PapaGolfWhiskey
SOC-13
I am just starting a new Traveller campaign with my friends 'Allan' and 'Kelly'
It's set in cluster of imperial worlds not far from the Solomani rim, during the time of the Solomani Rim war.
I'm trying a new formulae. instead of building from the players out as they play and developing detailed maps and encounters in attempted anticipation of their moves. I've developed the back story including NPC's I never expect them to actually meet. and then Intend to present the situation as they know it, In hopes that knowing the NPC's, I can react consistantly and entertainingly to the parties actions. without actually trying to predict them.
So here it is. No Name for the Story so far.
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It could all be blamed on the missing man. That was certainly convienient. The four acquantances of Thompson Hunter were all for convience as they discussed their problems over dinner in the elegant setting of the Fonein branch of the Traveller's Aide Society.
Like three of the four, Mr. Hunter had been born in the capital of this little cluster of imperial worlds, a system named Sentry. The dashing man of 'business' was only 10 years old when the 14 year old Hunter began his career tooling about Sentry's asteroid belt like some intersteller Junk yard dog (Belters start young). The 'Businesman's' date was even younger. Even they remember Thompson's first moment of fame and the peak of his success. Developing a notable reputation among the prospectors and salvagers who make living among the asteroids, space stations and trojan points of Sentry, the Successfull young man (now 18) went off to join the Imperial Intersteller Scout Service. And then began his downward evolution to the goat whose absence was dominating the conversation presently.
"So he just disapeared?" The Lady in the Uniform of a Local Mercenary company asked.
"Off planet with a High passage, some system completely out of the cluster. Or at least someone identified as him boarded a liner with said ticket." Replied her similarly attired but somewhat scruffy looking male 'colleague'. "At least that's all I could determine legally with my personal comp and civilian access."
"Leaving us with a Ship not legal for space..." began the youngest of the quartet, frowning and adjusting her glasses as her date, The businesman, interjected.
"..and a Mountain of debt."
The four looked at each other... "So what do we do now?"
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And so a new campaign begins.
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The party is rather small PC wise. I have two players.
When queried about useful NPC's both requested girlfriends. ERGO -- The cast:
Kelly's Character: A nameless Rogue and ex scout. Age 34. 8th level Rogue/Traveller/Scout his skills are primarily the talking kind. Though he does have Jack of All Trades and some hand to hand abilities. His past history is a term as a Rogue followed by two as a scout and a final one as a rogue.
Allan's Character: Another currently nameless fellow. Age 44, 8th level Academic/Marine/Mercenary
His shipboard skills a sufficient for either a pilot or an engineer. He's okay in a fight (probably) but has spread his skill points out among too many skills to be a master of any. His career was one of wild success and failure. Got his Masters in engineering and finished his Bacheleors in record time but also flunked a few times too. 2 terms in the marines and never got higher than lieutennant. After a term marking papers he went back to being a Marine of sorts as Mercenary soldier serving in a company acting as a planetary security force.
Dr. Fiona Sampson: Kelly's G/F - age 33, 7th Level Academic. Absolutely useless in a fight this well educated Marine Biologist, in addition to her connections all over the undersea colonies of Fonein, is incidentally a qualified MD specialising in Viral Pathology. Her Doctoral thesis combined both Marine Biology and Viral Pathology into a truly ground breaking peice of knowledge whose prelimnary discoveries earned her Membership in the Imperial Science Academy even before she'd published. Currently she works for the Fonein Department of Oceans. (since Fonein is a water world, this is a larger bureaucracy than you'd think).
Lt. Nansii Yumarii: Allan's Mercencary 'Colleague' - (age 38, Noble-3/Navy-4/Merc-1) Almost his opposite number. His prior service was marines, she was navy. In their Mercenary Company he commanded a platoon of ship's troops. She was the Ship's first lieutennant and chief piloting officer.
And....
Thompson Hunter: The missing man. (age 38, Belter-5/Traveller-3) - To actually roll up a character whose face the players may never see, you figure he should be important.
Thompson Hunter Started young (as only barbarians and belters do) - In his first term (age 14 to 18) He earned enough experience to reach 4th level. He was a young Prodigy. Thus he was known to the two youngest characters. Further, The naval officer-to-be was a childhood associate and agemate of Hunter.
Things went wrong immediately after. His term in the scouts went so disasterously wrong that he didn't get to level up in the class. Basic training was great, He got selected imediately for a 'Special Mission' - from which he returned with two fingers of his left hand reduced to a fleshy claw (Medical discharge c\ -1 Dex).
The legend of "no luck" Hunter would only improve, his third term (22-26), back as a salvager, this time on risky the belt fringe, ended in a claim jumping that cost him everything he had and left him penniless.
It was during his last term as a belter 'Beached' to portside that he began to level up in the Traveller class. It was also during this last term that His salvaging skills earned him clear title to an old, heavily modified 'Far Trader', the Godspeed, that had been sitting in an obscure imperial Mothball site located proximal to the tiny indpendentant Fonein Shipyards.
The next 8 years he tooled about the Linkworlds Cluster: For a moment it seemed that 'No Luck' Hunter was going to bomb out again. There was STUNNING bureaucratic ressistance to his perfectly legal purchase of a ship the Imperium had declared surplus to needs. Current speculation holds that several spacers in the various licensing and sale agencies were upset at his breach of spacer tradition/superstition in promptly renaming the Godspeed and registering her instead as the 'Fear And Loathing'.
Instead, he did gain title to the ship. And in spite of astonishing bad luck, encountering pirates at 3 times the expected actuarial rate, speculating on food cargo when his destination planet had a bumper crop, constant and increasingly crippling gambling debts, he survived.
Part of that was due to good friends. His teenage sweetheart Nansii was now a starmerc commanding the helm of a ship hired to form part of Fonein's defences and customs. She encouraged her Colleague and Boarding Troops counterpart to also befriend the man. Between them, Minor infractions that could have beached Hunter at critical times, and even not so minor infractions that could have cost him everything, 2nd time loser that he was, were conviently unpursued due to the Custom's officers' discretion.
Another part was a seeming Midas touch when it came to patrons. As long has he stayed with the 7 star systems of the cluster there was always SOMEONE wiling to hire HIM for ludicrous rates for simple charters, or mundane cargoes. Already mildly infamous, "No Luck" began turn into a legend, an inspiration for misfits everywhere.
The most recent four years only added to the legend. His drinking became prodigous, with his clawed hand and pale thin limbs he didn't look all that much, but he had an Elephantine constitution. Few men could drink Hunter under the table. His risk taking became extreme, The 'Fear and Loathing' starting racking up a history of more daring space rescues than the local defence and SAR fleets. He started dealing mostly in High Margin security cargos, practically daring pirates to come after him. The port side gun on his ship was soon painted with enough 'kill rings' to compete with those of a frontline gunner in the current war Between the Imperium and "the Men of Sol". His Hubris had grown too. He reputedly once confided to drinking buddy that he'd "Never go belly up, 'cause I got me a guardian angel". His behaviour certainly matched that of a man convinced of divine favour. Right up until the day he sold the "Fear and Loathing" to a handfull of his 'Friends' and Promptly disapeared off planet and out of sight.
The four soon found they were really left holding the bag. The process of transfering the registry revealed holes in Mr. Hunter's documentation and certifications that had somehow missed scrutiny but now were impeding the ship's approval for flight under the new owners. The combined fees and required repairs/upgrades, are expected to top 200 000 credits. That cost is dwarfed by the monumental Loan that also got signed over with the ship, Hunter may have bought the ship for song but his gambling debts have placed a mortgage on the ship nearly the equal of any ship payments. While the megacredits owed on the ship aren't nearly as much as they would be on a similarly aged ship with typical loans, The crippling interest charges make the monthly payments noticably worse. With the first payments due by the end of the month, and the Ship unable to be used earn the money to make those payments, The party is in a bit of a quandrary.
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It get's worse, or... What the Party Doesn't Know.
The 'Godspeed' wasn't so much mothballed and surplus to the Imperial Navy/Scouts as it was 'being kept on ice' By Naval Intelligence. It had been captured 20 years earlier during a skirmish between an Imperial Navy Forward recon squadron, and what were thought to be smugglers in the employ of Solomani Security (SolSec). This thinking was supported by interrogation of personel captured from the friegter's well armed escorts but all hands died on the ship itself. Search proceedures that involved cutting open bulkheads and Micrometer incremeted densiometer scans found nothing however and the ship was slated to be discarded along with the Navy's more mundane prizes much the way police forces of the 20th century would auction off dead or jailed mobsters' limos.
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) feild chief for Sentry had his doubts. He didn't accept the conclusion that the cargo had been previously jettisoned or that the whole operation was some sort of SolSec ruse. He clung to the ship. Shuffling it off into a forgotten corner of the Navy's extensive holdings and proceeded to get on with his job.
His sucessor was greatly shocked when she discovered that ONI owned a ship and was about to sell it to some ne'er-do-well space dog. Quick research led her to the same conclusion as her superior and some intial attempts to prevent the sale. She was readying some methods to quash the Thompson once and for all when an amazing thing happened.
A long term SolSec agent with an immaculate cover fell right into her lap. The agent, long placed and of great value, took stupid and, in the event, costly, risks to involve himself in Thompson Hunter's acquiring of the ship. The ONI chief wasn't sure if the SolSec agent was trying to help Mr. Hunter or wanted the ship for himself but the ship certainly summoned him out of the woodwork. The ONI Sentry desk decided she was going to let the Hunter run and see if he could flush her some more game. Thus was born: "Operation Hound"
One of the key new assets for Hound was A young Noblewoman just completing her second term as a officer in the Imperial Navy. She knew Mr. Hunter and was willing to play the spy game. Within a month Dame Lt. Nansii Yumarii IN, had become Lt. Nansii Yumarii Starmerc. It was her job to keep ONI informed of the Fear & Loathing's likely next move, to provide support to keep it moving about the cluster but also to block it from leaving the cluster. Nansii was part of a network of such agents and for eight years Operation Hound ran with an ever larger budget and ever greater prestige for the Sentry Desk.
For the Solomani WANTED that ship. Or something on it. The first four years of Hound's operation broke more SolSec spy rings than the previous twenty. The next two Not only broke rings but allowed the navy to get a lead on some freelance smugglers and pirates whom SolSec routinely hired to do some of their dirty work. If the Solomani Rim War hadn't begun in the second of those two years, the Navy could have probably shut down those pirates for good. But the ships were needed elsewhere.
The 7th year of operation Hound, started slowly. It seemed that all the solomani agents in the linkworld's cluster of ANY merit had been rounded up. The ONI Chief for Sentry was seriously considering wrapping up the operation as it had done it's job and she was due to be heading on to wider responsibilities, The sucess of hound having secured her a promotion. Besides Mr. Hunter had figured out that SOMEONE was willing to pay him a fortune just to stay in the pond and tool around like a good little baitfish. For now, he seemed content to up the ante but eventually She suspected he would get tired of the game.
Then all hell broke loose. The Solomani may not have had any agents in place, but they suddenly seemed quite willing to export covert ops personal to do their work. Additionally, the pirates appeared to have recieved major funding for further operations. Hound suddenly had more work than it could easily process. The pirates were actually becoming a threat beyond Intelligence's domain and the Navy as a whole was seeking ways to address the increased security needs. To top it off it seemed that Thompson Hunter had decided to see just how deep his mysterious benefactor's pockets were, OR he was truly fed up with the game....
With all these plates to juggle. Thompson slipped through ONI's fingers. Operation Hound still had an agent in place among the new ownership of the Fear and Loathing. The Operation might still be continued.
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What ONI doesn't know.
It's still there, on the 'Fear and Loathing' and SolSec 'wants it BAD'. The term bandied about for it is "Genocide in a Can"
A little over 20 years ago, a brilliant Solomani geneticist and viral engineer working on SolSec grants at her Terran university developed a 'programmable disease'. Basically she had developed both a virus and recipe for cooking it up that would allow it to be Targetted to certain genetic features. To Hardcore subsribers to the 'Solomani Hypothesis' this was the perfect race war weopan and her funding quintupled...
...It's not certain if she had a crisis of conscience or if she just realized she could make megabucks. With a copy of the virus, which she claimed had been targetted on solomani blood, able to kill all solomani and about 44 to 73 percent of all mixed blood Humans, and a back up of her 'recipe' in hand, she destroyed all her work and fled Terra. Warning SolSec not to pursue her "or Else", she fled solomani space in a freelance smuggling ship. The ship and The SolSec surviellance vessels following it were then confronted and captured in the deep dark by an Imperial Navy Forward Recon Squadron...
SolSec had two very High Priority missions. Convince the Researcher's son, a respected young student geneticist, to follow and repeat his mother's work. And FIND THAT CAN.
8 years ago: A Solomani Agent who had Penetrated ONI reports that the Godspeed has been found and that he is attempting to acquire access to it. Then goes silent.
SolSec begins focusing resources and burning emplaced assets trying to acquire the Godspeed (now known as the fear and loathing)
Three years ago: The Solomani Rim War begins. Even SolSec, even for "Genocide in a Can" cannot focus all it's resources on a lost cargo that no one has found for 20 years. Resources get reduced, a little subcontracting is done with a particularly amoral pirate group that's been selling it's services to the Solomani for the last 15 years.
1 year ago: The First Researcher's Son and Replacement, suddenly goes Missing. 5 months later SolSec's new orders, fresh operatives and money begin arriving in the Linkworlds Cluster. The Pirates are contacted again. They are extremely co-operative. The Virus and it's Recipe WILL be found...
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What SolSec doesn't know, or... The Researcher and the Pirate King.
20 years ago there was a clan of Uplifted Dolphins who considered themselves modern gypsies. Citizens of the sea of stars and unbound by silly landling rules and borders. Non-violent and racially inclined to be excellant pilots they paid for their repairs through good natured smuggling operations. Then an Imperial Navy Recon Force took everything away. Some of the clan was killed in the fighting. Most of the rest died during extensive 'debriefings' by ONI where the combination of 'truth drugs', 'interrogation techniques' and life support systems not designed with aquatic persons in mind killed all but the youngest and toughest. and them it warped.
While not the youngest, Hideki proved to be the strongest and possibly the most warped. After their release it was he who led them, not just through the strength of his tail but with his vision, a life of hitting back. A new citizenery of the sea of stars who would make the 'landlings' pay a toll in money and blood every time they dared to tresspass.
Their first prize was hard. They had to acquire a ship and refit it for swimmers. That WAS the hard part though. The prize itself was easy, a rival band of smugglers who had never failed previously to bully Hideki's clan with their pipsqueck civilian Guns. Hideki Himself piloted the modified fighter that blew out both single mount turrets. He also took pleasure in toying with their 'cargo' a single civilian wearing an Imperial Interstellar Scout Service Jacket. Hideki took great pleasure in 'accidentally' crushing the landling's hand in a watertight door.
From then on they never looked back. Within 5 years, Hideki's band was a pirate fleet of a size and skill to be reckoned with. Strong enough to take on any merchant, stealthy and adroit enough to avoid any confrontations with Naval forces in strength. Singleton Navy ships, both Solomani and Imperial often just never reported back from their patrols of the rim.
Some of the 'incidents' that provoked the Solomani Rim War could be laid directly at the flippers of Hideki's pirates. Not only did they attack shipping on both sides of the line with apparant impunity. But they were equally willing to take odd jobs from the intelligence services of both sides... as long as landlings could be killed in the process.
Hideki also sought information. he wanted to know WHY so many of his clan had to die that day. What he learned curdled any remaining sanity in his brain.
8 years ago: Hideki began getting missions from both SolSec and ONI revolving around either taking down or protecting a ship called the 'Fear and Loathing' A ship he recognised as the "Godspeed"
2 years ago: Hideki learned who they were transporting 18 years previous. He learned what her Son was doing today. He surmised, roughly, what was aboard the Godspeed (he refuses to call it that other name) and decided that a weopan capable of wiping humans from any planet was a weopan he was destined to weild in memory not only of his clan but of all the dolphins who died at human hands right back to the solomani 20th century and the tuna boats of that time.
1 year ago: Hideki, with his knowledge of the Godspeed's mission 20 years ago. Has managed to 'recruit' the researcher's son and successor. He has said son convinced that he is trying to prevent this 'Horrible weopan that has been the death of my clan" from being given to ANY polity, and has arranged his elopement to a ship run by Hideki's agents. Hideki and the Researcher are working together acquire the Bio weapon for themselves. The Researcher to destroy it. Hideki to use it at will.
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What No one Living Knows.
The Weapon comes in two parts. Either one can be used to reverse egineer the entire weapon. both together allow near-instant use.
Several samples of the virus itself are hermetically sealed and imbedded in small egglike structures that form the gaudy pattern of the top veneer of the cheap looking ship's wardroom table.
Embedded as rem lines and scrambled under a simple cipher, the 'recipe' is hidden in a few obscure programs in the ship's mainframe.
Obtaining the recipe alone will, after crypto-analysis and some testing, allow development of a targetted virus in about 2 years.
Obtaining one of the 10 live samples will allow immediate depopulation of a planet's solomani and about 70% of it's mixed solomani/vilani Humans. about 20% of other mixed races (with solomani blood) are prone. No others Vilani, Zhondani, Luranii etc. are affected at all.
Obtaining both allows you to build a custom virus targetteble at any genetic trait you desire with a virulance between Influenza without vaccine, and 'Genocide in 30 days or your money back' brewing time about 6 months.
Beating the virus once it's among the population requires time (which the virus won't allow) or a n absolutely miracoulous t/medical, or k/viral Pathology roll.
It's set in cluster of imperial worlds not far from the Solomani rim, during the time of the Solomani Rim war.
I'm trying a new formulae. instead of building from the players out as they play and developing detailed maps and encounters in attempted anticipation of their moves. I've developed the back story including NPC's I never expect them to actually meet. and then Intend to present the situation as they know it, In hopes that knowing the NPC's, I can react consistantly and entertainingly to the parties actions. without actually trying to predict them.
So here it is. No Name for the Story so far.
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It could all be blamed on the missing man. That was certainly convienient. The four acquantances of Thompson Hunter were all for convience as they discussed their problems over dinner in the elegant setting of the Fonein branch of the Traveller's Aide Society.
Like three of the four, Mr. Hunter had been born in the capital of this little cluster of imperial worlds, a system named Sentry. The dashing man of 'business' was only 10 years old when the 14 year old Hunter began his career tooling about Sentry's asteroid belt like some intersteller Junk yard dog (Belters start young). The 'Businesman's' date was even younger. Even they remember Thompson's first moment of fame and the peak of his success. Developing a notable reputation among the prospectors and salvagers who make living among the asteroids, space stations and trojan points of Sentry, the Successfull young man (now 18) went off to join the Imperial Intersteller Scout Service. And then began his downward evolution to the goat whose absence was dominating the conversation presently.
"So he just disapeared?" The Lady in the Uniform of a Local Mercenary company asked.
"Off planet with a High passage, some system completely out of the cluster. Or at least someone identified as him boarded a liner with said ticket." Replied her similarly attired but somewhat scruffy looking male 'colleague'. "At least that's all I could determine legally with my personal comp and civilian access."
"Leaving us with a Ship not legal for space..." began the youngest of the quartet, frowning and adjusting her glasses as her date, The businesman, interjected.
"..and a Mountain of debt."
The four looked at each other... "So what do we do now?"
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And so a new campaign begins.
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The party is rather small PC wise. I have two players.
When queried about useful NPC's both requested girlfriends. ERGO -- The cast:
Kelly's Character: A nameless Rogue and ex scout. Age 34. 8th level Rogue/Traveller/Scout his skills are primarily the talking kind. Though he does have Jack of All Trades and some hand to hand abilities. His past history is a term as a Rogue followed by two as a scout and a final one as a rogue.
Allan's Character: Another currently nameless fellow. Age 44, 8th level Academic/Marine/Mercenary
His shipboard skills a sufficient for either a pilot or an engineer. He's okay in a fight (probably) but has spread his skill points out among too many skills to be a master of any. His career was one of wild success and failure. Got his Masters in engineering and finished his Bacheleors in record time but also flunked a few times too. 2 terms in the marines and never got higher than lieutennant. After a term marking papers he went back to being a Marine of sorts as Mercenary soldier serving in a company acting as a planetary security force.
Dr. Fiona Sampson: Kelly's G/F - age 33, 7th Level Academic. Absolutely useless in a fight this well educated Marine Biologist, in addition to her connections all over the undersea colonies of Fonein, is incidentally a qualified MD specialising in Viral Pathology. Her Doctoral thesis combined both Marine Biology and Viral Pathology into a truly ground breaking peice of knowledge whose prelimnary discoveries earned her Membership in the Imperial Science Academy even before she'd published. Currently she works for the Fonein Department of Oceans. (since Fonein is a water world, this is a larger bureaucracy than you'd think).
Lt. Nansii Yumarii: Allan's Mercencary 'Colleague' - (age 38, Noble-3/Navy-4/Merc-1) Almost his opposite number. His prior service was marines, she was navy. In their Mercenary Company he commanded a platoon of ship's troops. She was the Ship's first lieutennant and chief piloting officer.
And....
Thompson Hunter: The missing man. (age 38, Belter-5/Traveller-3) - To actually roll up a character whose face the players may never see, you figure he should be important.
Thompson Hunter Started young (as only barbarians and belters do) - In his first term (age 14 to 18) He earned enough experience to reach 4th level. He was a young Prodigy. Thus he was known to the two youngest characters. Further, The naval officer-to-be was a childhood associate and agemate of Hunter.
Things went wrong immediately after. His term in the scouts went so disasterously wrong that he didn't get to level up in the class. Basic training was great, He got selected imediately for a 'Special Mission' - from which he returned with two fingers of his left hand reduced to a fleshy claw (Medical discharge c\ -1 Dex).
The legend of "no luck" Hunter would only improve, his third term (22-26), back as a salvager, this time on risky the belt fringe, ended in a claim jumping that cost him everything he had and left him penniless.
It was during his last term as a belter 'Beached' to portside that he began to level up in the Traveller class. It was also during this last term that His salvaging skills earned him clear title to an old, heavily modified 'Far Trader', the Godspeed, that had been sitting in an obscure imperial Mothball site located proximal to the tiny indpendentant Fonein Shipyards.
The next 8 years he tooled about the Linkworlds Cluster: For a moment it seemed that 'No Luck' Hunter was going to bomb out again. There was STUNNING bureaucratic ressistance to his perfectly legal purchase of a ship the Imperium had declared surplus to needs. Current speculation holds that several spacers in the various licensing and sale agencies were upset at his breach of spacer tradition/superstition in promptly renaming the Godspeed and registering her instead as the 'Fear And Loathing'.
Instead, he did gain title to the ship. And in spite of astonishing bad luck, encountering pirates at 3 times the expected actuarial rate, speculating on food cargo when his destination planet had a bumper crop, constant and increasingly crippling gambling debts, he survived.
Part of that was due to good friends. His teenage sweetheart Nansii was now a starmerc commanding the helm of a ship hired to form part of Fonein's defences and customs. She encouraged her Colleague and Boarding Troops counterpart to also befriend the man. Between them, Minor infractions that could have beached Hunter at critical times, and even not so minor infractions that could have cost him everything, 2nd time loser that he was, were conviently unpursued due to the Custom's officers' discretion.
Another part was a seeming Midas touch when it came to patrons. As long has he stayed with the 7 star systems of the cluster there was always SOMEONE wiling to hire HIM for ludicrous rates for simple charters, or mundane cargoes. Already mildly infamous, "No Luck" began turn into a legend, an inspiration for misfits everywhere.
The most recent four years only added to the legend. His drinking became prodigous, with his clawed hand and pale thin limbs he didn't look all that much, but he had an Elephantine constitution. Few men could drink Hunter under the table. His risk taking became extreme, The 'Fear and Loathing' starting racking up a history of more daring space rescues than the local defence and SAR fleets. He started dealing mostly in High Margin security cargos, practically daring pirates to come after him. The port side gun on his ship was soon painted with enough 'kill rings' to compete with those of a frontline gunner in the current war Between the Imperium and "the Men of Sol". His Hubris had grown too. He reputedly once confided to drinking buddy that he'd "Never go belly up, 'cause I got me a guardian angel". His behaviour certainly matched that of a man convinced of divine favour. Right up until the day he sold the "Fear and Loathing" to a handfull of his 'Friends' and Promptly disapeared off planet and out of sight.
The four soon found they were really left holding the bag. The process of transfering the registry revealed holes in Mr. Hunter's documentation and certifications that had somehow missed scrutiny but now were impeding the ship's approval for flight under the new owners. The combined fees and required repairs/upgrades, are expected to top 200 000 credits. That cost is dwarfed by the monumental Loan that also got signed over with the ship, Hunter may have bought the ship for song but his gambling debts have placed a mortgage on the ship nearly the equal of any ship payments. While the megacredits owed on the ship aren't nearly as much as they would be on a similarly aged ship with typical loans, The crippling interest charges make the monthly payments noticably worse. With the first payments due by the end of the month, and the Ship unable to be used earn the money to make those payments, The party is in a bit of a quandrary.
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It get's worse, or... What the Party Doesn't Know.
The 'Godspeed' wasn't so much mothballed and surplus to the Imperial Navy/Scouts as it was 'being kept on ice' By Naval Intelligence. It had been captured 20 years earlier during a skirmish between an Imperial Navy Forward recon squadron, and what were thought to be smugglers in the employ of Solomani Security (SolSec). This thinking was supported by interrogation of personel captured from the friegter's well armed escorts but all hands died on the ship itself. Search proceedures that involved cutting open bulkheads and Micrometer incremeted densiometer scans found nothing however and the ship was slated to be discarded along with the Navy's more mundane prizes much the way police forces of the 20th century would auction off dead or jailed mobsters' limos.
The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) feild chief for Sentry had his doubts. He didn't accept the conclusion that the cargo had been previously jettisoned or that the whole operation was some sort of SolSec ruse. He clung to the ship. Shuffling it off into a forgotten corner of the Navy's extensive holdings and proceeded to get on with his job.
His sucessor was greatly shocked when she discovered that ONI owned a ship and was about to sell it to some ne'er-do-well space dog. Quick research led her to the same conclusion as her superior and some intial attempts to prevent the sale. She was readying some methods to quash the Thompson once and for all when an amazing thing happened.
A long term SolSec agent with an immaculate cover fell right into her lap. The agent, long placed and of great value, took stupid and, in the event, costly, risks to involve himself in Thompson Hunter's acquiring of the ship. The ONI chief wasn't sure if the SolSec agent was trying to help Mr. Hunter or wanted the ship for himself but the ship certainly summoned him out of the woodwork. The ONI Sentry desk decided she was going to let the Hunter run and see if he could flush her some more game. Thus was born: "Operation Hound"
One of the key new assets for Hound was A young Noblewoman just completing her second term as a officer in the Imperial Navy. She knew Mr. Hunter and was willing to play the spy game. Within a month Dame Lt. Nansii Yumarii IN, had become Lt. Nansii Yumarii Starmerc. It was her job to keep ONI informed of the Fear & Loathing's likely next move, to provide support to keep it moving about the cluster but also to block it from leaving the cluster. Nansii was part of a network of such agents and for eight years Operation Hound ran with an ever larger budget and ever greater prestige for the Sentry Desk.
For the Solomani WANTED that ship. Or something on it. The first four years of Hound's operation broke more SolSec spy rings than the previous twenty. The next two Not only broke rings but allowed the navy to get a lead on some freelance smugglers and pirates whom SolSec routinely hired to do some of their dirty work. If the Solomani Rim War hadn't begun in the second of those two years, the Navy could have probably shut down those pirates for good. But the ships were needed elsewhere.
The 7th year of operation Hound, started slowly. It seemed that all the solomani agents in the linkworld's cluster of ANY merit had been rounded up. The ONI Chief for Sentry was seriously considering wrapping up the operation as it had done it's job and she was due to be heading on to wider responsibilities, The sucess of hound having secured her a promotion. Besides Mr. Hunter had figured out that SOMEONE was willing to pay him a fortune just to stay in the pond and tool around like a good little baitfish. For now, he seemed content to up the ante but eventually She suspected he would get tired of the game.
Then all hell broke loose. The Solomani may not have had any agents in place, but they suddenly seemed quite willing to export covert ops personal to do their work. Additionally, the pirates appeared to have recieved major funding for further operations. Hound suddenly had more work than it could easily process. The pirates were actually becoming a threat beyond Intelligence's domain and the Navy as a whole was seeking ways to address the increased security needs. To top it off it seemed that Thompson Hunter had decided to see just how deep his mysterious benefactor's pockets were, OR he was truly fed up with the game....
With all these plates to juggle. Thompson slipped through ONI's fingers. Operation Hound still had an agent in place among the new ownership of the Fear and Loathing. The Operation might still be continued.
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What ONI doesn't know.
It's still there, on the 'Fear and Loathing' and SolSec 'wants it BAD'. The term bandied about for it is "Genocide in a Can"
A little over 20 years ago, a brilliant Solomani geneticist and viral engineer working on SolSec grants at her Terran university developed a 'programmable disease'. Basically she had developed both a virus and recipe for cooking it up that would allow it to be Targetted to certain genetic features. To Hardcore subsribers to the 'Solomani Hypothesis' this was the perfect race war weopan and her funding quintupled...
...It's not certain if she had a crisis of conscience or if she just realized she could make megabucks. With a copy of the virus, which she claimed had been targetted on solomani blood, able to kill all solomani and about 44 to 73 percent of all mixed blood Humans, and a back up of her 'recipe' in hand, she destroyed all her work and fled Terra. Warning SolSec not to pursue her "or Else", she fled solomani space in a freelance smuggling ship. The ship and The SolSec surviellance vessels following it were then confronted and captured in the deep dark by an Imperial Navy Forward Recon Squadron...
SolSec had two very High Priority missions. Convince the Researcher's son, a respected young student geneticist, to follow and repeat his mother's work. And FIND THAT CAN.
8 years ago: A Solomani Agent who had Penetrated ONI reports that the Godspeed has been found and that he is attempting to acquire access to it. Then goes silent.
SolSec begins focusing resources and burning emplaced assets trying to acquire the Godspeed (now known as the fear and loathing)
Three years ago: The Solomani Rim War begins. Even SolSec, even for "Genocide in a Can" cannot focus all it's resources on a lost cargo that no one has found for 20 years. Resources get reduced, a little subcontracting is done with a particularly amoral pirate group that's been selling it's services to the Solomani for the last 15 years.
1 year ago: The First Researcher's Son and Replacement, suddenly goes Missing. 5 months later SolSec's new orders, fresh operatives and money begin arriving in the Linkworlds Cluster. The Pirates are contacted again. They are extremely co-operative. The Virus and it's Recipe WILL be found...
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What SolSec doesn't know, or... The Researcher and the Pirate King.
20 years ago there was a clan of Uplifted Dolphins who considered themselves modern gypsies. Citizens of the sea of stars and unbound by silly landling rules and borders. Non-violent and racially inclined to be excellant pilots they paid for their repairs through good natured smuggling operations. Then an Imperial Navy Recon Force took everything away. Some of the clan was killed in the fighting. Most of the rest died during extensive 'debriefings' by ONI where the combination of 'truth drugs', 'interrogation techniques' and life support systems not designed with aquatic persons in mind killed all but the youngest and toughest. and them it warped.
While not the youngest, Hideki proved to be the strongest and possibly the most warped. After their release it was he who led them, not just through the strength of his tail but with his vision, a life of hitting back. A new citizenery of the sea of stars who would make the 'landlings' pay a toll in money and blood every time they dared to tresspass.
Their first prize was hard. They had to acquire a ship and refit it for swimmers. That WAS the hard part though. The prize itself was easy, a rival band of smugglers who had never failed previously to bully Hideki's clan with their pipsqueck civilian Guns. Hideki Himself piloted the modified fighter that blew out both single mount turrets. He also took pleasure in toying with their 'cargo' a single civilian wearing an Imperial Interstellar Scout Service Jacket. Hideki took great pleasure in 'accidentally' crushing the landling's hand in a watertight door.
From then on they never looked back. Within 5 years, Hideki's band was a pirate fleet of a size and skill to be reckoned with. Strong enough to take on any merchant, stealthy and adroit enough to avoid any confrontations with Naval forces in strength. Singleton Navy ships, both Solomani and Imperial often just never reported back from their patrols of the rim.
Some of the 'incidents' that provoked the Solomani Rim War could be laid directly at the flippers of Hideki's pirates. Not only did they attack shipping on both sides of the line with apparant impunity. But they were equally willing to take odd jobs from the intelligence services of both sides... as long as landlings could be killed in the process.
Hideki also sought information. he wanted to know WHY so many of his clan had to die that day. What he learned curdled any remaining sanity in his brain.
8 years ago: Hideki began getting missions from both SolSec and ONI revolving around either taking down or protecting a ship called the 'Fear and Loathing' A ship he recognised as the "Godspeed"
2 years ago: Hideki learned who they were transporting 18 years previous. He learned what her Son was doing today. He surmised, roughly, what was aboard the Godspeed (he refuses to call it that other name) and decided that a weopan capable of wiping humans from any planet was a weopan he was destined to weild in memory not only of his clan but of all the dolphins who died at human hands right back to the solomani 20th century and the tuna boats of that time.
1 year ago: Hideki, with his knowledge of the Godspeed's mission 20 years ago. Has managed to 'recruit' the researcher's son and successor. He has said son convinced that he is trying to prevent this 'Horrible weopan that has been the death of my clan" from being given to ANY polity, and has arranged his elopement to a ship run by Hideki's agents. Hideki and the Researcher are working together acquire the Bio weapon for themselves. The Researcher to destroy it. Hideki to use it at will.
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What No one Living Knows.
The Weapon comes in two parts. Either one can be used to reverse egineer the entire weapon. both together allow near-instant use.
Several samples of the virus itself are hermetically sealed and imbedded in small egglike structures that form the gaudy pattern of the top veneer of the cheap looking ship's wardroom table.
Embedded as rem lines and scrambled under a simple cipher, the 'recipe' is hidden in a few obscure programs in the ship's mainframe.
Obtaining the recipe alone will, after crypto-analysis and some testing, allow development of a targetted virus in about 2 years.
Obtaining one of the 10 live samples will allow immediate depopulation of a planet's solomani and about 70% of it's mixed solomani/vilani Humans. about 20% of other mixed races (with solomani blood) are prone. No others Vilani, Zhondani, Luranii etc. are affected at all.
Obtaining both allows you to build a custom virus targetteble at any genetic trait you desire with a virulance between Influenza without vaccine, and 'Genocide in 30 days or your money back' brewing time about 6 months.
Beating the virus once it's among the population requires time (which the virus won't allow) or a n absolutely miracoulous t/medical, or k/viral Pathology roll.
