The Marshall Cooperative (T20)

We begin to pick our way from Longbow to the kelp planet. We encounter a number of less and more crappy places and end the night looking for fuel refiner parts at a bombed-out scout base.

Follow up:

February 21, 2010

We start traveling from world to world, starting at the Longbow research station. Several have Navy bases, etc. We need to be careful about going to bases with Imperium and/or scouter bases because we’re wanted.

As far as scooping kelp, the planet it’s on is a religious dictatorship. They may be hard to deal with.

Angel asks Jack why he went to talk to the Lucan ship – didn’t we want to know, though? How much information should we be able to give the Imperium to beg for forgiveness. Besides, he had to see. Once a Scout and all…

Besides, if the SDN comes back the scout ship can always leave.

We are also taking Cassul and Constance on our kelp run because we have spent too much time looking for them.

Angel remembers that Ukin was left on the Pocahontas, so he’s in Imperial custody. Oh well!

Suddenly there is a knock at the door – Captain Sergey Macallak. He runs a fartrader, and notices that we have an interesting ground cruiser that we took off our ship (our RV). We couldn’t fit it on the Rainwind, so we may as well as sell it.

He offers us 50% cash, 50% small, mostly legal goods. Overall book value is 65k for our RV; Angel asks for 50k. He counters with 7k due to having to transport it, etc. We suggest that we may put bombs in the car rather than let him steal it. Angel counters with 30k; he says it’s still unreasonable. We settle on 15k.

Jose goes to pick out 7500 credits of trade goods. It’s all pretty legit; a little bit is from the Solomani confederation; this is stuff that he’s less interested in, but it’s still easy to move. We also get the 7500 in hard Imperial credit. Cassul also gives us 60k in hard credits.

We prepare to head out, and we’ll be good to go in the morning. We will need to scoop some fuel anyway.

Rainwind says that joking about the Lucan ship is not funny. The scout ship transponder is infected with the Lucan ship virus, but the main system is clean. As far as returning the scout ship, Wharton asks us if we’re leaving it behind…it is taking up dock space, and the station isn’t meant to handle multiple ships. He asks us if we want to send it to Uzdiki to return it to us. There are a couple of other free-traders here to escape on in case the SDN returns. Wharton has someone who can pilot the scout to Uzdiki but we have to get him back to the station.

Some dude will do it if we pay for passage back to the station. We mention that we left without authorization, and that he should tell Snouty that Captain Jack sent you. We claim not to have murdered anyone or committed treason (it’s not treason yet, not until we get Emperor Sage on the throne). He’s ok with this. Wharton says that this guy is legit.

Sergey asks about medical slow; there is some available on-station. It’s the other Sergey (the Solomani dude). He has some and claims he knows *nothing* about unregistered manufacture. A five-pack is 1200 credits (only 240% markup!). We settle on 800 for a five-pack.

To ensure future prosperity, Jose picks up 10k of trade goods with a Broker: 18 roll. We will have something of value when we leave Imperial space this way. That will be enough to profit 2k when we sell it.
We take the scan logs from the scout ship regarding Lucan, and determine that there are some hull changes and repaired heavy battle damage. The bulges are concealing something other than gunports, and there are guns moved to accommodate something else. It appears to have a near-full weapons complement, but the scans were far-enough range that you could fool sensors easily. Power plant appears normal.
So in the morning we depart from the Longbow Research station. First jump is to Uleg (a water world). There is a scout base there so we don’t want to mess with anyone even though we’re armed. We can skim the ocean because they don’t care. We are hailed as the Longshot at that point.
Hodagdep: Jose knows a guy there if we want to try to buy food. We scoop fuel off the gas giant, then Jose tries to hail a guy. There is a beacon for the landing point. We see a building off in the distance after we land, and there are docks a few hundred meters past. This island is about 2 km across. The weather is nice here…it would be a great place to disappear to, probably. We get up to the small building and the guy points us to Jose’s contact – 15th slip, big blue ship. We get some touristy stickers. Then we find Jerry, Jose’s old contact from back in the day.
We enjoy a tasty alcoholic beverage with Jerry and purchase some provisions. As far as protein paste, they don’t sell too much (thanks to the Benbtvlent Leader). He lists off a lot of stuff for us…800 credits for two weeks of food. Jerry is all straight now, no more running guns or anything. After a couple hours we get radioed by Jack that the food is loaded. We could stop back here if we like…we make sure to slap the “I love Wang” sticker on our ship before we head out.
Pezaridugi is our next stop. It’s on an X-boat route. We hail as the Starfish on this planet. We fuel up with hard credits (and get the space barnacles scraped), and head on our way.
Linuukuur: we skim the gas giant, not worry about the puddle on the rock planet.
Next jump: Wookieehair. There are people, a gas giant, and probably food to sell. This was one of the planets TMC considered investigating. Jose doesn’t know anyone here because it’s a DC 23 for Well-Connected.
We break jumpspace, and our radio goes off. It’s the system patrol, and they want to scan us for viruses. Angel tells them that we have a SIM, and they understand. After a few minutes, we’ve been checked and cleared, but Rainwind needs to be locked down. We hear relays fire everywhere. We say that we intend to trade, so we go directly to the downport. Arthur brings us down nice and easy; Vos is trying to train him to fly carefully.
We disembark to meet some guys on a cart outside. The Sage corporation is here; they’re currently in charge of the Wookieehair system after purchasing it a year ago. They maintain a grocery store on the base and have standard Imperium goods.
Angel gives her name as Angel Sobell, and she’s the proprietor of the ship. We make up names and get visitor badges; we are instructed how things work – we can access business facilities during day shift, entertainment during afternoon shift, and at night we are to be aboard or in accommodations. Do not do off-hours activity because the people here live regimented lives. We get John Sage hats and doff them with pride.
Having a non-locked down sim means our ship gets destroyed and we become slaves. They do have the ship monitored. The supermarket requires us to pay to get inside and more for a large cart.
We shop with a quickness and this is thoroughly unpleasant. Everything costs money, we have to tip the guy, bags aren’t free. 6000 credits hard currency plus a 10% tip, which was a little bit much, we think. Jose tries to motivate everyone with his Leader skill but can’t pull it off. We send Sergey back to return the cart before the clock expires. Just before he gets out the door, a 10-second siren goes off. All the employees file out as the siren goes off; shift change whistle! We are all aboard ship.
Can we leave now, or do we need to leave during day shift? Hard to say. We radio the tower; they say they will give us a window soon, but they have to finish their shift change calisthenics. We depart before availing ourselves of the entertainment. Nelson burns all of our hats on the way out…apparently Vos says that they’ve been getting called for hours about sales calls.
Next jump is to Ugarazhur which is tiny and low-pop. We will skim some water and head out even though there is an Imperial trade mission. No law, so we do not foresee any problems.
Next jump is to Eggii, a barren rock with a gas giant. It’s an archetypical ruined former high-tech world. There are remnants of domed cities, etc…this is horrifying to Angel and Nelson. There is a crashed battleship in one of the cities. It probably held 50-99 million people once upon a time. There is a ruined naval base here. We do not side quest it to the planet.
Next jump is Abaa. We refill (no beacon from the D-class port – not sure why?) and leave. We jump to Jubilee next hailing as the Ex’s Lament.

The Jubilee Federation is a four-world democracy that may be admitted to the Imperium later on. Pretty stable.
They ask us to stop and tell us to prepare to be boarded. We stop and allow them onboard. We don’t pull any crap. When they board, Reginald and Rainwind greet then. These guys (Lt. Mark Striker, Jubilee Navy). We admit to coming from Imperial Navy space (Rainwind is technically from the Naval reserve).
We do have nav data and we show them (two jumps, just as a courtesy). Not from Relief or other local ships. No unusual activity. He encourages us to trade and enjoy the thriving democracy.
The law here is relatively strict so they warn us so; we travel to the up-port with an escort. They will take soft and hard Imperium credits (that’s their new currency; they switched off the Jubiliean Konar).
As far as we know Sage only has commercial interests here. It seems that they are starting to make progress towards joining the Imperium here; the problem is that there are worlds between the Confed and the Imperium (Sateroni and two viral hells). Jubilee cannot make their own starships yet so they send their own into the Imperium for refit. The Imperium basically supplies their military, although they do have system boats. And they *do* have an extradition treaty with the Imperium, but that’s a lot of screwing around.
2500 credits for food.
Jose and Angel manage to pick up five established contacts on Jubilee—people who would be willing to visit, maybe help out a little bit, etc. We will be willing to spend a couple days here to do that. We get some liberty here as well…Constance and Cassul go out on a date. We do not have anyone tail them. It’s a 2000-credit date. Amaryllis takes Sergey and Jack and Nelson out on liberty.
The propaganda in this place all talks about the Federation, not “our dear leader”, etc. Lots of sailors (Jubilee Navy) near the starport and all.
Next jump: 1407, Ukamaku. Then skip to Vesper (just a gas giant). At Vesper, the scout base hails us. We share nav data over a secure line. They warn to stay out of Gahaa (spinward)—lots of viral system boats there.
Next jump is to a bombed out techie world, Dikhamgii. We fill up and go.
Atte is the least bad place for us to go (desert world with only trade food or a stone age planet that somehow has a starport). This place is a religious dictatorship. We remain the Ex’s Lament. On the edge of the slab there is a prefab structure with the symbol of the 4th Imperium – the phoenix rising.
We knock, notice a camera whir, and come in…thankfully, we weren’t spotted (not covered modestly). The dude here recognizes Angel! He says the locals have a very strict religious code (he’s got gloves, a turtleneck, no flesh exposed except his face). After the fall, they apparently decided the virus attack was caused by their lack of industriousness and moral interpitude. Now they work 14-16 hrs a day, whip themselves. They *are* industrious, and in 3 decades have gone from TL 4 to TL 7 without a lot of help. They have a repressive society, but it is society. This place is going to explode in fire and death at some point. And the mission here is to set up trade – “I don’t know who I offended to be sent here, but it must have been someone.” The Atteans keep banning unbelievers (traders) from the planet. Freetraders tend to be a bit too free with their tongues, look people in the eye, speak when not spoken to, get drunk, etc.
There are 25 Imperial Marines here, and they had to keep the locals from crucifying a trader a year ago. It’s terrifying, but there are plenty of people here who want the rest of the galaxy to know that.
Once upon a time (before the fall) this was a Class B…the locals removed plascrete and Titansteel with TL 4 and 5 machines – *that* is industrious.
The guy guess correctly that this is the only place to get food…and there are virus fleets aplenty here. Atte is prone to virus attacks, but it’s illegal to own a radio xmtr here so they maintain a pretty quiet profile.
He’s got protein paste, but we would like to get some protein paste. We could get fresh food from the locals, possibly with one of their reasonable contacts. They will probably come beat on the ship with sticks because we’re evil, but we should stay away from them.
The marines here have been sequestered for two years. Three weeks ago he caught them throwing grenades at each other in the cafeteria – not live ones, of course…but can you catch one and throw it back? They’re going crazy. He recommends we not have Angel negotiate (or speak) and have Jose do the negotiation.
Angel says she’d take them if we had room. He says he’d blow the base up and come with if he could.
We are all very popular with the Marines, especially Angel.
We cover up and will negotiate with the locals. Jose negotiates with the guy. A lot of the food is Imperial standard. 800 credits (and 1000 credits from the trade mission in hard credits). The marines help us load up; their uniforms are something to behold. Apparently a couple of them have become adept with the sewing machine. He hands us a courier box to drop off in the next year or so - bring to a Navy base, not so much the scouts.
So about this box…can we open it up? Maybe. Depends how paranoid we are. We can open it later.
As we scoop fuel at Atte, Bill and Nelson have to work on the fuel refiner. We are working it pretty hard.
We head to 2117, Talbot. There is a gas giant and a destroyed base…and we’re one jump from a Viral hell. We scoop and decide to scan the local base to see what it was; we may be able to find fuel refinery parts. It was a big scout base. No power source indicated; heavy structural damage. Used to hold 200 people (large for the scouts); 3 ships attached and one for internal dock. Pressurized bay door is shut so we can’t see what’s inside. No lights, no heat. It looks like it was damaged by particle beams and missiles. Jack says it’s a third Imperium scout base. One of the external tethers looks workable. This base isn’t orbiting Talbot; it’s halfway between the primary planet and the gas giant. Shelly suits up but will wait on the ship. Jack goes with us.
We call it for the night so Steve can plot our doom.