain David Swift! I order you to surrender or face the same wrath I showed the raiders in the Angar incident.

There is silence on the comms for a few moments and then a frantic voice offers to surrender. Within five minutes, the Captain of the Lennox Linner, Yousef Gan comes on to say they have control. They dock immediately, and David leads Maria and Aurther over to ensure all has gone well. They are led to the captain who is busy overseeing the securing of the 6 prisoners into a cabin. The freighter has a basic crew as is expected for even a ship this large. The Captain notes that two of his crew are severely injured. David offers the use of their autodocs. In short order, while Aurther stays to help with making a cell out of a cabin, David and Maria escort the medic and the two injured crew to the Providence medical bay. When the medic notes the high tech of the two ancient autodoc pods, David tells him the ship has some prototype outfitting he has been asked to use. The monitor panels go red as the men are put in, and the machinery gets to work immediately, with an estimate of two days.

Lucas makes sure the relay system back at Dawnworld has a complete record of events, sans their own ship’s spectacular powers.

While Maria stays behind to interrogate the pirates, the others investigate the pirate ship. Ama-gi scans it for life signs and reports there are none. In addition, the enemy ship’s boat tried to hide in the gas giant’s atmosphere and appears to have gone to deep and is no more. Lucas sends out repair bots to take floating debris and brings them to the hull of the Wandering Providence. The near magical hull reaches out to take and incorporate the material into itself, restoring any damage. Lucas notes the power drain as this happens. After the return of their own ship’s boat, they return to the Linner.

Maria is quite persuasive with the leader of the remaining pirates, and man named Wilmont. He is a typical hired thug, who knew only they were going to set a trap and lure in this specific ship. He can say the pirate captain was called “Suni” but knows little else, and Maria, of course, can tell he is not lying. She asks Captain Gan what their cargo is, without reading his mind. While he says they have high tech robotic systems, Maria can tell he is holding something back. Captain Gan offers them all dinner after a rest period and Maria says she will pass along the invitation but most likely won’t come.

At dinner, the conversation is lively. Gan has the lowest ranking member of the ship perform the military toast to the Emperor, in a nod to Captain Swift honoring them with his presence. Vincent is also the toast to the table with his years of experience. Aurther and Gwith'thin have interesting conversations with the “lower decks” crewmen. Lucas finds he has the respect of his status, but the easy conversation with anyone at the table. Maria is not there. She settles into her psi-chair and taps the psionic reserve built into Ami-gi. Using her clairsentience she scans the cargo hold of the Linner finding Imperial Nuclear missiles. Captain Gan’s deception now makes sense. He would be under orders to not disclose that information.

Later that day, a transmission comes from the ISS Kanrarlar ordering them all to hold in place for a debriefing. It takes little time and is mostly perfunctory. As David has come accustomed, he is a minor celebrity with several Imperial Crew members. The Captain of the Kanrarlar requests David take his personal report back to Glisten, as his ship will be escorting the Linner the rest of the way. He gives them a voucher to cover expenses, and replaces their fired missiles. The Wandering Providence is headed back to Glisten.

As is normal for ships arriving in any civilized system, the crew of the Wandering Providence updates the data bases, both receiving and transmitting information. The centuries old system allows information to be spread across the Imperium. Usually he X-Boats carry the largest information, but every bit is taken and processed.

In this case, Lucas is startled there is a message addressed to him to come pick up a case delivered to the Glisten Highport. Objects are almost never delivered anywhere. He makes a note that is what he will be doing as soon as they dock at the highport. Everyone else is free to rest. David, of course, has a personal delivery to the Naval Base, and plans to take a shuttle there.

The repurposed Police Corvette docs and is settled in. Maria and Anson go to grab dinner with natural grown food at a more upscale place than usual for Anson. Aurther and Gwith’thin head out for their own mischief. Vincent simply relaxes on board, feeling no particular pressure to leave.

Lucas goes to the post office and signs for the case. He takes it to one of their secure rooms to open it. Immediately after taking possession of the case, Lucas notes it has a complex security. He receives a comms message from the case, text only, containing the statement “What animals were uplifted”. Clearly this is based on their Dawnworld experience. Entering the animal names opens the case. Upon doing so the Lucas immediately realizes it is not what it seems. This is a ‘Carter Case’, manufactured by a small security firm based out of Ushra in the Dagudashaag sector. The origins of its nickname are unknown and the manufacturers use a far more formal designation. Possession of a case like this is subject to strict licensing in most jurisdictions as it can be used to smuggle dangerous items through starport security.

The first thing Lucas notices upon opening the case there is a gun. It is some kind of heavy revolver and is accompanied by a full box of 50 cartridges. These are obviously energy cartridges of a sort used to power some laser weapons. They are an unusual caliber, incompatible with most weapons but specific to the gun in the case. It is a Litebeam 6L heavy laser pistol.

There is not much else, just a few small scientific sample cases and a handwritten note. Most of the cases contain carefully wrapped fragments of a strange alloy, clearly broken off something by using a great deal of force. The alloy glows faintly when some people touch it and becomes slightly warm for others. In one sample case is what can only be described as a jewel. Its facets catch the light in a way that makes it look green at first but turning it over slowly causes a shift through blue and red to a glimmering almost-black. Individuals see different shades and colors, with the shift occurring at differing speeds.

The package is accompanied by a cryptic handwritten note:

Gang

The gun is just to get your attention and, well, you know. I think they found something and it’s big. I need you to come get me and we’ll slip some more of this stuff out when we leave. Look for a scout ship named Garnette. Her skipper is Bernadatta Khaled. She can tell you where I am. She’ll want identification – tell her about that time we did that thing. Don’t hang around; I’m getting scared. Sorrel.

Lucas immediately contacts the crew and asks them to return as soon as possible and himself returns to the ship. Maria responds by finishing the dinner with Anson before returning, settling Anson’s discomfort in the delay noting they paid for this nice meal. Aurther and Gwith’thin return, apparently having spent the past couple hours counting cards in a casino. Aurther is amazed at Gwith’thin’s memory and math skills. Lucas expresses some interest.

David, of course, goes on his mission of delivery to a warm reception at the naval base. He has his comms turned off to not be distracted. He is the last to hear the message to come back, and it takes him the longest.

Once the crew is back, Lucas tells them what he has discovered. There in a unanimous agreement to go after Sorrel to rescue her, in whatever mess she has landed in.

Maria suggests a search for the Garnette in the open source search of data logs. However, she has Aurther offer them several names of scout ships, the same class as Garnette, so that anyone looking at their search will not know the specific ship they are tracking. Aurther gives several names and they start the search. The data search indicates that Garnette has been in and out of Egypt’s port several times in the past two years. Aurther expects more information may be available there.

They restock and refuel and in short order, Wandering Providence is on the way to Egypt. The crew will have some time in the week jump, so Lucas decides to analyze the scientific fragments. He starts with the odd pieces of alloy. These appear to be similar to their own ancients modified hull. The material is light silvery-grey and appears to be a honeycomb structure. The alloy becomes warm or glows when some people touch it and will react the same way each time to that person. It is clearly built of nano and micro technology of some sort. The material is fantastically strong and may be some kind of superdense alloy. It conducts electricity and has a very high heat capacity, just like their own hull in Reflection mode. Even a small piece can be heated with a blowtorch or similar for an extended period without significantly increasing in temperature. Like their hull, when subjected to certain voltages and frequencies the properties of the material change. In fact, at one point, Lucas accidentally triggers a “repair” mode and it takes powers and starts to absorb the scanning device and container. Cutting power stops this. Ama-gi can confirm that this is a hull metal of some sort. Same basics as the material they used from Ancient #12, but a different flavor, most likely from a different ancient.

The jewel is multifaceted and extremely hard and is composed of a variety of exotic materials in a matrix of carbon. Its composition cannot possibly be natural in origin. It reacts ‘weirdly’ to electromagnetic stimuli, either glowing or becoming warm. Magnets become less effective close to the jewel and if left there will gradually become hot enough to melt.

Seeing that this is a piece of ancients technology, Lucas asks their resident brain-witch to take a look. After all, she had the magic touch with the “floaty-disks”. Maria agrees and makes a strong check using her telepathy and psionocology. The jewel indeed requires a psionic mind, but clearly needs one with specialist training, so even she cannot control it at this stage. She is alarmed at the psionic radiation it is emitting trying to link to a mind. She wants it contained and Lucas reluctantly agrees. Part of him feels sure if he just studied it some more he could unlock its secrets. However, he shakes this feeling even as Miki places it into one of the recovered psi-shields they have and places it in her quarters, taking up in Sorrel’s old suite to maximize distance.

Egypt is a forbidding and dangerous world in the Glisten subsector, with an insidious atmosphere capable of penetrating most normal survival equipment. It is sufficiently hazardous that the Scout Service uses the surface for hostile-environment exercises.

The Egypt system has a naval base, which is home to elements of the 100th fleet. These vessels are assigned to patrol the systems closest to the border and spend a lot of their time performing space worthiness and customs checks on vessels entering or re-entering Imperial space. Most of these ships are small, in the corvette class, or of obsolescent design. They have little value in a warfighting scenario but are entirely sufficient for their assigned role.

Other vessels from the 100th Fleet are based at Mille Falcs, one parsec away but in District 268. This subsector has no assigned fleet as it contains only three Imperial systems. Instead, a force of destroyers and corvettes patrols those systems and operates across the subsector in neutral space. These are the newest and best vessels in the 100th Fleet, other than a few assigned to the subsector admiral’s flag squadron. Typically, a destroyer or two would be considered sufficient to police the route to the Five Sisters and when necessary elements of the sector fleet can be detached to assist

Egypt’s highport is large and of good quality. Its extensive commercial docks handle large freighters, with a small-ship berthing area elsewhere. There is also a dedicated passenger terminal for upmarket vessels and a section owned by the Scout Service which is used to support the x-boat and courier network. The system’s naval base is located elsewhere in the system but there are always naval personnel enjoying liberty time in the port and there is usually at least one cruiser sized system defense vessel within range. This is more about deterrence than defense. As a port of entry into Imperial space, it is useful to remind new arrivals of the power of the Imperial Navy. These vessels are homeported at the naval base and commanded from there.

Like most highports, there is a main concourse close to the small-ship docks and an upmarket version accessed from the passenger terminal. Internal transportation is good and most visitors do not really know where anything is – other than which internal transit system to hop on in order to get there. The port has the usual selection of bars, restaurants and entertainment facilities, all overpriced as is the way of starports. Those willing to take a little time to learn their way around can usually find something better, more interesting or cheaper.

The Wandering Providence arrives in the space around Egypt and is promptly hailed by both the Class B Starport and the Military, who mistook them patrol corvette for one of their one. This is quickly clarified by the civilian transponder on board. Vincent immediately uses his charm to ensure they get a dock at the upscale passenger terminal.

There are more than a few eyes looking through the large viewing windows at the sleek former military ship, its hull gleaming under the lights of the docking bay. After getting settled, Vincent dresses in a fine suit and goes to engage with anyone willing to talk about the Garnette. He is quickly able to find several higher level passengers on layovers who are easily swept up by the man’s family name and easy manner. Ever the charmer, Vincent is able to confirm the Garnette and its captain were frequent visitors, but never in “our” social circles.

David takes Anson to the Travallers Aid Society for a nice dinner. They left Glistin too fast for a date, and this Class-B starport provided the opportunity. They enjoy a decent meal overlooking the orange planet below. They beat Vincent back to the ship and complete their date.

Lucas and Maria have the most interesting time. Lucas notices advertisements for an Ancients Museum located at the downport. According to the advertising, it is entirely legitimate, fully licensed and run by the greatest expert in the Marches, the Captain of Knowledge. Lucas is eager to check it out, and the two tell the others they are headed down to the planet.

Egypt is officially designated an Imperial colony, a rather archaic description sometimes still used for directly administered territories. Almost all of its halfmillion inhabitants live in the downport and associated startown, which is simply known as ‘Egypt’ by its inhabitants. This is reasonable enough; the rest of the planet is totally inhospitable and uninhabited, so effectively the port is Egypt.

All vessels landing at the port go through the same process. Landing is made on a movable platform which is then drawn into one of the hangars. Once the hangar is sealed, a neutral-gas atmosphere is pumped in. This is mostly nitrogen and cannot support respiration. A thorough hosing with decontaminant follows. Once the process is completed a disembarkation tube is extended to the ship’s airlock. Personnel can finally leave the vessel in safety and comfort. Cargo handling is usually done by robots, removing the need to keep pumping oxygen into a hangar where it will become tainted by traces of external atmosphere. Whilst cumbersome, this process keeps waste to a minimum. It takes a half hour after landing for the two to be in the downport.

The museum is located among several other recreational establishments, most of them low-to-middle quality bars and restaurants. It is easy enough to find, due to the garish holographic signs floating above it. The museum takes up a typical retail plot and apparently is constructed as a silver dome. In fact this is just a façade created out of cheap reflective alloy. Entry is through a rather forbidding dark tunnel of the same material. This leads to a set of imposing doors, beyond which is the museum itself. A sign on the entry doors proclaims that the museum is curated by one Aish Nirkha, who is also known by his datanet persona as the Captain of Knowledge. Entry is a mere Cr10, getting a pass valid for a standard year. An automated ticket dispenser will provide the two with an over-large and rather garish pseudo-paper ticket in the ‘traditional style of Old Terra’ and update their comms with the electronic version. The Terran rolls her eyes, and makes a sharp comment about how this is not ”how things were ever done!”

The actual structure of the museum is rather basic, using six prefabricated shelter/dwelling units connected by a long corridor. This is not apparent from the inside, where a great deal of effort has been expended on making visitors think they are in some kind of alien structure. Banging on a wall dispels this illusion quite quickly, however. The museum appears to be arranged as an entry area and four ‘pods’, each with a different theme. At the far end of the corridor is a heavy door with multiple ’PRIVATE: NO ADMITTANCE’ signs plastered on it.

It soon becomes clear there is absolutely nothing of any importance on display and most of what is in the museum has nothing to do with the Ancients. There are cultural items from all over Charted Space, oddly shaped rocks and personal items from famous Ancients Hunters. All of these are accompanied by holographic displays featuring rather fanciful re-enactments of ‘presumed events’ like the time the Ancients taught the proto-Hivers how to swim or make fire. The information presented – in a patient, rather condescending tone that turns out to be how Aish speaks – is similarly nonsense. All depictions of the Ancients are different, although most show them as essentially humans with bigger heads, longer fingers and similar minor alterations. Maria notes that one of the holos is actually from a very old entertainment vid show from Terra, centered on five incredible young people with superpowers.

Lucas’ ears drop as this all becomes clearly shlock. Marie is simply amused. It is clear the content of the museum is patent nonsense. They both realize that the purpose of the museum is mainly to make visitors think they know nothing and that the curator is one of the secretive Preservers who knows All The Secrets. However, the two eventually attention of the curator, mostly through Maria’s snorts and laughter. It is then that a man emerges from NO ADMITTANCE area,

Aish Nirkha approaches them, leaving the door open long enough to let the two see the wonders on the other side. Aish recognizes the expert Dr. vin de Volk and fails in any attempt to be casua. He uses both hands to pump Lucas’ arms, even though Lucas is no longer holding on. He cannot wait to hold forth about some obscure subject and impress the Doctor with his secret knowledge. His conversation is littered with hooks to draw an interested comment so that he can hold forth and he will provide an answer to the merest hint of a question. Of course, Aish offers to show them the ”good stuff”

This is still a rather random mix of legally tradable Ancients items and stuff that looks vaguely Ancient-ish. There is nothing powerful or illegal but it is still a decent collection. Aish will offer a detailed – but clearly to Lucas, rather inaccurate – explanation of any artefact in his passion. While to others he might refuse to say where he gets his better artefacts, he is desperate to do a big reveal, and spills the beans, since his contact is none other than the captain of the famous Garnette! Indeed, ”Bernadatta Khaled is a personal friend of mine!”

Once this dam is burst, Aish will spill all manner of tales, insights on matters concerning the Ancients and anything else that enters his head. He wants Dr. vin de Volk and his fetching companion to be impressed with his status as King Ancients Hunters. He and Lucas quickly descend into talking shop about the artifacts, one of which is a partial micro nuclear damper, displayed upside down. This talking very quickly bores Maria, as Lucas is clearly starting to grow irritated with the insufferable man trying to grind Lucas into submission with endless patronising lectures about how little he knows and how much of it is wrong. At some point, Maria has had enough and simply reads Aish’s mind while he is talking.

Aish is a delusional Ancientsophile with an over-active imagination and possibly a narcissistic personality. He does remember the Captain talking about obtaining ‘a specimen’, presumably of the Ancients but not where from. They talked about setting up a containment facility in a place called Makintown on Callia. This was just a few days ago.

Virtually everything Aish says and thinks is self-serving, wrong or both. However, there are some clues to be found within his fountain of misinformation. He refers to Bernadatta Khaled as pureblood Solomani and mentions (albeit for the wrong reasons) that the Solomani had less to do with the Ancients than other humans.

He does not say but thinks that Bernadatta and the Garnette are involved with an individual named Blanca, who makes the occasional foray into Ancients’ lore in their datacasts. Nobody knows who or what Blanca actually is, as they use a fanciful holographic representation in their datacasts. Aish is adamant that Blanca is a Deludo who knows nothing about the Ancients, which might suggest to the Travellers that they are a better prospect than Aish. Also, absolutely nobody knows where Blanca is based – except Aish, who can confirm they operate out of Makintown on Callia.

Aish believes he is special. Linked to “The Preservers”. The Preservers are an invention, of course. Well, not entirely. It is possible that a group dedicated to preserving knowledge from the time of the Ancients did or does exist, and from this slim possibility Aish has convinced himself that it is his calling to do so. He has ‘identified’ signs that certain other Ancients Hunters might be connected to the group, which means it definitely does exist! That in turn means the feeling he has always had of affinity for all things Ancienty must by real and he must be from a Preserver bloodline!

Satisfied, Maria attempts to create an exit, however, she manages to offend their host. Lucas, was too deeply involved in the conversation to even notice what Maria was doing, but now it suddenly dawns on him. Drawing on years of dealing with foolishly vain academics, Lucas is able to wind down the conversation and end on good terms. The two leave and go to return to their ship.

The gambling duo is not yet back on the ship. Anson is asleep, but David is up reading. Vincent arrives shortly after Lucas and Maria returns, clearly having had a good time. Maria goes over the information she took from Aish’s mind. It is clear Callia is the next port of call.

Vincent say he will look for a 10 ton lot of agricultural tools headed to Callia and will secure them for transport to off set operations costs. ”Tomorrow. I need to sleep”. David helps him back to his cabin. Maria and Lucas just look at each other across the briefing room table. Maria just shrugs.

The Callia system is something of a problem in astronavigational terms. It forms a jump-1 link on the route between Glisten and the Imperial worlds on the fringe of District 268. It has little surface water, no starport to speak of and no easy source of fuel in the form of gas giants. Callia is the reason there is little ‘local’ trade to District 268 from Glisten. Local, in this context, means originating within the Glisten Cluster.

Callia is a thin-atmosphere desert world with very little water. Settlements are located either where there is a source of surface water, or else built around deep artesian wells which feed into an extensive pipe system to support local agriculture and industry. The population numbers around 800,000 of whom a little more than a quarter are Jonkeereen. Jonkeereen are a human Minor Race genetically engineered to live on desert worlds. They mostly have their own communities but at least 70,000 of them live among the ‘mainstream’ humans of Callia.

Callia was settled in the early expansions into Glisten, by a typical mixed bag of Imperial humans, with others arriving over the years. Among these were a significant number of Jonkeereen, some of whom acted as guides and advisors to non-desert-adapted humans as they set up towns and industries. There are few frictions between both groups, although gradually the Jonkeereen have drifted together into their own communities. Those communities that are predominantly Jonkeereen tend to have strict rules (as opposed to laws) and a harsher lifestyle than the other humans. Small groups have wandered all over the world and can be found anywhere, while other humans are mostly located within 2,000 kilometers of what passes for a starport.

Callia has a world government of sorts; larger settlements send a representative to the so-called capital, a town called Bekk which is home to some 75,000 people. The fact that Bekk is not the site of the starport says much about Callian lack of interest in off world events. The council of representatives at Bekk has no real power as such but representatives use it as a forum to make whatever deals and compromises, they need with other settlements. In practice, settlements are more or less self-governing within this framework of loose cooperation.

Almost all settlements are ruled by a technical caste of educated individuals, who have created a guild structure to pass on their skills. These individuals control the water supply, industry and agriculture. They rule in return for providing their communities with water and the goods people need a system that seems to work well enough most of the time. This form of government is known as feudal technocracy and leads to an informal system in Callia’s case. Each settlement’s water-guild has a number of technicians and engineers plus a few administrative personnel. There is also a small group of enforcers who keep the peace and protect vital water-supply equipment. There is nothing resembling a planetary military.

Society is, in many ways, very liberal. There are few laws as such. However, Callia is a harsh world and the locals know that some activities cannot be tolerated. Only by working together to create a stable society that keeps water flowing can they avoid a thirsty death, so a number of things that are not specifically prohibited by law will still result in outrage and a violent response from enforcers or the population. Most crimes (official and otherwise) on Callia are connected with the water supply. Disruption to society is also a serious offence as it can ripple through into interruption of the water system and no Callian will permit that.

Callia has a reasonable TL6 industrial base in the larger towns, with more remote areas subsisting at TL5 or even 4. There is a small surplus for trade among the towns but Callia has nothing much to attract off world investment. It lacks the infrastructure to export much of its produce even if a market could be found. For the same reasons very little in the way of off world or higher-tech goods are available

The Wandering Providence touches down after a normal week in jump space. The group is somewhat skittish, as Maria insisted they rewatch two of her favorite films from ancient Earth about strange creatures and the strong woman defeating them. Maria is quite clear that only two “real” movies were made, regardless of what Anson found.

They land at what passes for a spaceport and leave Aurther and Gwith’thin to get the three tons of cargo onto the local train to the capital of Bekk. They rest fly with Anson in the ship’s launch to Makintown, where the Garnette is sitting. The ‘landing field’ is an area of exposed rock elevated a few meters above the town and it is smoothed off. No fuel is available, nor are there any amenities. It would be possible to refuel from the river with a long enough hose but the locals would be annoyed as there is little enough water at the best of times.

The scout/courier Garnette is standing on the landing field at Makintown. Her transponder is active and internal systems are powered at a low level. The group briefly discusses how to emerge, and decide against their combat boarding suits, though they have brought them and the FDs (Floaty Disks) just in case. They leave Anson on board, and she makes a point to button on the ship.

The Garnette’sentry points are locked and she makes no response. It is clear unless they do something dramatic, like blasting a hole in the hull, the crew will only be able to enter the vessel through her open cargo ramp. The first thing that strikes the group is the smell of blood. The source is easily found behind a group of crates. A Vargr lies dead on the floor, apparently savaged from behind by some creature with large claws and teeth. A loaded snub pistol is still holstered at his belt. If the Travellers think to check they will find it contains obviously modified tranq rounds. The Vargr also has a doublebarrelled ‘coach gun’ (essentially a short-barrelled but full-stocked shotgun) slung over one shoulder. It is loaded with standard buckshot and there are seven more shells in loops on his belt. The uniform has the name “Nanto”.

At this point the party retreats to the launch, looking towards the city to see if any smoke or problems can be seen, but all seems calm. They suit up and return to the scout ship to investigate further. They move with caution, armor, and guns. The ship overall is in good working order but is clearly old. It has been repaired numerous times and shows signs of very serious combat damage in the past. Vincent is first to notice that the Garnett must have seen the sort of ship-to-ship action . It is clear this ship had a major rebuild in its past.

In the cargo hold are a few boxes of supplies and a couple of electric offroad cycles but the rear of the area contains an overbuilt cryo-stasis unit, similar to a low berth used to transport a large animal. The unit is smashed and it is clear whatever was inside got out. There is some damage to containers in the cargo bay but no sign of the occupant.

Closer examination of the area reveals that the rear of the cargo area was once a secure cargo locker. The fittings where the heavy doors were added and later removed are still evident and were used to secure the cryo-stasis unit. This part of the hold once held a suite of data storage and processing equipment.

Further exploration reveals this is very much the ship of an ancients hunter. The office served as Bernadatta’s ‘madness room’ where she stuck flimsies with data or her own analytical scrawlings on every vertical surface. There is string connecting some of them, notes pinned to other notes and presumably some kind of system to make sense of it all. Bernadatta was using different colors of markers, string, paper and pins, possibly at random.

There are books on the shelves – actual paper books – and more of them open on the desk. In the center of a strangely clear space lies a large folio of handwritten pages, each carefully sealed in a polymer jacket and recompiled into a volume with a genuine leather binding. There are hundreds of pages, written in cramped and barely legible handwriting. A casual glance reveals some kind of prose-poem, using convoluted thought patterns and with no vestige of rhyme, meter or consistency of line length.

The front cover is embossed in gold and the leather is of very good quality. This book is clearly a valued possession, as well it might be to an Ancients Hunter. This is the supposedly-mythical original manuscript of Twilight’s Peak. There is no indication as to where Bernadatta got it. Maria insists they secure this book.

The workshop and armory are even more strange. The armory has a gun rack holds four snub revolvers and a variety of ammunition for them and has spaces for another four. There is an almost equal mix of tranq and high explosive armor-piercing rounds. There is nothing very unusual in the locker, other than parts of several other snub pistols and a variety of experimental drug delivery devices made out of them.

The standard scout/courier has a workshop on the port side of the main deck. This part of the vessel was heavily damaged by weapons fire and rebuilt as a utility space which was later converted into a sort of multipurpose laboratory. Currently there are chemicals stored here, some of which can be combined into an exotic tranquilizer. An ammunition loading machine has been repurposed to create snub pistol rounds containing this drug. Lucas does a quick analysis of the drug and it is unusual. It would have a mildly toxic effect on most human-like creatures, doing 1D damage in addition to any impact. There is nothing in the lab to indicate its purpose, since apparently, the crew all knew what it was. There are two versions; one intended to be delivered medically through a low berth; the other is a fast-acting variant delivered by more violent means.

Overall, it looks like this ship has a current crew of three, though it seems clear Sorrel was recently a member. Now it is clear the crew has been reduced by one. They head towards the town wondering what else they might find.

This landing area is separated from the town by a dribble of a river. The river is a shallow, muddy trickle in the bottom of a gulley at this point. It is crossed by a bridge made of stone panels fused into a rather unattractive but extremely robust structure. This is beyond the locals’ capabilities but easily explainable in terms of equipment brought in briefly to get the job done. There is even a plaque with Scout Service insignia and code numbers denoting the project and job number. There are bloodstains in the middle of the road near the bridge on the town side. They are extensive enough to suggest a person or large animal was killed there. Alarmed, the group traces the blood. The trail can easily be followed to the edge of the river, where a body has been tumbled down the riverbank into the water. The corpse of the crewmember Indi lies in shallow, muddy water under the bridge. She has a holster on her belt for a snub pistol but it is missing. A search will find it in the water nearby, loaded with tranq rounds. A couple of shots have been fired. The cartridge casings are to be found against a building near the town end of the bridge. A proper look under the bridge revels that there are parts from at least two, possibly three, humans in addition to Indi. All have been torn apart as if with claws and messily eaten. There are other body parts up and down the river, always stashed somewhere there is cover. There are no signs of gunshot wounds on any of them, nor any other artificial weapon.

The group is noticed by locals and they ask what happened. The locals respond strangely. Nobody recalls any such thing and will attribute it to an accident. Perhaps someone was transporting a carcass home from the livestock area and dropped it messily? This is a weak explanation but nobody has a better one. Vincent is insistent that this was a large creature which lost a lot of blood. A carcass falling off the back of a pickup truck could explain the amount of blood… possibly… but there are drag marks which suggest the body was dragged away in the direction of the river-bed. Nobody seems to have noticed this, or cared. They do not seem to be drugged or in an altered state of consciousness. The citizens are dismissive and go about their tasks. One suggests they talk to the town vet and medic Ammegash Venden. Lucas and David go with the citizen, while Maria and Vincent head up the “river” to see if there are more signs of violence. David orders everyone to just keep their comm channels open to listen in on each other.

The group is lead to meet Ammegash Venden at her home/office. Ammegash does not know who to trust and is suspicious of new arrivals for obvious reasons. If the Travellers approach her she will try to act natural but it will be apparent she is scared. This I obvious to Lucas. The doctor opens with gental questions and Ammegash points out the bloodstains by the bridge and tell the him nobody seems to know what happened here. In fact, everyone living nearby will say the same thing – they have no idea anything happened at all and it must be some mundane occurrence. Lucas confirms this is what they have seen. David, growing impatient, slips into “officer mode” and begins to harshly question Ammegash. Lucas intervenes with a glare and gets the woman back on his good side. Ammegash, treated with courtesy, asks for their help. She is a small-town medic, skilled at removing splinters and setting fractured limbs, and has no psychology training. She has a patient who is clearly delusional and would appreciate the assistance of someone with the clear experience of Dr. vin der Volk. The patient is one Edkiku Lam, a nice young man who makes his living doing contract work for others –herding, mending fences, whatever is paying that day. The issue is, he has no memory of, and adamantly denies they ever existed. Edkiku has, according to Ammegash or others whoknow him, been married for two years. He and his wife have a child who is close to her first birthday. Yet according to Edkiku he has never been married; there was a girl but she left him to go off world with a passing trader.

They find Edkiku Lam tending his vegetable patch. He adamantly denies any family, and when pressed comes up with different things he needs to go do: he must go and fix a fence for someone, or he has been asked to round up some animals, clean an irrigation ditch. It is clear something is very wrong. After he leaves, Lucas and David search his home to find that, indeed, there is clear evidence to a woman’s possessions and a child’s nursery.

Vincent and Maria head up the river, and find more remains. It is disturbing that no one seems to care. They look towards the fields and Maria spots a strange creature. It is Human sized, but looks like some sort of white to translucent long tailed Droyne. She calls Vincent’s attention to it, but he says he cannot see it. Maria is about to argue with him, when the creature’s head turns to lock eyes with Maria. After an instant, it darts away through the fields.

Vincent questions Maria and is quite concerned about her. With all the strangeness going on, now she is seeing things. He expresses this worry, asks her to return the ship’s boat with him, and give up her worry about these dead animals they have been following. Maria stares at Vincent, not sure of what she is hearing. After a brief discussion, it is clear Vincent is dismissive of all the remains, even those he helped identify as Ina. At this point, Lucas and David break in. Clearly, to them, something is wrong with Vincent. Clearly, to Vincent, something is wrong with Maria. David attempts to talk Vincent into just returning to the Ship’s boat. Vincent, is quite worried that the normally paranoid Maria has slipped into madness. With her powers, he is not sure what she will do. Maria and the other two communicate silently via her neural comm. They decide they have to get Vincent back. However, Vincent notices the odd silence and wants to run. Maria smashes his psi-shield and knocks out the easily susceptible mind. She then sighs and uses her awareness to increase her strength and carry him back to the ship’s boat.

Lucas and Vincent make their way back to the boat, both keeping any eye out for anything unusual. David, with his training, is far more aware of what is around him. He goes to tell Lucas something but then is distracted. They get back to the boat before the other two, and David is surprised to see Maria haul in an unconscious Vincent.

David begins to gently grill Maria on why she had to render their friend unconscious. Very quickly it is clear that now David is suffering from the delusional effect. Maria is adamant that there was no telepathic energy at work when Vincent started his behavior. David asks her to sit down, but Maria has had enough. She moves to put on her battle dress. David goes to stop her and Lucas uses his stunner on David. David is staggered and turns towards Lucas just in time for Maria to calmly knock out the Imperial Navy Captain (retired) with a telekinetic punch.

Anson is appalled at the actions and shaken. Maria orders her to ”Get us back to Ama-gi!” and Lucas nods as he turns his stunner to his chest. Anson blinks clear misty eyes and slams her willpower down on flying. Thunder rocks the city as she drives through the sound barrier back to the Wandering Providence.

Back onboard, Anson is helped by Gwith’thin and Aurther to get the two unconscious men to the alien autodocs. Maria and Lucas order them both strapped down. Maria orders Ama-gi to scan them all telepathically. What he finds is fascinating. Lucas and Maria are unaffected, but the other two show strange signs in their memories. He invites Maria to look with him. Ama-gi monitored the brain patterns and compared them to what they were seeing telepathically. It was immediately clear that both David and Vincent had seen the same creature Maria had, but in them, their brains responded to erase the memory and build new ones. Ama-gi theorized this was an Ancient engineering, built into the very DNA of those whose ancestors were touched by the Ancients. This is why the pureblood Solomani Maria was not affected.

Those affected are conditioned not to be aware of these creatures and to construct alternate explanations for their actions. The effect is broken if the creature attacks someone but a friend standing nearby might remain wholly unaware of what is happening. Survivors or witnesses would usually forget about the creature within minutes – effectively, they edit it out of their consciousness. Thus, a survivor may know that some friends were killed but not how. They may make up a convincing explanation, say concocting a vivid memory of an accident or a friend who got drunk and went berserk. Alternatively, they may simply not know what happened. This conditioning is keyed in part to the creature’s appearance and movement patterns. It is possible to watch a security camera tape of one and not be aware of the creature despite it tearing someone apart onscreen. The watcher may actually see the victim die and not be able to explain it but more often they will simply watch the tape then put it aside, remembering. Ama-gi suggests that repeated exposure might work to defeat the effect.

The news of this is terrifying to the crew. It ends up especially hard on the logical and analytical Gwith’thin, who retreats to a corner to engineering where it is warm and comforting.

An incensed Maria moves from being released to her Psi-Chair and starts with Vincent, who reluctantly agrees. She brings back his memories and forces him to re-live them until he remembers. This batters his very sanity, but he remains intact. Maria then does the same to David and then uses their memories to inoculate Lucas, Aurther and Anson against the effects. Gwith’thin, whose race was untouched by the ancients can see the horror on his own just fine.

Maria rises from her chair and staggers, and would have fallen to her knees had not Ama-gi caught her with a telekinetic hand. The ship’s reserve of psi energy is depleted, as is her own. Maria stands and with a drunken walk heads to her quarters to pass out still wearing her clothes.

Knowing the monster was headed to the city, no doubt to kill again, the others do not want to wait, even shaken as they are. David confidently assumes command and takes the Providence under stealth from the starport to hover over Makintown. The stealth settings and sophisticated, and the ship is almost impossible to see in the sky. Lucas and Ami-gi both scan for the creature and between them, they find the monster prowling the town, half in the open because it cannot be seen.

They land head out in the aircar, telling Anson to land the ship after flying out and coming in not in stealth. After dropping of Vincent to deal with the population, they others go to attack. Lucas flies while David lines up a shot! Vincent distracts the population, telling them this is “Just a weapons test and demonstration”.. Of course, all most of the people can see is the weapons fire. David lances his high energy laser into the beast just as it looks up to see them coming. No blood emerges, but the monster lets out a wail and dives into a nearby home. Lucas roughly lands the air car as David leaps out to chase the creature into the home. Of course, he runs into a startled man and wife, demanding to know why there is a man in a combat vacc suit in his home. Lucas is right behind and they split up, Lucas taking the kitchen and David heading upstairs.

Lucas sees the creature bent over the home’s power unit, clearly drawing energy from it. He can see its wounds healing. Lucas shouts out it is in the kitchen and can absorb energy. This is when the monster jumps him. While the claws and teeth cannot penetrate Lucas’s armor, to his horror, his head’s up dies and the life support goes with it. The monster has drained all his energy. Thankfully, this is not power armor and Lucas can still move but, Lucas is on a clock before he cannot breath. Gwith’thin alerts the team that Lucas’ transponder has gone dead!

With all that is going on, Vincent tells the crowd to run as the family charges out of the home. One soul seems to have seen the monster and helps to move the crowd along. Soon there is a mass run away from the fighting, much to Vincent’s relief. However, Gwith’thin notes that David’s signal has also died away, and the former merchant runs towards the home.

Inside, David leapt down the stairs and charged into the kitchen. Lucas shouted for him to use his sword as the Vargr searched for a kitchen knife. The creature jumped onto David and immediately deadened his suit. As Vincent raced towards the house and Lucas looked for a non-energy weapon, David and the monster fought. The creature clawing and biting at David, while the former starship office fought back with his sword. As David ran out of air, he knew he had to open his face mask, leaving himself open to the sharp talons that had already raked across his visor. Just then, Lucas shouted and leaped, his voice crying ”YOU ARE NO GOD!” as he drove a kitchen knife deep into the neck of the Ancient’s biological killing machine. The three all topped to the floor. David stood and cut the head free from the body as Vincent charged into the house. Much to the relief of the others, Vincent could tell them their friends were alive. When Ama-gi heard about the drained suits, he inquired about Lucas’ ring of power storage being drained. Lucas blinked and mentally checked his artifact. It was full. Sighing at forgetting this, he energized his own suit and then reached out to recharge David’s. The three packed up the head and body into the air car, and left Vincent to talk to the locals.

The crew on the ship put the body into one ancient autodoc and the head into the other with strict orders not to revive them but keep them frozen. Vincent is approached by a grateful Ammegash and a female Aslan, calling herself Blanca. Vincent recognizes her name as the contact of the Garnette’s Captain. She offers an invitation to Vincent and his friends. Vincent accepts and then makes his way back to their ship.

Blanca’s home is much larger than the other houses at Makintown, with a domed roof supporting multiple antennae. The ground floor is almost entirely taken up with a rather sparse but nicely appointed open-plan living area. Here Blanca cooks meals to share with her (few) guests and entertains in style when it suits her. The rest of the time the lower floor provides space to pace around, followed by cameras as Blanca makes one of her famous Ancients-Lore datacasts.

Blanca recognizes Dr. vin der Volk, and warmly invites him in. They are able to enter into easy conversations and Lucas is able to find out a great deal.

Blanca has been resident on Callia for some years but has stayed below the Imperial authorities’ radar thus far. She might have to move on someday but she is happy in the small community of Makintown and well respected by her neighbors. Anyone with meat to sell – from herding or the hunt – finds a ready market with Blanca. She has been known to go hunting with the Jonkeereen and usually makes a good score. The fact that this would scandalize her conventional relatives back home, who see hunting as a purely male preserve, amuses Blanca greatly. The way she sees it, hunting is like business – find the opportunity, go for the kill, take the profit

Blanca is… what she is. Her home society is extremely sexist and expects a female to be a good wife to a proud male. Certain areas of endeavor are ‘male’, others ‘female’ and gender divisions are very strong. No right-thinking male would let his wife or daughter pursue an interest like Ancients Hunting and any achievements she made within acceptable behaviors would reflect upon her clan and husband or father rather than being her own. Blanca found this straitjacket unacceptable and left, making her something of a pariah among mainstream Aslan. The Ancients Hunter community, weird and at times inane as it might be, accepted her for what she knew rather than who she belonged to.

Blanca is a former associate of Mercedes Karamaka and has a set of override codes for Garnette – as well she might, since she admits she flew for a time Blanca flew with Mercedes before wearying of all the travel. As her friend is dead and the group saved the settlement, she is willing to turn the codes to over to them. Blanca is very willing to talk about Bernadatta and her crew, and has some stories to tell about Sorrel. Questions about the ship before Bernadatta had it are deflected. All she can offer is “Garnette belongs to a very… formidable… human woman called Mercedes. I don’t know where she is now but I have no reason to suppose she is not still alive. She handed the ship over to Bernadatta a few years back. Planned to retire I think. Or maybe she just wanted to get rid of that damned book.” She is of course referring to the manuscript of Twilight’s Peak.

With the access codes, the Garnette’s logs resets to show them as the current operators, although not the owners. That information remains rather cryptic. She has no history before 998, when she was recommissioned as Garnette. This is unusual; normally rebuilt vessels retain information on their former service even if the registry is changed. Her very first log entry records that she has been reregistered as Garnette and lists her old name. This is the only reference in the logs. Since then, Garnette has kept standard logs of her movements. A detailed investigation into the logs will reveal a pattern of movement across Glisten and District 268, which could be cross-referenced with known Ancients sites and the location of Hunter groups.

Notably, Garnette has paid several visits to a small town on Pagaton, sometimes staying for several weeks. This happened before and after her most recent crew took over but like most of the logs there is no explanation for the stay. She has also visited Callia several times as well as Egypt and other worlds in the region. A lengthy foray into the Trojan Reach followed t he change of operators, during which the ship seems to have spent a considerable amount of time in the outsystem of backwater worlds. There are also a couple of puzzling movements, where Garnette seems to have travelled between systems without engaging her jump drive. Jumps are normally logged, with a file of drive and system parameters associated with each. Either Garnette was carried aboard another ship during these movements or she travelled by some mysterious means.

Vincent finds a strange device attached to the avionics. Buried deep is an innocuous looking black box. Further investigation shows it has been wired into the guidance and communications system in a distinctly non-standard manner. The box is permanently sealed and would have to be cut away to get at the contents. Scans show only an irregularly shaped mass of very dense material, of unknown composition, with wiring connectors fused to it. There is a large and very mundane on/off switch between the box and the ship’s systems. It is set to OFF. Vincent decides to take this with him.

Most importantly, Lucas finds out where Sorrel went. He learns from Garnette’s logs that Sorrell has ‘gone to Hell’ and with a few further inquiries this is clarified. Sorrel is at the Fuller Experimental Mining Installation in the Caledonia system. She said they had found something and she was scared, so she will be hoping for extraction as soon as possible. Caledonia is four parsecs from Callia; two jumps for a jump-2 ship. One option might be to use Garnette to go there, keeping the Travellers’ own ship – if they have one – off the authorities’ radar. However, they go about it, answers to the Travellers’ questions must lie in the Caledonia system.

Before they leave, the group wants to further investigate the town. Inside one of the warehouses is the body of Bernadatta. She is close to the entrance, apparently having collapsed trying to reach the doors to get out. Someone has walked through the pool of dry blood around her body, into the warehouses and back out again. There are two sets of prints but not much of a trail since the blood was almost dry. A closer investigation reveals a partial print which appears to have been made by an animal foot with elongated claws. It appears she tried to lure the monster into the cooled warehouse, and while she succeeded, it killed her. Then someone else opened the warehouse, and the beast escaped.

The three decide to leave the Garnette under the care of Blanca. Perhaps she can make some money from the famous ship. They have something much greater that can reach Caledonia in a week’s time. They order fuel from the far too expensive Callia Link Fuel Company from the Fuelforsale and prepare to depart for their next stop just at Maria awakes, fresh from a 16 hour sleep.

Things had not gone as planned for retired Lt. Colonel Richmond Anthony . His departure from the Imperial Army earlier in the year. He used the money he had to move to the out of the way world of Callia and try to start farming. At 34, it seemed like something he could do. With his strength and endurance, how hard could it be? It was, he mused, a total disaster. Callia was out of the way, yes. The desert climate was not great for farming. Frankly, he was broke and going to have to work for someone else. Not sure of his next steps was when Richmond heard there were Travallers on the planet. Not just people visiting or passing through as normal. No, these people had a Imperial Patrol Corvette at their disposal, along with high powered weapons and had apparently killed a monster of some sort. Their ship was not at Makintown. Richmond used the last of his credits to fly straight there. As promised, there was indeed a glistening Corvette sitting next to a rather used looking Scout Ship. Richmond waited on the rock slab that passed for a landing pad.

Richmond did not have to be patient. Three sophonts in combat boarding vacc suits crossed the bridge and approached the landing area. They were two Humans and a Vargr. One of the Human’s and the Vargr’s suits had scratches covering them. The three had their visors open, and Richmond could see the weariness on their faces. He was interested to recognize one as Captain David Swift, of the Campo Incident fame as the owner of the battered vacc suit. Before he could wonder why a famous man like that was here, he blurted out ”Weiss!” upon seeing Vincent.

Lucas, David and Vincent all stopped to stare at the man who just hailed them. David’s hand surreptitiously drifted towards his weapon. Too much had just happened for them to be off guard. Vincent was his normal self. Never forgetting a face, he immediately recognized Richmond and greeted him warmly!

”Major Anthony! What an unexpected surprise! What brings you to this scrap of the galaxy?”

”Well, I retired as a Lt. Colonel and thought I would try my hand at farming. That has not gone well”

Seeing things were under control, David and Lucas made polite greetings and headed back into Wandering Providence. Vincent and Richmond quickly catch up outside, with Richmond relating his plight to Vincent. He knew Vincent from a Peacekeeping mission in 1095. Vincent was showing the family flag for the mission on the Weiss Mobile Zapruder. This was where they struck up a friendship and Vincent taught the young man to gamble.

An couple hours earlier, Maria finally awoke, fully refreshed. A quick check with Ama-Gi showed that the creature was dead, the “men” were visiting with the Ancients Hunter, Blanca, the ship was parked at Makintown, and everything was good. Maria decided on a decent meal, as she has not eaten in over 20 hours, and took her time getting ready. She emerged from her room when Ama-Gil told her Lucas and David were returning.

Lucas meets Maria and quickly brings her up today on Blanca and that their next stop is “Hell”. They have seen her twice and left her responsible for the Garnett. He assures her they took “everything” unusual, and shows her the odd box that was in the avionics. Before he changes, he shows here the head and body in the ancient autodocs for study. Maria suggests they shove the parts out the airlock in jump space.

Vincent comes in with Richmond and hands him off to a Maira while he goes to clean up after an introduction. Richmond cannot help but comment on it being a small universe, as he remembers Maria as a lifesaver. Unlike Lucas’s encounter with Maria as operative for Mandala, Maria saved Richmond and his command from Psion separatists. It is clear to Maria that Vincent wants to add him to the crew after hearing his story. Maria quickly makes sure Richmond is on the up and up and not a threat in the best way she knows how, while casually introducing him to the rest of the crew. She shows him around the ship briefly, and Richmond notices the two autodocs, devoid of any normal manufacturing markings, both with DO NOT REVIVE flashing in bright orange but says nothing. He does take one of his few possessions, a sketch book, and does some work.

The whole team meets with Richmond in the briefing room over snacks prepared by Vincent. The ship’s whisky is far better than the homebrewed beer Richmond had been drinking the past several months. Vincent proposes letting him tag along. With Maria agreeing, the group is happy to add a body, and they crew him in Sorrel’s old room. As the rest go to ready the ship to leave and refuel with the Fuelforsale orbital tanker. Maria, having nothing to do with ship functions, is left with their latest crewmember who also has nothing to do with ship functions. She takes the time to introduce him to Ama-Gil. Richmond is not sure what to believe when he is told the ship is operated by the mind of an stone age human from Earth. Still, everyone on the ship clearly believes it. He cannot help but note a strange connection of the crew of the Wandering Providence. Grateful to be away from farming, Richmond wonders what he has gotten himself into.

Paying for fuel and outfitting your friends are the sorts of things that are never far from Vincent’s merchant mind. The Wandering Providence has limited cargo space, and 7 tons of it is take up with spare parts and robots. However, they have 10 tons of space that is free. His brain is spinning.

Sternmetal Horizons Hymoth Station would find great resale value in fresh spices and fruit from Callia, especially items that won’t last more than a couple of weeks. A ship that can make the jump in one week can make good money on even 10 tons of such material.

With this insight, and their recent heroics, Vincent is able to score 10 tons of spices and fruits to take from Callia to Calidonia. Some of these are people who are grateful and some are people who clearly would like Vincent and his friends gone. Not all of it comes from Makintown, of course, some comes from other places around Callia. The ship will need to just pop back to the landing port outside of the Capital City to pick it up. The good news, however, the costs of this is a mere Cr40,000, with no taxes to any planetary government. Frankly, for many of the farmers, this is huge windfall, even if they will be eating dull food and rations for months.

At the other end, Vincent’s guess (and his guesses in this area are rarely wrong, if he does say so himself) that not only will the Cr20,000 refueling costs get covered when you sell these, there will still be at least Cr30,000 left over. Vincent figures the crew can easily stop at the Hymoth Station and make a sale and buy some equipment for his old buddy, Richmond.

Vincent easily sells the group on the plan, and they head up to the Fuelforsale in orbit to buy overpriced fuel to top off. They are then on the way to the Caledonia system. In flight, Gwith’thin studies the body of the monster and Lucas the device they found.

The monster is clearly genetically Droye. Gwith’thin notes that immature Droyne are more or less indistinguishable from Chirpers but undergo a process which triggers rapid development of physique and brain, which places the adult Droyne in one of the six recognized castes of Droyne society. A different set of triggers could cause the immature Droyne to develop differently. It may be that this creature is only one variant. Why there is not more of this creature or other variants is at present an open question. It is another example of the callous disregard of the Ancients for others, even their own species.

Lucas studies the device and it is clear it is an Ancients artefact salvaged from some site. It functions as a transponder of sorts and a “friend or foe” device. It will clearly aid in the detection of active bases at the price of saying “I am hear”. This of course requires the device to be switched on. Leaving it on produces the occasional ‘interaction’ with the Garnett’s electronics. This usually manifested as erratic drive performance or mathematical errors in systems where calculations have to be performed. Since these include guidance, jump drive operations and pretty much everything else, life could get a bit too interesting if the device is left on all the time. However, with his expertise, Lucas and Ama-Gi can provide a more elegant solution. While he does not intend to keep it on all the time, it is better installed in the Providence.

The Wandering Providence arrives in Calidonia and heads to Hymoth Station. Sternmetal Horizons is megacorperation primarily engaged in mining operations and manufacturing. It produces power generation equipment of all types (including power plants for starships, air and ground vehicles, cities, and industrial installations). Additionally, Sternmetal is the largest manufacturer of food synthesis equipment in the Imperium.

Most of the mining takes place in the planetoid belt. There are a couple of permanent stations owned by Sternmetal Horizons in the Calidonia system. One of these, Hymoth Station has a Class C Highport that acts as a hub of sorts for the belt, though obviously, it is across the inner solar system from half the belt at any given time. Even better, the station does sell unrefined fuel.

Hymoth Station provides the luxuries and breaks any belter could need, all at the very “reasonable” prices a monopolistic corporation own station can be expected to provide. This includes some of the more hard to get items, such as some weapons and armor. From a trade perspective, fresh food is hard to come by in as it mostly comes from nearby Crout, a world of suck strict law, export is not always easy.

Upon arrival, Vincent is unable to sell the control master on letting them quickly, and they wait several hours to be allowed to unload their cargo, then told to dock exterior. Vincent and Lucas get off with the cargo and now he shines. The loading masters are thrilled to each be handed a piece of fresh fruit. Vincent completes the sale and pays for unrefined fuel the Providence can start refining. He and David then take Richmond on a quick shopping spree.

After 20 hours or so, they are ready to leave, and they head in system.

Caledonia, the mainworld of the system, is a TL 5 world. It is only a brief time before they are told Fuller is on Calefaction. The world of Calefaction is in a precarious position. Its inclined and somewhat elliptical orbit takes it dangerously close to the system’s primary at perihelion. Thus its name – an archaic word meaning ‘to heat up’ which happens to also be a pun on the mainworld. Calefaction is at present approaching perihelion, creating extreme conditions, and will begin to cool slightly as it moves past its closest approach. A world in this position would normally be tidally locked but although Calefaction is slowing down as a result of tidal forces it has not yet lost all of its momentum. Its day-night cycle is equivalent to 122 standard days.

One result of this slow rotation is a constant cycle of heating and cooling. The ‘cold’ side of Calefaction retains some warmth in its surface rocks but is not very different from a typical rockball. The ‘bright’ side, on the other hand, is subject to extreme conditions. The stresses caused by rapid heating on one side of the planet and the cold of space on the other are affecting Calefaction. In addition, it is subject to tidal forces as a result of its position relative to the smaller companion star. It is not so much a question of if Calefaction is destroyed but when and in what manner. To this end a scientific station was set up some years ago and later its planetary-science mission was expanded to include experimental mining techniques.

The world’s only significant settlement is imaginatively named Shelter Canyon for the geographical feature that protects it. Located close to the south pole, Shelter Canyon lies in a relatively stable region and is shielded by a high ridge as well as the canyon itself. There are drawbacks to this location but it was the only option if the overall mission were to be possible.

David plots a course to approach the planet mostly in the shade, but this is tricky in a ship as nimble as the Wandering Providence. He does manage to get it along the way, but a couple times is exposed to sunlight and radiation. The hull switches to reflective and Richmond notes this is one more unusual thing. The approach to Shelter Canyon is through canyon itself. David adroitly flies through the walls, easily bringing the ship to a landing.

The five exit and walk to an airlock. Inside is an easy place to stow their suits. The group heads in and are quickly directed to the site administrator, Caroline Lidu. Lidu greets them warmly invites the Travellers to her office and sets them up on the system personally. This is simply a matter of logging their arrival and designation. They report the other members on the ship won’t be leaving. When asked about their reasons for being there, Vincent says trade, which causes Lidu to look skeptical – PC do not have the cargo for trade. Lucas laughs and says “Science. He is such a kidder”. They quickly say they are headed to Fuller Experimental Mining.

“Well, sorry to hear that. I guess better you than me”

Still obtaining transport to get there is laughably easy. Every few days an ATV is sent with supplies and to bring data back. Since long-range comms are impossible this is the only way to know the installation is not in distress, so a regular visit is required. Lidu offers want to volunteer the base staff are only too glad to let someone else make the trip. Alternatively, they can travel as passengers. She says Dan Kepaku will be happy to drive them. They thank her and head to the canteen briefly.

Maria is nonplussed. She is from a world of high technology, intrigue and lies. She is suspicious about how easy all this is but they have entered a very different world to the one they are used to. Everyone is concerned about solar flares and what they call ‘sunstrikes’. The idea that someone would come here to commit crimes or generally do bad things will not occur to them. This makes total sense to David, Lucas, Vincent and Richmond, all of whom come from high risk jobs where mutual trust is a must. Maria continues to have a sense of unease.

Dan is easy enough to find. He is an earnest young man not long out of college. He took a job at Shelter Canyon as an ATV operator and general technician, hoping to save enough cash and gain experience to pursue a doctorate in planetology. He is not the usual roughneck mining engineer; he is a scientist in-the-making. Dan has them endure the standard safety briefing before they go. Although everyone is weary of it, following the correct procedure is the key to staying alive on Calefaction. There are checklists to follow, inspections to make before boarding and the oft repeated stern warnings to take no chances. They all board the highly customized Reiplau ATV for the trip. With its hardened armor and nuclear dampers, it is designed for the harsh conditions, but even it will eventually overheat in direct sunlight.

Some time ago, Maria had embedded the small psionic gems they discovered in the bedroom of the Ancient #12 into necklaces. This rendered them no more interesting to the casual observer than some sort of not very expensive jewelry. Maria and Ama-Gi however, can use this to establish an ongoing mind link. With communications going to be a problem, Maria sets this up. Now, they can communicate with each other and Ama-Gi, even with the sleeting radiation from the dying star hanging in the sky.

Early in the journey the group witnesses Calefaction’s equivalent of a waterfall as they proceed in the shadow of a tall escarpment. Crust stresses have permitted magma to get close to the surface within the escarpment, with some of it escaping through faults in the rock to create a waterfall-like effect. Molten rock has formed pools at the base of the escarpment, requiring a detour into direct sunlight. Dan says they ”Have a choice between cutting close to where molten lava is splashing in the pool or swinging wide around an area of impassable terrain.”. They chose being safter and going around. This leaves them in the sunlight at the limit of the ATV but does not risk it crashing.

Later in the trip is what Dan calls “NGO (No good option) Strait. Dan suggests a fast dash and easily negotiates the rough area, though he almost gets stuck at one point, they are not in direct sunlight long. This leaves them in the shade as the approach Comms Ridge. Comms ridge is not an obstacle as such. The group is alarmed to see a turret pop up as they approach within 500 meters!. Dan says it is just a comms laser. It makes a quick data dump and retracts. Much of the data seems to be telemetry on various vehicles or robots as well as data on the status of comms towers like this one and the base itself. It would take some time to figure out what it all means but one piece of data is very clear. It is a distress call from a stranded ATV. There is no personal message, just a beacon, but the signal states:

ATV/Fuller Installation/Sorrel Tergaii

There is no indication of who else might be aboard but Sorrell is in command of the vehicle and she needs help. The ATV is more or less on the approach route to Fuller

Lucas rises from his seat and lunches towards Dan, his face an urgent snarl that looks quite scary to a human.

”GO THERE NOW!”

Dan drives towards the stricken Fuller ATV. Radio communications are often limited to a few tens of meters on Calefaction and never more than a couple of kilometers. Sensors based on the same emissions, such as radar, are equally useless most of the time. Optical devices such as lasers are unaffected, which is why the ATV was able to receive the retransmitted distress call once they neared the comms tower. Once the group gets within about 100 meters or so of Sorrel’s vehicle they will be able to use radio and radar to get more information.

Sorrel’s vehicle is only a few kilometers from the Fuller installation. As our heroes approach, they see the Fuller ATV is in desperate trouble. It appears to have shed a whole track group whilst out in the open. Presumably Sorrel realized she had no chance of returning to the installation so sacrificed what was left of the vehicle’s mobility to drag it into the shade of a nearby outcrop. Debris from the track system is scattered along the vehicle’s path. Dan comments he does not know ”any way that could have happened with all the safety features in these things!”. Vincent, unwilling to let Maria have a monopoly on paranoia immediately responds ”Clearly, this was sabotage.”

The TV gets into direct line of sight and Lucas establishes a communications laser-link with the other ATV Using the emergency query function, Lucas revieves an update on the vehicle’s condition. It reports that there are two people aboard, out of an initial crew of two, and that both are alive. They are named as Sorrel Tergaii and Kaigh Husak, both humans and both members of the Fuller staff. The vehicle has power but reports it is immobile and has suffered serious damage. Its cooling system is beginning to fail. They get no communications back on the laser link from either of the two occupants.

Once they pull within a 100 meters or so, the comms work, but are patchy. As they approach Vincet notices that a couple of robots have been deployed in a vain attempt to make repairs. All they appear to have achieved is to collect bits of the tracks and make an untidy pile. It is clear that this ATV cannot be made mobile without getting it to a proper facility and there is no way to do that. Towing will require dragging the vehicle, slowing both to the point where overheating is certain during bright transits. It may, however, be possible to save the crew.

Finally, the Fuller ATV’s laser comms activate fully, and screens light up with a scene from inside the vehicle. Sorrel and Kaigh appear to be alive and uninjured. They are in a cramped space, suited up but with helmets off. Their relief and delight at seeing absolutely anybody is obvious but when Sorrel realises who the rescuers are her astonishment is obvious.

Sorrell is amazed and delighted to see her old friends. When Lucas tells her ”We got your message” Sorrell seems confused. Vincent express the immediate worry of her three old friends that she seems to have forgotten asking them to come help. Sorrel launches into a quick rundown of what happened. She and Kaigh were out to take samples when the ATV suffered a catastrophic track malfunction. She managed to get into the shade. The robots could not repair the damage. Frankly, they expected they would die out here. Sorrel notes the equipment aboard the Fuller ATV is important and there will be no chance to recover it later. Sorrel asks her friends for assistance in transferring a few items after which she will be very glad to get back to the Fuller Installation.

Moving items between the ATVs is not all that risky, although conditions are sufficient to make anyone nervous. Suits can cope with the heat in the shade, at least for a while, and the two vehicles’ nuclear dampers will protect against radiation providing everyone remains close. There is a fair amount of mobile scientific instrumentation to be moved, which necessitates carrying by hand, and a few components that can be removed from the crippled ATV for salvage. David takes point on top of the Shelter Canyon ATV, while Vincent, Richmond, and Lucas assist with transportation of materials. Maria and Dan remain inside.

Vincent inspects the damage to the track and it is quite clear to him this was caused by a bomb. Kaigh and Sorrel are most upset to hear this was an attempt to kill her. Vincent redirects her to the task at hand, and the crews work to get the equipment moved over. This takes time, as they have to manage the difficult terrain.

As Richmond and Sorrel are getting the last samples, disaster strikes. The nuclear dampers on the Fuller ATV begin to fail, fluctuating wildly, and interfering with the dampers on the Shelter Canyon ATV. Dan yells for everyone to get back inside. Vincent and Kaigh are between the two, and Kaigh makes to run to the Fuller ATV, but Vincent grabs her and pulls her to safety. David leaps down and is forced to seal the airlock as the dampers collapse. Lethal levels of radiation wash over the space between the two ATVs, where Richmond and Sorrel are standing. Sorrel has grabbed Richmond and tells him to stay close.

Everyone on board knows about radiation effects and is horrified at what is happening. Assuming their suits somehow keep functioning long enough, Sorrel and Richmond will get to the ATV, but they will have received a fatal dose. Radiation poisoning is usually a long, slow death, so what is walking towards the them is essentially two corpses that have not fallen down yet. They cannot possibly survive but have chosen a slow death among friends over a quicker one in the dead ATV. A grim choice but there were no good options. There is silence in the ATV at first, and then a long, dreadful, mourning howl from Lucas. The scientist is beside himself, feeling this failure personally. Maria places a hand on him for comfort.

The two doomed humans reach the now restabilized damper zone of the Shelter Canyon ATV. Vincet mans the door and scans them. Despite the high energy particle bombardment they just received, their suits are not “hot” at all. He lets them enter, and Vincent immediately runs checks on them both. Neither Sorrel or Richmond have received any RADS. Their personal med scanners show them to be physically fine. Sorrel smiles and pulls out a jewel similar to the one she sent the crew. ”This is what saved us”. Lucas embraces Sorrel fiercely and she gives him a fast account their mission to research “The big one”.

This is a strange object of artificial origin, resembling a metal rod projecting up from the planetary crust to a height of about 12 meters. It is wider and longer than the several others has been the source of samples including the ones Sorrel sent to Lucas.

”The rod is assumed to have been left by the Ancients,” earning her a sharp glance from Kaigh. ”The function of the rod is unknown but every now and then experiments are conducted, such as feeding electrical signals into it, and minor changes have been observed. This was what we were doing this time out; trying out pulses and waves of varying amplitude. The results are stored in the devices we recovered.”

The jewel Sorrel has is very much like the one she sent.

”I have figured out this thing absorbs energy in some manner, notably ionizing radiation, and I was sure… well, pretty sure… that it would protect me and anyone very close. Now, it does not do heat. Someone standing outside in a vacc suit on Calefaction would still be cooked just not nuked. More importantly, their electronic equipment would not be fried. It goes out to a roughly two meter sphere or so.” She admits she ” figured this out by way of some somewhat, OK very, dangerous experimenting.”

Maria wants to head back to Shelter Canyon immediately. Dan would like to press on so they can refurbish the AVT and rest before heading back. Sorrel and Kaigh very much want to go back to find out who tried to kill them. Lucas and David argue to head to Fuller, and the group rolls forward.

Seeing the jewel in Sorrel’s hand, Maria is worried for the possible mental state of her friend. She decides to scan her surface thoughts as Sorrel tells her story. It is very clear that Sorrel is both telling the truth and she is holding something back. Maria also finds that Sorrel’s thoughts are more manic than in the past, focused on Case 12. The women is being driven by something. Maria transmits these thoughts to Vincent, unsure of Lucas’s state of mind at the moment, and trusting the wily merchant. Vincent immediately goes to further press Sorrel, who breaks down under his questioning. She admits to having given herself a command bracelet early in her stay, giving her command access to the security systems. She says this is what she was holding back. Vincet is not convinced and presses further. Sorrel finally breaks down and says she, and others who have been in study of the jewels are members of a “Church of Steller Divinity” at the station. Kaigh knowns nothing about this, and to everyone on board this sounds like a full on cult. Sorrel, of course denies this, but no one admits to being in a cult when one is in a cult. Over Maria’s objections they press on.

As they approach Fuller Research installation, it transmits a sudden warning signal. Distorted as it is, the signal can be identified as an Evacuation In Progress alert. The cap of the smaller tower of the station is blasted free and tumbles to the ground. Seconds later the Emergency Ascent Vehicle contained within hurtles upward under full power. Within seconds it is away, tracing an arcing course towards the shadowed side of the planet. It is not possible to get a signal through to the vessel due to radio interference and there is no reason given for the evacuation in the alert. Telemetry indicates the installation still has air, power and a livable environment. Its nuclear dampers are operating at full capacity. In short there is no indication of why the staff would want to leave in such a hurry.

The group might have decided to accede to Maria’s wishes, however, she scans the station for minds and tells her team, three people are still alive. Sorrel and Kaigh are eager to find out what has happened to their colleagues, though Kaigh is clearly disturbed by the revelations of the past hour. Dan drives the ATV into the Station.

The group leaves Dan in the ATV and heads immediately to the command area. There, rolling past dead bodies is a security robot. It goes to fire on the group, but Sorrel orders it to stop. She admits she reprogramed the security bots to protect her and make sure she was not stopped. She had not intended them to kill anyone. And now it comes out: Sorrel, driven mad by her study of the jewels, has gone to the various rods to see if they can be used to increase heat and tension in Calefaction and cause its destruction at perihelionShe is absolutely certain that destroying Calefaction and everyone on it is the right thing to do rejuvenate her star-god. She grows quite manic in her preaching, but before she can do more, such as give new orders to the security robots, Lucas, who has snuck around behind her, stuns her. Sorrel collapses to the floor, and Lucas administers a sedative with his med kit.

”How long until Perihelion?” he asks. A quick query of the computer shows 12 hours. Lucas is shaken, and stands there rocking back and forth on his feet. Then flies into a rage, smashing equipment and throwing it. David takes complete charge of the situation. He has Richmond and Kaigh go find the other three survivors. He tells Maria to contact Ama-Gi and relay the message the planet is going to be destroyed and to evacuate. He takes Lucas and helps to redirect him to access the systems, find out what happened, and download all the data they can. They find three survivors, Finsterre Summer, Vaughan Clemens, and Kellys Parroe. Kellys, also a cult member, is at the top of the spire in the secret shrine. Once the others are in the ATV, David and Richmond search the bodies and take anything of interest. Then they move to the ATV.

Ama-Gi reports to Maria he has sent the message, but is not sure they will be believed. The time to return to Shelter Canyon is closer to perihelion than they would like. With the ancient technology hull to reflect radiation, Maria summons the Wandering Providence to them. While waiting, David reviewed the security records.

Dr. Keith Ayala, who the rescued Kelleys says was the leader of the cult, confesses to planting the bomb to stop Sorrel from doing “something”. Dr. Ayala, paranoid under the influence of his jewel, did not know what Sorrel was up too, but felt something was off. It appears he had a change of heart, but his confession triggered both the staff and the security robots.

Sorrel’s reprogramming of the security robots was less than perfect. The system put together Ayala’s confession about sabotaging the ATV and the violence currently surrounding him, and decided he was a threat. It activated the security robots which attacked immediately. Ayala and three colleagues were gunned down in an instant; Clemens survived by virtue of being unconscious on the ground. The robots then began trying to round up the installation staff. They fired warning shots and used their concussion grenades rather than shooting to kill. Attempts to order them to stand down were partially successful but as soon as one began to return to its cubicle another would begin the process anew. The robots secured the main command areas and appeared willing to kill anyone who got near to the area. Personnel were ordered to their quarters but discovered they could move around without interference – sometimes – and decided to make a break for the EAV. Nine of them made it, leaving three living and seven dead colleagues behind.

Wandering Providence soars overhead, the hull mirror bright, reflecting the full electromagnetic spectrum. Anson adroitly maneuvers to land, its tail end just in the shade next to the ATV. Everyone charges out, with Richmond in front and David in the rear, the professionals monitoring the evacuation. Vincent carries Sorrel, alongside Lucas. Once David is aboard, and the cargo ramp is secured, he tells Anson to punch it and the ships streaks on an arc to the shade of the planets.

David strides to the bridge and activates a blanket communication to every outpost he can reach.

”This is Captain David Swift of the Imperial Navy. An evacuation of Califaction is hereby ordered. The planet will break up as it nears or passed perihelion. Everyone on Califaction must leave immediately.”

Captain Swift looks every bit the Imperial presence. Doubters from Ama-Gi’s message are now convinced with this strident communication and the increasing earthquakes on the doomed world. Emergency EVAs leap into space and fly away. Califaction is ripped apart by the strange ancient rods within it as the Wandering Province leads a rag tag “fleet” towards Caledonia. The EVAs’ initial high Thrust 8 drives are mostly expended, and now they are coasting towards their target.

Maria has taken charge of their refugees, while Aurther and Gwith’thin take Sorrell to an Ancient Autodoc. Gwith’thin starts monitoring her, while Aurther returns to engineering. In the conference room, Maria makes sure their guests are safe and situated for the trip from planetary orbit to orbit. Lucas heads to the common area and starts drinking. Vincent and Richmond join him, and the two work to comfort him, though Richmond does the better job. Both men finally get the distraught scientist to bed.

Gwith’in brings some troubling news to Maria. Sorrel’s brain shows a manic state, and one that appears to be increasing towards psychosis. This appears to be a progressive illness of some sort. He suggests scanning the others and Maria agrees. She sells it to them as routine, saving Kellys, the other person exposed to an ancient’s jewel, for last. Sure enough, Kelleys is showing similar signs, though not as progressed as Sorrel. Maria knows the jewels have a psionic effect, and this must be the result. All she can think of to contact Mandala and see if they can help solve the problem. Gwith’thin is clear that Sorrel will go insane and most likely die without treatment. The Wandering Providence hurtles on with a quandary of what to do with their friend and the refuges they saved.

It will take the Wandering Provdicne far longer to cross from the orbit of the now destroyed Califaxion to the mainworld of Caledonia, taking a bit over a day. These leaves the crew to debate what they are doing. They let their “passengers” not in autodocs take shifts sleeping in Sorrel’s and Anson’s old quarters. The crew meet to discuss.

Lucas awakens quite refreshed from his sleep after his drinking and summons the crew to meet. They have to decide on next steps. They have the following issues.

1. David made a formal announcement. They are known to be involved 2. They have the only data from Fuller 3. Sorrel and Kelleys will die from their exposure to the strange jewels without treatment 4. Maria believes Mandala can help, and there is a cover organization at Glisten she can contact. 5. They can get to Glisten a week before word reaches Glisten once a Sternmetal Horizons ship leaves. 6. They have four rescued survivors, one of whom, Kaigh, knows Sorrel destroyed the planet on purpose.

The discussion is passionate and heated. The main drivers are David and Maria. David, as retired officer of the Imperium, makes strong arguments for the safety of the realm. Maria, former agent of an organization that fights for her very right to exist, does not trust the Imperium one bit. She is adamant they say as little as possible and do not give the Imperium one bit of data. David wants some degree of transparency. While Lucas and Vincent tend to lean towards David, Richmond is less gung ho for the Imperium. ”I’ve seen some things, and Maria’s organization did save me.”

All agree to spare Sorrel and Kellys. Lucas and David express concern for other jewel contaminated members who escaped in the EVA, but Vincent and Maria are against further complications. Despite the crew wanting to prioritize what to do with the passengers, the bigger issue of what next keeps coming up in passion. Maria is already contemplating giving telepathic suggestions for them all to keep quiet. The whole argument is interrupted by a request from Kaigh to speak with them coming through Ama-Gi. Lucas tells him to play “Dumb AI” and tell her to come to him.

Kaigh is clearly frightened. She says that while Dan has been asleep, she and the other two from Fuller, Finisterre and Vaughan, have all agreed they would prefer not to be dropped off at Caledonia. When David says their next stop is Glisten, Kaigh says that would be wonderful. ”Billions of people there. Easy to get, um, a job.”. As the crew sits silently, Kaigh cannot take it. ” None of us will say anything to anyone! We will just go. Please don’t kill us!”. David takes pity on the woman.

”I assure you, my lady, you are safe with us.” which seems to relax her. They agree to take them all to Glisten, and when Dan wakes up, he agrees with that plan. The crew of the Wandering Providence says their good byes and announces their intention to head to Glisten as the only Jump-3 ship in the system. They take on messages and casualty lists and as they are already in empty space, easily make the jump.

Vincent does a wonderful job setting up cabins in double mode to make their passengers comfortable. Aurther wonders where he got the chocolate for the pillows! Lucas uses his considerable writing skills to prepare a report for David to deliver to Naval Intelligence upon arrival, including the Fuller data. Fortunately, none of this is traceable to their friend. Sorrel and Kelleys are simply listed as “missing, presumed dead” and they keep them in hibernation in the autodocs.

While Vincent impresses their passengers, Aurther and Gwith’thin outplay Dan, Finisterre, and Vaughan at cards. Kaigh mostly stays her singe room (Aurther has doubles up with Dan). Maria is cold to David for much of the week. However, she thaws and the two return to their normal friendly relationships. She is still tense, however, as she has not been in contact with this office before.

They do not transmit their news in the open. Maria will wait to dock to make an appointment, and David sends a request for a meeting with Commander Adams, whom he met with before. As luck would have it, David is able to get an immediate appointment, while the place Maria needs to go, on Glistfour, is half way around the belt. David finds himself on his way to meet with Commander Adams, while Maria asks Anson to fly her in the ship’s boat to Glistfour.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lucas stays on the ship, holding a type of vigil for Sorrel. He is not sure what he feels. His sense of awe at the race that created him has long turned to ash and disgust. The Ancients were grave and terrible, and here his friend is horribly damaged by it. He cannot pray, but he does meditate, seeking some peace.

Vincent goes shopping for fresh food to restock the ship and makes some wonderful finds. He looks forward to surprising his friends. He finds some traditionally Vargr food he hopes will cheer up his friends. Aurther, of course, drags Gwith’thin out for fun and games. Somehow, it is always Gwith’thin who gets Aurther safely back. After his return from Wimarius, Richmond takes the opportunity to go to Glisten and paint landscapes. He is not thrilled with the results, but practice is how to improve.

Three days later, David is summoned to the Ducal place, as is Lucas “and your command crew”. Richmond is interested in going along, so he and Vincent go with the Professor and Captain. Maria stays behind to oversee the transfer of Sorrell and Kelleys, and to totally avoid going anywhere near Ducal security.

The meeting reunited the group with Ms. Sonesta, who escorts them to a well dressed, but clearly secure briefing room. There, at the head of the table, is Her Grace the Lady Avaraja Astaarte Muktheswara, subsector Duchess of Glisten. Standing with her is Admiral Quigang Mohammad, head of Naval Intelligence in the Subsector, his aid, Lt. Zellinger, and Dr. Isa Hill. Lucas recognizes Dr. Hill as a Glisten Professor of Archology and an expert in Ancient’s studies who retired a few years ago and fell of the radar. Now it is clear to where. Ms. Sonesta makes introductions, and Lucas and Dr. Hill chat briefly before they all sit. Ms. Sonesta gives a brief overview of the situation and then discussion is opened.

The talk is polite, but tense. The Admerial is unsure of Richmond’s need to be here, but everyone vouches for him. Richmond himself does a good job. It satisfies the Duchess, which is ultimately who matters. After some discussion, the Admerial asks to have all data removed from the databanks of the Wandering Providence to which Lucas agrees. A naval expert will be sent over when the crew returns to make sure it is cleared and any downloads did not happen. Of course, Ama-Gi has every record, so nothing will actually be lost to the crew.

The final bit of business is a “request” by Her Grace for the group to investigate a new find on the world of Weiss. It seems there has been signs of prior human settlement discovered in the search for radioactive ore. The local “swordies” are up in arms, and there is unrest. The Duchess feels that someone of the prestige and dedication of Dr. Lucas vin der Folk can settle things. And, someone like Vincent Weiss, rather conveniently, if coincidentally named, may well be able to sooth the agitators. And, if it comes to it, the likes of Sir Captain David Smith and Colonel Richmond Anthony will be able to deal with anyone tending to violence. Of course, the group accepts the “request” which comes with an Imperial Writ which covers costs. Lucas notices it is rather an open-ended thing as far as costs are concerned, but that may be a string strong enough to be a leash.

The whole party adjourns to a more relaxed meal and entertainment. As Richmond talks, the Her Grace discovers he does not have a combat boarding suit and “asks” the Admerial to get him one before they leave. It is still clear the Admerial does not fully trust the retried army officer, but he agrees.

Back at the starport, Ama-Gi gently gets Maria to take a walk, which she sullenly does.

Before leaving for Wiess, David requisitions laser rifles from the Navy, making sure the party has adequate firepower. They are issued with Imperial markers for credit as this is a mission with a sub-Imperial warrant from Her Grace the Lady Avaraja. The week in jump passes as weeks in jump normally do, with nothing in particular going on. Vincent uses the fresh supplies to prepare excellent nightly meals as is his wont.

Vincent notes the Highport has seen better days. He knows that when this was built, it was thought that the Imperium would be expanding trade across Distric 268. The expected expansion of trade never happened, however, and most of the businesses moved out or shut down. What remains is a pale shadow of what might have been and with too little income for proper maintenance the port is headed downhill quickly. Knowing that Dawnworld will open up in the future, Vincent begins some thoughts of talking to his father about buying the Highport now. The dreams of Weiss might be bright in the future.

meet with the Director of Mining of the Spinward Development Corporation (SDC), Stalyard Kikhard. The group takes an immediate dislike to the man, who is only interested in pushing the project forward, and clearly cares little for local concerns. Indeed, he has not even bothered to find out what those concerns are. The party finds out that the lead archeologist, Dr. Gudi Irborthe, and the next most senior scientist, Dr. Lauku Tong, have both left the project after what Kikhard downplays as a minor incident of sabotage. The party has its doubts on how minor that might have been. They do get the contact information for the remaining archeologists, Doctors Ad Duan and Akakha De Lima, as well as the three SDC development crew on the planet, Paul Yeyivqich, Kiar Shictel, and Arka Thaevta. Finally, they learn the name of the leader of the local resistance to the mining operation, Miria Soren

David flies the ship’s launch and lands next to the dig site. Lucas unloads the four archeobots while David rolls out the air/raft. The air is thin down here, so they don their breathers and then the five head into the closest town, named Nearby

Lucas and Richmond head to speak with the archeologists, while Maria and Vincent head out to talk to the people on the street. However, as outsiders they find it very difficult to get any solid information, and Maria is trying to be good and not just pluck information from innocent people’s minds. They run into David who has taken a meandering trip towards the SDC team he has tracked down to a local bar. David had already heard the rumor this is a site where humans lived moved there by the Ancients and that is what is causing the issues. Vincent joins David in the bar while the disgusted Maira announces she is headed back to their air/raft parked outside of town.

Lucas notices that he and Richmond are being followed and the two not only manage to shake them, but counter follow them to listen to their discussion. The hear the name “Illyos Stavé” as some sort of leader. It seems forces are already arrayed against them. The two go to the hotel where the scientists are staying and make their way into the back. Drs. Duan and De Lima are eager to see someone as famous (in their circles) as Dr. Vin der Volk, though they look a bit askance at the large man accompanying him. Lucas asks for information to get up to date on the happenings. As he feared, the attack that drove off the leads researchers was a clear sabotage of a tracked vehicle that could have killed them. The two who are left are under an SDC contract that prevents them from leaving without significant penalty. They have been holed up in this hotel, afraid. Perhaps the strong man with Dr. Vin der Volk is not all that bad after all. The two are able to tell Lucas that in no way do they think this is either an Ancient site, nor a settlement going back to before space travel. Instead, they are sure it is post jump drive.

Back at the bar, David and Vincet meet with the SDC crew, Paul, Kiar, and Arka. These men are bored and waiting for orders and have decided drinking is a way to pass the time. David and Vincent join them and start to ask them what they know. Unfortunately, the three mostly do what they are told and know every little. Just as they are worried the evening is wasted, Maria Soren approaches the table and saying

”You are not likely to get much out of those three.” It is clear she has sought out David and Vincent. The three quickly arrange to meet in the morning at her office at 10.

Meanwhile, Maria, ever a magnet for trouble, finds two men looking over their air/raft. Already annoyed, she pulls out her stunner and sneaks up on the two, placing the back of her gun against the base of the skull of one of them. She sweetly asks them what they are doing in a voice clearly showing the crystaliron blade of her words. The men are shocked and slow to respond, so Maria pulls the trigger, dropping the one man. She orders the other to pick up his friend and to in no way go back to whomever sent them. This, of course, pulls their leader and where he is up to the front of the man’s mind, which Maria easily reads. Illyos Stavé and his warehouse in the city of Nearby. Armed with that information, she informs the team of what she found and announces she has found. Everyone decides to check into the hotel where the archaeologists are staying as it has security. They safely park the air/raft there. David calls up the contract for the archologists and asks Vincent to review it. However, Vincent did not do well with his carousing and is blurry in his review.

After a peaceful night, the group has a decent breakfast, less Richmond who does not eat breakfast. Richmond meets a young man looking for directions. Not a local to Nearby, but a Swordie on the world, he is not quite sure where he is going. He has mistaken the North European Terran for a local. After explaining he is an Imperial, Richmond invites the man for drinks and dinner that evening to swap stores. The man, Skyvald Mekson accepts. Richmond has made a friend.

The group gathers to head over to the meeting with Ms. Soren, but Maria decides to scope out the warehouse she saw in the mind of her victim from last night. It is clearly a mining warehouse of some sort. She hustles on to rejoin the party as they sit down to meet with the head of the local mining union. She also looks up Illyos Stavé and finds he is a mining union leader who was quite vocal about not allowing the SDC to work, but is then has been very quiet for the past few weeks.

Miria Soren is wary of these Imperials sent to get things moving. The charm and sincerity of the party wins her over. The issue is one of politics. The belief of Ms. Soren and her faction is that the site is a former Swordworlder establishment and creates a claim prior to the Imperium. She discloses that the startown is built atop of another settlement and was covered up. She and others are afraid the Imperium will wipe out all evidence. Local Swordies feel the site could give them legitimacy for greater self-rule and to move out from under the SDC. While this may or may not work, Vincent inwardly groans, seeing his dreams for his family business vanish. It would take decades in the Imperial courts, and Vincent knows all too well the sort of sympathies that Imperial nobility have towards the underdog in these situations. Further, they all know that if they act in a way that destabilizes things, the Duchess will not be amused. Still, Lucas is most interested in the Truth, as are David and Vincent.

After some discussion, all agree to have some of her representatives present, including Roland Mao who is also present in this meeting. Lucas will share all data with Ms. Soren and file a proper report. They gather the SDC Crew and Archologists, along with Roland Mao and his companion. In two air/rafts they head to the site and Lucas starts up his bots scanning and targeting digs based upon the previous information already uncovered. David and Maria stand watch, while Richmond works his charm on Roland and the other activist. Soon, they are fast friends.

That evening, David and Maria choose to spend the night on the launch, David in the bridge and Maria in back. The launch couches easily convert to beds. David takes time before bed stargazing, while Maria simply heads to be early. The rest head into town. Richmond invites everyone to drinks with Skyvald, and Vincent and the SDC officers agree. Roland says he has to report and declines. Lucas also demurs, saying,

”There is much work to be done.” to the dismay of Drs. Duan and De Lima. They head upstairs to start processing information, while Vicent leads the group to find ”An Authentic local place!”. As he shifts through the data, Lucas starts to find specific clues. This is most certainly not an Ancient site. It appears to be totally human and he suspects this was part of the original Swordworlder migration. Maybe a ship stopped sooner than the others. This will need more careful work. Noting it was just midnight, he plowed ahead with his young proteges. After an hour or so of hunting, Vincent finds a wonderful hole in the wall with outstanding food. Paying on the Duchess’s dime, the group wines and dines their friends, and make new ones in the bar. It is a great night. As they move towards the 3am closing time, Richmond and Vicent round up their charges and head into the night. Vincent, out first, immediately notices a group of ruffians headed their way from the darkness.

Back at the ship’s launch, alarms blare as intruders are detected. David and Maria, acting on their spacer and agent instincts, are half way into their combat boarding suits before they know they are awake. David orders the computer for an update, and it seems four persons in powered mining suits are headed towards the ship carrying rifles.

As the alarms go off, Lucas, still hard at work, while his companions have long fallen asleep. He sees an alert from this bots and checks their report that intruders are approaching the ship.

Outside the local restaurant, David asks ”I don’t suppose we can talk about this?”

The Answer is a pulled snub pistol as the men advance!

Outside the restaurant, a fire fight erupts. Vincent acts swiftly to send a slug into the armored vest of the leader of the group, which causes them to scatter. He orders the others back inside as Richmond drops behind his own cover. The two exchange shots, Vincent getting bruised, but the enemy gang find that this prey has spines!. Quickly, three of them are wounded and the two men follow their companions inside. Vincent takes his comm and starts to dial for the authorities, but thinks better of it, considering they just used illegal guns. They instead make a beeline through the night for the air/raft.

At the ship, the archeobots are moving towards their prey. Yellow lights flashing, their voders announce for the intruders to leave even as Maria and David are suiting up. The enemies advance, and so then do the bots. Maria and David cycle out of the ship, letting the overpressure flow instead of a typical airlock cycle. David uses his gravbelt to fly to the top of the ship. Maria, on the other hand, concentrates. Her suit’s blue-white lines glow brightly and she vanishes, appearing behind one of the suited men.

The mining rigs are not battle suits. They are not well designed to give the operator ongoing information in every direction. The operator in the suit has no idea Maria is aiming her Laser rifle directly at him. All of them are focused on the advancing archeobots. As one fires his gauss rifle into a bot, damaging it, but not disabling. Lucas presses a button and his minons lights change to red and they go on the attack. The bots close and start their attacks with their claws and shovels as David fires his rifle, catching a terrorist squarely in the chest.

Maria drops her gun and slashes her psi-blade into the terrorist before he can attack her, and he falls, dying. As the terrorists try to deal with the arcehobots, they find the large machines are like angry scorpions. Between the laser fire and the relentless attack of the machines, another falls. David orders them to surrender and they will get medical attention for the two downed. The others drop their guns. Lucas has the machines take their armor apart.

Emergency services arrive from Nearby about the time the air/raft with Richmond and Vincent show up. The local police take statements from David, who also supplies video recordings. The Imperial Warrant also helps smooth out any issues. The terrorists are hauled off and with the information provided by Maria, the network of disgruntled workers and their leader, Illyos Stavé are rounded up. After some analysis it appears they have “ghost” Gauss rifles that the authorities tell the party appear to have been Zhodani built.

Lucas takes another 3 weeks or so to dig enough to make his conclusions. Not only was this a lost ship as part of the original exodus, the leader, whom the planet was named for, is a distant relative of Vincent Weiss. He is a direct descendant of one of two brothers, one of whom went on the expedition of ships that formed the Swordworlds, and the other, Vincent’s direct ancestor, who went into Imperial space. Vincent is able to prepare a report with the right spin to make this news less politically explosive. The old colony failed and the Imperium simply stepped in.

Vincent is also busy engaging Miria Soren in more than business. The two hit off as they work on the project, and Vincent’s friends notice his absence from them, unless he is using his kitchen on the Wandering Providence to cook her a meal.

As Lucas finishes up his portion of the dig and his report, he receives a message from Aish Nisk

To: Professor Lucas Vin der Volk, PhD, Wandering Providence

From: The Captain of Knowledge

My Dear Fellow Hunter

It is regret that I must inform you of the death of our dear friend B along with her crew. The circumstances are unfortunate and tragic, and also of great significance to our mutual interest. It may be that you already know of what has happened and that you found our friend before her demise. If not, then it may interest you to learn that B died on the world of Callia, during some kind of ‘inexplicable incident’. I think we all know what that means.

Now that B is no longer with us I am able to reveal certain information entrusted to me. I alone was party to her full records and insights, and I am now able to share them. Indeed, up to this time I was unable to even acknowledge their existence. I am certain you will find this information entirely fascinating and that you will want to be among the first to hear it.

To that end I have arranged a conference of the finest minds in our field. Few, if any, others could have organised such an array of brilliance and insight in the same room, and the like of this event may never be seen again. The final arrangements are still being made but in the interim seek out Willem Rafem at Weiss Downport. He will provide the details for the meeting. I am sure you cannot wait to hear what I will reveal but I am afraid you must.

Your friend and fellow Hunter, your Captain of Knowledge,

Aish Nisk

Where will this take them now?

Lucas looks up Willem Rafem. Rafem is a successful businessman, which in this environment does require some dubious dealings. He is mostly legitimate and does have moral limits on how far he is willing to bend the import/export rules. He has been investigated and heavily fined by the Ministry of Justice for smuggling but never for anything to do with Ancients artefacts. He has a small office for mostly remote interactions. Lucas sends him a message to contact, and immediately his comm rings. Rafem is most delighted to talk to someone of Dr. vin der Volk’s reputation. He says his office is not conducive to meetings and suggests a local bar at the downport. The crew is still in Nearby, so they set up a meeting several hours hence, after hours, so they can travel back to the downport. Rafem shoots them the address.

The name of the bar is called The Clandestine Rendezvous which seems to fit the odd naming practices of this planet. Lucas and David meet with the broker, while Richmond and Vincet head up to the Bar. Maria take a table alone and watches the room sharply. Richmond distracts the crowd by enthralling them with exciting military stories.

Rafem is clearly a wannabe Ancients Hunter. He and Aish know each other and that is why he got the message to bring to the crew. The invitation names Lucas, David, Vincient and Maria, the four known to Aish.

The meeting with Rafem is an odd mix of polite business and obsessive fanboyishness. Rafem does convey the information the Captain wanted him to – a convention has been set up aboard the liner Pearl of Glisten. The four are invited, all expenses paid, and they will be able to meet some of the other prominent Ancients Hunters from the region. The conference is to convene in the Aki system, with the delegates picked up at the starport there. It is set to begin in 10 days.

It turns out the three men, at least, have a growing reputation in both the Glisten subsector and the Ancient Hunter community for the work they have done. Even the sanitized version of Dr. vin der Volk’s paper has made waves. Lucas greatly enjoys getting to talk “shop” and the two men talk at length, with both perhaps imbibing more than they intended. To give them space, David excuses himself to the fresher, and the two talk about Rafem’s smuggling.

Maria, having decided there is no one coming, heads to a woman sitting along at a table to stand out less. Her name is Sanga Flores and the two have a good interaction. Maria also keeps a direct eye on Lucas. When she feels he has had enough, she uses her neural com to tell David it is time to escort Lucas out of here. She catches both Vincent and Richmond’s eyes. She gives a polite refusal of Sanga’s offer of a night cap as she heads out. Richmond has made a friend, and as the other three escort Lucas back up to the highport and the Wandering Providence he goes back to the room of Anna Saronus for a pleasant evening.

The next morning, Aurther is complaining to his partner in crime about their gambling losses, with the patient Bwap explaining the math and odds over time. Richmond decides right then he wants to start getting in on that action.

The ship departs the highport with Anson at the helm, David monitors traffic. His trained eyes notice the movement of a Gazelle close escort whose transponder code identifies it as a vessel of the 100th Fleet – the subsector fleet assigned to protect Glisten and the surrounding systems. David has been involved in enough customs inspections to know what is coming. David alerts the crew they are about to inspected. Soon enough, they get the message:

”‘INS Rénszarvas, Lieutenant Sir Elix DuGarnu commanding.

Compliments of the Imperial Navy, 100th Fleet, Glisten Subsector.

You are requested to heave-to for boarding and inspection. Remain on your current vector and keep weapons powered down. Delays will be kept to a necessary minimum.

David radios compliance and he and Vincent go to meet the boarding party. Lucas asks Anson if any cargo was taken aboard or they have anything to worry about. Anson says nothing came on board, but the ship’s very hull is considered contraband. Overall, Lucas is the most nervous, as the others have been through inspections in the past.

An officer and four members arrive on a Gig. The officer politely asks permission to board, which David grants. She is Sublieutenant Ikiir Zikaa. Vincent hands her the standard documentation. This is a procedure he is well used too. David comments he understands her job, having been in her shoes before. With this comment, she recognizes him as Sir Captain Swift.

David escorts Zikka to see the bridge and look over paperwork regarding any cargo. Vincent takes the technical advisor and the other crewmember want to see the engineering spaces and look over maintenance logs. They review cargo area and conduct a cursory inspection. Vincent delights in explaining how the damage archobots got that way.

ZIkka is armed with a dress sword and navymodel gauss pistol, whilst the others have snub pistols. The two armed crewmembers in addition carry snub carbines and wear flak jackets. They are not expecting trouble and not especially wary; just following standing orders. Indeed, the whole inspection is carried out in a going-through-the motions manner. The 100th Fleet is something of a backwater and a dumping-ground for merely adequate personnel and these seem to be just that.

David discovers that Zikaa is a typical junior officer in the 100th Fleet. She comes from a middle-class background and graduated naval academy with good grades but never made the connections necessary for rapid advancement. She is more talented than her superior but has become resigned to the role social status plays in the Imperial Navy. Her best option is to be a loyal supporter of someone with a ‘name’, no matter how minor, and to climb the ladder with him. It is common for commanding officers of small patrol ships to be lieutenants rather than possessing ‘command rank’ as these vessels have limited initiative. In this role Sir Elix is competent enough but lacks the imagination and drive to go much further in the navy. Ikiir hopes to transfer her talents to a more promising commanding officer; for now, she gets the job done and makes sure the paperwork is correct. David makes a mental note to pass along a report to the Navy in the hopes of helping her status.

The inspection lasts a couple of hours and the Wandering Providence is back on her way. Shortly thereafter, they are safely in jump. Vincent uses the week to cook some wonderful meals with the food from Weiss.

AKI UWP: B543987–9

Lying one parsec from Glisten, Aki is a heavily populated and highly industrialized world which plays a significant part in the subsector economy. For this reason its highport is geared towards handling industrial and raw materials cargo rather than passengers and minor freight. Ore ships ply between the port and the system’s planetoid belt, where a significant extraction economy is operated by various companies

The world is currently Amber Zoned due to a long history of popular unrest and this does not seem likely to change in the near future. Various schemes intended to relieve pressures or distract the populace have produced poor results. The Imperial authorities are not unduly concerned; so long as there is no disruption of the subsector economy the affairs of the planetary population are their own. As a result, the downport and industrial areas tend to be heavily and vigorously policed. Offworlders sometimes wonder why there is an Amber Zone in place since the areas they visit are safe and well-regulated. Straying beyond these zones results in a rather different experience.

As the ship approaches the port the crew gets a good impression of its character. The commercial and industrial docks are much bigger than the genera lfreight terminal and there will always be one or more bulk freighters in system. A guardship from the 100th Fleet is present and David knows that Aki is one of the places the navy likes to show the flag. If this is the case the vessel is likely to be an old destroyer or small patrol ship. The world’s own system defense flotilla is rather small, consisting mainly of fighters based out of the highport. These can be spotted roving in pairs to ‘eyeball’ incoming vessels.

The port itself is busy and acceptably efficient, with the usual complement of shops and entertainment facilities. A quick look at the shipping registers indicates the Glisten Pearl is due in a day or so, enroute from the subsector capital. David and Anson go to take in the highport’s sights and reserve a nice dinner. Richmond heads to look at the highport art gallery.

Lucas checks in with a travel agent hired for this event and says he plans on fours guests, not three, to include Richmond. The agent is more than happy to make this work and adds him. Lucas wonders if anyone else here is someone he knows. He begins to search the highport and comes across a name: Dr. Jessica Uuumgi. Dr. Uuumgi works in administration for the University of Glisten and is a pretty fair scholar, although most of what she knows is unconnected to the Ancients. Lucas knows she worked directly with Dr. Isa Hill. He approaches her and the two share a long meal talking about ancients and theories.

She subscribes to the common view that the Ancients were a coalition, a culture rather than a species. Dr. Uuumgi is also sure that the remnants of the Ancients culture include some species alive today. Jessica can split this particular hair down to the microscopic level if given the chance but she is willing to listen to other viewpoints.

Maria is mostly window shopping when she is approached by a party of Droyne, including Warriors and Drones, led by one calling himself Diusk. He says he has a mutually beneficial proposal for her and her friends, which he would like to present over dinner. Maria says she will consult with them and let him know. Diusk gives her contact information and departs with his group, leaving a puzzled and suspicious Maria.

Maria contacts David and explains the situation. They agree to meet, though Lucas is not happy about it. Maria provides a mind shield for the rest of them, Vincent included as she still does not trust his mind to be secure against a strong probe. The Droyne are telepathic, so she is taking no chances.

Diusk arranges to meet the group at the most expensive and exclusive restaurant in the vicinity, Demasiado’s. The establishment is entirely empty of customers apart from the Travellers and Diusk, who has clearly booked the entire place.

Diusk attempts to copy a ‘deal over dinner’ ploy used by businesspersons all over Charted Space but it is clear his understanding of Imperial culture is flawed and patchy. Likewise, his appreciation for human food is rather strange. He orders three different dishes at each course and mixes them to create some truly weird combinations. He tries to make small talk but chooses odd topics such as an obscure animated series for children that only aired for a few weeks a decade ago.

It is very clear to Vicent and Maria that the awkwardness is real. Like many Droyne Diusk has a flawed understanding of the culture of outsiders. Unfortunately for him, the real flaws in his understanding of Imperial culture make him overdo playing up the gaps in his knowledge to make the group believe he is incompetent. This is to the point that Vincent and Maria can see through his poise. As the evening progresses, Lucas grows more nervous. He sees the Droyne as part of the Ancients in his head and has a tough time separating the experiments and wars.

Diusk’s proposal is rather strange. He explains that he is a Sport, a caste that serves as ambassadors for Droyne communities, and in order to serve well in that capacity he needs to improve his understanding of the cultures he interacts with. His people place great significance on the design of tools and objects – again, this is true – and he feels he can learn a great deal about the Imperial culture if he can assemble the right collection of objects. Unfortunately, he has no idea where to start.

Diusk wants the group to present him with six objects that define Imperial culture or encapsulate the human psyche. He says that his Leader will reward the them generously if they succeed in selecting the right items. He has no idea what they might be but is certain that he will know when he sees the correct items together. The objects do not have to be delivered straight away and indeed there is an expectation that the crew of the Wandering Providence will need time to ponder their choice and perform necessary rituals. Diusk and the Travellers will meet again, he is certain, and at the proper time they will be invited to present their choice of items.

At this point, Lucas has a panic attack and Vincent offers to take him for a walk. Diusk sees this only as a way Imperials act and clearly is making a mental note. After they leave, the dinner finishes somewhat awkwardly for the Humans, but apparently this is lost on their Droyne host. Diusk wishes the group a successful voyage and a fulfilling return to their homes.

Vincent medicates Lucas and puts him to bed on the ship. The rest of the crew arrives wondering just what the heck is going on. Tomorrow the Glisten Peral should arrive and they can be onto the next part of their adventure.