Campaign:SBRD/Synopses/Chapter 01 Devonia

SBRD Chapter 01: Devonia

The Setting, The Players, The Ship

[SBRD] Reavers' Deep - The Game Begins!

The Setting

This is not the familiar Third Imperium in which you may have played your Traveller games before; in fact, the Third Imperium won't even exist for another 790 years. This setting is in the year 3731 AD, a little over halfway through the period that will be known throughout Human space as The Long Night. There is no vast governmental authority in Human space, only small multi-world governments and solitary worlds making their own way the best they can.

Interstellar commerce is a mere trickle of what it has been in the past and will someday be again. In many places, pirates prey on what little commerce there is; in the rimward areas of Human space, whole worlds and governments have taken up the trade of piracy on a huge scale, raiding and looting other worlds. Some will call these forces Pirate Worlds, some will call them Space Vikings, but the name that most evokes their heyday has also become the name of the sector where many originate: Reavers' Deep!

Originally called Riftrim Deep for its proximity to the "Thumb" of the Great Rift, Reavers' Deep in 3731 AD is a vast, wild frontier among the stars. There are a few genuinely native sapient species here, and a few more minor Human sub-species that were seeded here 300,000 years ago by those known today as The Ancients. The great Vilani Empire, also known as the Ziru Sirka or First Imperium, never quite made it to this sector but stopped in Daibei sector immediately to trailing. Actual colonization of the Deep did not begin until Terran Humans met Vilani Humans in the Interstellar Wars, about 1600 years ago.

Colonizers during the Interstellar Wars were either isolationists seeking to avoid the wars, refugees seeking to escape from them, or military expeditions seeking strategic advantage. Later, after Terran victory in the Nth Interstellar War led to the collapse of the First Imperium, the Terrans declared a Second Imperium, the Rule of Man. That entity governed for less than 500 years, but during that time several new worlds in the Deep were colonized from nearby Daibei sector. That was the last wave of Human colonization into the Deep... until now.

Within the past hundred years a new wave of colonization has been spreading into the Deep from Daibei. Although many of these new colonies have fallen prey to the pirate gangs still known as Reavers, the prime era of legendary Reavers such as Blackie Duquesne and Admiral Izanak has passed, and many beings in the region are sensing a new era of hope, as multi-world governments formed to defend against Reavers now join to create leagues and associations to promote interstellar commerce.

The largest and strongest power in the region is the Imperial Realm of Daibei, a group of worlds in the middle of Daibei sector still claiming loyalty to the old Rule of Man, although ruled locally by the Viceroy of Daibei. Smaller governments abound throughout Daibei sector, and a few have even formed in Reavers' Deep. Unfortunately, the largest of the growing powers in the Deep itself is the Iltharan Empire, which continues the old practice of raiding other worlds for what it wants, robbing and enslaving in the darkest Reaver traditions.

This is the place and time that you now enter, as the crew of the frontier trader Fortunate Son.

The Players

Onboard the Fortunate Son:
Sabredog - Hampton Rhodes, Captain and Pilot
ErianFrost - Kalos Thar, First Officer and Pilot/Navigator
ATPollard - Max Black, Chief Engineer and Chief Steward
DaveChase - Doc Freeman, Medical Officer and Cargo Chief
Samuelvss - Leo P. Henry, Asst Engineer and Security
ChaosBennett - Gayne Maize, Asst Medic and Security
NPC - Janna Vilshiggur, Steward and Cargo-hand
NPC - Benjamin Chance, Gunner and Cargo-hand
NPC - Bruno Kansakarrir, Electrician/Mechanic and Cargo-hand

"Grounded" on Devonia:
Fritz_Brown - Donoma Lafitte, Navigator Extraordinaire

The Ship

Fortunate Son was formerly Close Call, a frontier trader making the circuit of great worlds and isolated backwaters in the middle of Daibei sector, throughout the Imperial Realm of Daibei and its many smaller neighbors. Captain Charles "Bull" Merrill of Close Call had a well-earned reputation for dishonest dealing, and his practices caught up to him on Garkenbaaggi (Daibei 1221), late in the month of March, 3731 AD. While the Captain was being lynched by an angry mob, First Officer Hampton Rhodes decided to take the ship to space with the remainder of the crew, and to promote himself from First Officer to Captain.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the crew (including Second/First Officer Shelia Kirimuukur and all of the other officers except for the Chief Engineer, young Max Black) quit and left the ship at its next stop, on Egarnigun (Daibei 1223), but Captain Rhodes persevered and recruited new crew, including Medical Officer Doc Freeman and Assistant Engineer Leo P. Henry. Rhodes also paid to have the name and registry of Close Call changed to Fortunate Son and a new transponder installed to match, and decided to take the ship to new trading grounds in Reavers' Deep.

Although he declined the responsibility of an officer's position, Leo Henry was a qualified pilot and could occasionally relieve Rhodes and give him some rest. Still, it was a vast relief to the Captain when the ship visited Zwingle (Daibei 1024) and he was able to recruit a new First Officer Pilot/Navigator, Kalos Thar, as well as an Assistant Medic and Security Specialist, Gayne Maize.

As our story begins, the Fortunate Son has completed its journey across the spinward portion of Daibei sector and is in jump space bound for Devonia (Reavers' Deep 3125), its first port-of-call in the Deep. Fortunate Son is carrying four passengers and some freight bound for Devonia, along with a good load of speculative cargo with which the crew hopes to make its fortune. But before the ship exits jump space, let's skip ahead a bit to the world of Devonia...

Jump Exit: 09 Aug 3731 AD

Date: 09 August 3731 AD

Spacer Donoma Lafitte has been "grounded" on Devonia since she resigned her First Officer's position on her last ship, the Mary Deare. That was almost three months ago, and Donoma fears that she made the wrong choice of a world for mustering out, as she has been unable to find any new berth to her liking on any of the few ships that call on Devonia. Perhaps she should have taken passage back into Daibei sector, where ship traffic is heavier... Now she is down to her last savings, wondering where next month's rent will come from. She would almost consider selling her beloved grav bike, except that what little income she has here is from running package errands on the bike, which can earn her premium rates with its speed and versatility here on this world where even standard grav vehicles are rare.

Date: 09 August 3731 AD

Fortunate Son exits Jump into Devonia system, at the 100-D limit of Gas Giant Peytonia, planning to refuel before landing at Devonia itself. Leo Henry is on Bridge watch, as most of the crew is either asleep or playing cards, waiting for Jump Exit even though it is the middle of the "night" by shiptime. Most of those asleep are awakened by the transition effects, and Doc Freeman receives calls from the passenger IA, Jarvis, that two passengers are suffering Jump-sickness and need assistance. Both thank Doc for his help, and one hands over a printed business card reading, "David Verchanski; VERCHANSKI SUPPLY SERVICES; Import/Export and Custom Manufacturing; Devonia City, Devonia (RD 3125); [comm-code]"

After making contact with Devonia Traffic Control (90 minute lightspeed lag), Captain Rhodes asks for volunteers to clean the "bug-screens" inside the fuel scoops, and Gayne and Leo go out on EVA on the hull to take care of the task. Checking the news-dump from Devonia, he immediately spots Donoma's listing, as the ship could use a good Astrogator. With the scoop filters clean, Hampton requests Kalos to check fuel levels, and on finding the tanks over half full decides to skip refueling and head straight in for Devonia mainworld, about a 3-day trip at 3-G. Traffic Control directs the ship in where to land, and advises all to remain onboard until cleared by Customs inspection.

Meanwhile, back on Devonia, Donoma checks the ship's progress with the port status reports, and decides to earn some money taking on a few more delivery jobs. Her second job of the day takes her out to the Dresnik Mining Complex in the hills north of the City, where she delivers a small package and chats with the receptionist, her friend Wallis Kashnaravi, about how busy the mine is with a big new strike, and how the boss wants her to check on how to get it shipped out as quickly as possible. Knowing Donoma is a spacer, she seeks her advice on this.

"See, we have a contract with a dealer at Nexus for up to 10 tons per month of Lanthanum - I'm talking starship volume, not mass, because that's the way it is in the contract - which is more than we usually produce. They usually send a buyer about once every six or eight weeks to come pick up what we have, and will pick up whatever other good stuff we've refined out as well. All of our usual production will fit in our secure storage that holds 15 tons."

"Two problems with this big vein we've hit. Ha!!! I say problems, but these are the kinds of problems we could use a lot more of! Anyway, one is that we have already filled up our storage with 10 tons of Lanthanum and five tons of other metals. Everything else we are producing is being piled up in odd nooks and crannies and one shaft we aren't currently working. Second problem is that Boss has been checking, and market prices on Lanthanum have gotten a lot better than the contract price, so we could make more by selling the stuff ourselves."

"Boss really wants to move all of it beyond what our contract requires, either to some other secure storage down at the starport, or better yet by ship to market to be sold. Plus, even though he is intending to stick by the contract and hold out the required amount of Lanthanum, he'd rather not have to argue with the company man about all of the extra we have produced; he wants it out of the way before that guy shows up."

"So anyway, please let me know what you find out about this ship coming in, and I guess I'd better get back to finding ways to move and store all of this metal, and some reliable guys to guard it for us."

Donoma tells Wallis that she expects to interview for a job on the incoming Fortunate Son, and that she will try to get a feel for whether they would be reliable for a job like this.

Back on the ship, Kalos sends a request for Library Data, including market data for past 90 days. He immediately determines that Devonia would be a good market for the Machinery and Light Metals carried as spec cargo, but not for the Wood. There are also some loads of weapons available for sale that sound a little fishy, so with the right info they might make a good deal.

Port Landing: 3731-08-13)

Hampton calls the port traffic control to confirm that he is starting his landing pattern.

"Fortunate Son, you are confirmed in landing pattern and cleared to land. Fly safe, and we'll see you when you get here."

Hampton decelerates carefully to match atmospheric velocity as well as possible, to minimize wear and tear on the hull from aerobraking. Then the ship is in atmosphere, shrieking downward as he continues to follow the pattern that was given, then BAM-CLANK there is a loud metallic sound that shakes the whole ship, and suddenly he has lost all lift in the portside bow quarter, the ship flips and is upside down so that he is looking straight down at the ocean about 15km below.

Even with inertial compensators, everyone on the ship felt that one!

The Captain's hands are almost a blur as he taps and slides holographic controls, shifting vectored thrust from the M-drive to compensate for the out of balance gravs, and ZIP-FLIP, that quickly he is back in control again and smoothing out his approach over the bay to Devonia City starport. He slows the ship to a stop above the indicated landing pad and gently lowers it into place, landing with a gentle hum of gravs and M-drive so soft it wouldn't rattle a teacup.

"Nice landing, Captain," sounds the voice of traffic control. "Was there a little problem out over the bay, or was that corkscrew just for fun?"

No problems here, Tower, we just had a bird strike is all but everything is just fine, A-OK, FAB, yup whatever." Hampton clears the radio, shuts down the drives and raps the piece of wood screwed to the console next to his chair, "Girl, you are making me old before my time...hold together just a little longer and I promise (knock, knock, knock) I'll get you all patched up and maybe even some new paint."

Hampton takes a deep, slow breath, punches up the intership channel and says with his best "aircrew voice", "Folks, this is the captain speaking and I want to welcome you to to Devonia, and thank you for flying Fortunate Air. Will all passengers please get your transit documents together and assemble in the lounge for the customs personnel to come aboard and clear you for debarkation."

Crew-only channel...."Max? What happened back there at around 12,000 meters? Why did the ship try to kill us?"

Outside the ship it appears to be early morning, maybe 0700 local time. Another comm to the Bridge from the port: "Hello, Fortunate Son, this is Sergeant Blaser of Devonia City Police, Customs and Immigration Division. We are approaching your ship now. Please prepare for boarding through your cargo hold. If you have a central lounge or other convenient area, please have all passengers and crew who intend to leave the ship here on Devonia gathered there for arrival clearance. Please have Captain Rhodes and whichever officer is responsible for cargo stowage meet me and my squad in the cargo hold."

A grav car with police markings and lights glides over to the bow of Fortunate Son and sets down on the pad. Four officers get out and come inside the cargo hold to where Captain Rhodes and Doc Freeman are waiting.

The Sergeant steps forward with a friendly smile on his face, hand outstretched to shake. "Hello, I'm Sergeant Blaser. Which of you is Captain Rhodes?" "I notice that you are armed, which is of course your right on your own ship, but our Department policy does not allow customs inspections or immigration interviews with armed subjects. If you wouldn't mind putting away the weapons, we can continue; otherwise I'm afraid we will have to cancel this proceeding and you, your passengers, and your cargo will all have to remain on this ship."

The crew complies and the inspection proceeds smoothly, with the inspectors behaving courteously throughout.

After the inspection, Doc Freeman offers Sgt Blaser a small flask of his home-made hard apple cider. The Sgt smiles, says he cannot accept while on duty, but would be happy to meet Doc at O'Shea's Irish Pub later in the evening.

Doc Freeman then runs the passengers over to the terminal in the ship's Launch.

Henry take Bruno out in the air-raft to visit some places in town that might have used parts available for some of the needed repairs (unfortunately, former Captain Merrill had been a cheap-skate with repairs and had skipped a couple years of maintenance).

Max goes down to meet Donoma and discuss the ship, then Hampton joins them to discuss hiring. After some discussion of credentials and a past blackball by a large merchant corp, Donoma is hired on as Second Officer and Astrogator.