Going Undercover

The Alex Murphy and crew were assigned to infiltrate House Horusca undercover.  They built a cover as smugglers.  They were instructed not to repair the superficial damage to look more credible.  The ship received a new paint job and was renamed “Bad Wolf.”  

They reconfigured the cargo hold to create secret storage spaces, and acquired a consignment of cheese, a variety of mushrooms, and Classic Coca-Cola made with sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup, as well as other goods that were not standard issue.  Additionally, they acquired news, some mail and other data for transport.  They also acquired mismatched space suits, clothing, gear, and weapons from a variety of planets as well as from the captured pirates.

Journey to Estra

They set course for Estra by way of the route they took to outbound.  At the Dark Point, the space hulk they had encountered previously was gone.  They waited there for a few hours for the pilots to recover. 

They continued the jump to Merrick.  As they were arriving, another ship was departing, and they exchanged news.  It was a Garlan freighter.  They learned gossip, and that there had been no pirate activity in the system.  They reviewed the news that they downloaded from the other ship.

Stop at Lerin

It was a three jump route to Estra, and the middle jump was to a dark point.  The nearer jump was to a small Antar agricultural colony called Lerin, on the moon of a gas giant.  They elected to stop there to trade.  Traffic control made chit chat before granting landing privileges.  

On the space station, they delivered the mail and unloaded some of the mushrooms.  They acquired various culinary herbs of the type favorable to the Antar.  Grrr acquired a taste for the local cattle, which tasted like duck, and acquired several head that he put in stasis.  Kovak and Grendel searched for engine parts.  They found some things that might work on their ship.

The Dark Point

The next jump was a dark point that was actually a pulsar.  On arrival, there was another freighter there.  It was fully operational and in a stable orbit.  They could not tell if there was anyone on board.  Bletherin had the communications officer hail the ship.  The reply was in Harth.  Grrr asked if they were in jeopardy.  The response was not welcoming, but the responder sounded ill.  They asked for fresh food.

Alex scanned the ship and found that nothing was amiss technically.  He picked up four life signs.  Bletherin offered to trade fruit for human alcohol.  They agreed, but warned against Harth coming without a rebreather.  Grrr identified that they had the Harth version of the common cold.  Grendel took some crew to deliver the goods.    He found two shuttles in the bay, one of which was disassembled.   He resisted the urge to fix it.

The Harth captain appeared and they inspected the goods.  They had human whiskey of good quality.  The goods were exchanged, and Grendel and company returned to the Alex Murphy with the booze, and they jumped.

The Third Jump

The third jump too them to a rare, unpopulated system.  On arrival, a beacon informed them that the system was down checked for colonization due to proto-sentient lifeforms on one of the planets.  A moment later, a jury-rigged space station emerged from behind one of the planets.  There was not supposed anyone in the system.

They were hailed from the station asking what they were doing there. Grr replied that they were jumping en route to Estra.  He asked what they were doing there.  The response was research.  He offered supplies, they they accepted.  But they did not upload or download news.  When in range, the scanned the station and discovered a number of bulk freighters poorly cobbled together into a station. Grendel was insulted. Alex scanned their systems but could not determine anything noteworthy.

They docked the Alex Murphy to the station.  Alex hacked into their robust security system, where he learned that there were about 150 personnel listed as on station.   There were two projects listed: one was related to the proto-sentient lifeform,  and the other was some kind of materials research.   He also noted that there were a high percentage of security personnel.

Bletherin, Grrr, Grendel, Alex and Kovak make the deal.  They were met at the airlock by an Antar and a slender, delicate Harth.  A royal caste Harth who the Antar deferred to. Grrr made the formal Harth greeting with him. The air scrubbers did not appear to be working as efficiently as they should.  The Antar watched them warily.

The docking ring was small with space for only three ships.  There was another ship present.  A database search determined that it was stolen and sold in a police auction recently.  At the mention of the herbs, the Antar got interested.  Bletherin asked what they could trade for.  The answer was information.  They wanted to insert data into Collective databases that did not announce their presence.  They wanted it to appear that a passer-by had made the discovery.  Bletherin agreed to the trade.

The Harth asked the Antar to show them the other project.  The Antar led them down some corridors, where they overheard talk about something unexpected evolutionary or technological happening on the planet.  They were taken down to another deck into a cargo hold.  Inside were crates containing a fine mesh of gunmetal grey cloth.    Bletherin asked what it was.  The answer was a kind of radiation shielding for personal armor, and would be useful fo orbital construction workers.    It also happened to be the same things that were stolen in one of the initial pirate attacks.

Alex hacked into the systems from inside the cargo bay and pulled up details about the research projects.  Apparently the proto-sentience had recently discovered fire.  As such, the likely would have to leave the system.  The people on planet were being prepared for departure. He looked into the raw materials for the other project.  They were acquired from another free trader.   There were too many other projects, so he downloaded the information to review later.

The Antar was offering to trade the one box of cloth for herbs and the information to be broadcast after a small delay to give them time to leave the system.  

While this was happening, the other ship left the docking ring for the planet.

The exchange was made and they departed amicably.   

They reviewed the data and determined that it was all about the sentience on the planet.  The other projects were weapons research related to quantum weaponry, which was illegal, for civilian purposes, such as blowing up planets to facilitate easier mining.  However these kinds of weapons were also known to disrupt hyperspace.  This information would be pass to the proper authorities.

On Merrick

Merrick was a terraformed planet of Antari design.   It was the only habitable planet in the system, and was terra formed by a rich Antar.  It was controlled by House Horusca. 

As soon as it was out of Hyperspace, the Alex Murphy was hailed by a system defense cutter. Bletherin told them that they were coming to trade. They were told not to land directly on the planet.  They were given the coordinates to Echo station. 

They followed the instructions giving and acted casually. There was a lot of traffic.  It was all logged for future analysis.  They were held by traffic control until a bay was ready on the upper docking ring.  There was evident wealth all over the station. There were a wide variety of ships docked. 

Grendel and Grr posed as Beltherin’s guards.  They spied a cloaked and hooded figure. Most of those present were loading and unloading cargo.  Robotic cargo carriers bleeped back and forth. A male human was admiring Kovak.

They went to the Harbormaster’s office.

Chain of Command

  • Bletherin – Garlan (scaled hexapeds, with the front set of limbs equating to arms with four fingers, and
    the second and third having cloven hooves) Captain of the CEP Alex Murphy
  • Grrr (aka Snarl) – atypical Harth (furred mammals that resemble semi-anthropomorphic dogs) Head of Security on the CEP Alex Murphy  
  • Alex – the CEP Alex Murphy AI
  • Grendel – Heffulump (alien with multiple tactile appendages) Engineer of the CEP Alex Murphy
  • Kovak – Human Pilot of the CEP Alex Murphy