I was originally going to 'Set a Course' to reach Gloam Station, but have decided to
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 6 +3 +1 vs 3 | 7 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 3/10
Space Sighting-Terminus: Dense nebula cloud
Also, I've made a change to Janya; I'm removing the Sniper asset in exchange for the Expanded Hold asset. I realised that I was merging character concepts - Sniper rightly belongs to a Cybersworn character concept percolating in my mind
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| The Edward Fegen |
Janya and Hayla both examined their sensor fields, making sure they were alone before they relaxed their vigilance. All they could see on the sensors was a dense nebula 'ahead' of them. They did two more full sweeps before pushing back from the consoles and heading to the lounge to relax and it was only a couple of hours before the E-drive had recycled and they went back to the bridge to make the second jump.
The calculations had all been made by the computer while the E-drive recycled, so all that was needed was someone to 'press the button'. There was always the chance, however, that something would go wrong, so it was standard operating procedure - at least on a well-run starship - for all the bridge crew to attend the jump.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 5 +3 +1 vs 4 | 6 => strong hit => waypoint, progress now 6/10
Space Sighting-Terminus: Zaurak, Blazing blue star, Planet - Frost, rugged, frozen world—locked in an unending winter.
The jump passed without incident and again they were in the Drift continuing their journey towards Gloam. They should, assuming everything went well, have one more stop near the blazing blue star named Zaurak. An uninhabited planet called Frost orbited it, right on the outer-edge of the Goldilocks zone. They had deliberately dropped from the Drift a long way from the star, not wanting to engage with anyone on their first courier trip - they had to establish a reputation for reliability after all. Again their sensors were clear, so Hayla took the opportunity to grab some sleep while Janya stayed awake on watch.
Soon enough the E-drive was ready and they made - what they hoped - was their last jump.
Undertake an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; +Wits +1 Sidekick Pilot; 4 +3 +1 vs 1 | 8 => weak hit => waypoint, progress now 9/10, 2 -1 suffer moves
Lose Momentum: minor -1 momentum now +4
Sacrifice Resources: minor -1 Supply now 4
Unfortunately, the vagaries of the Drift dropped them out much further from Gloam Station than they had planned, and it took them quite a while - and a fair bit of fuel - to get close enough for hailing to be worthwhile. It did give them a great chance to observe the station - there being little that actually needed doing once the course had been implemented.
Gloam Station was an 'illegal' - it had been constructed without the permission of any governing body and consequently relied entirely upon itself. No help would come if were to be attacked, for instance. Despite being apparently constucted entirely from scrap, it had significant, intimidating even, defences. Which was not in the least surprising, if even half the rumours about the place were true. It was said that the station made its money through the black market and supplying raiders, as well as buying the raiders' spoils. All-in-all, not a nice place to be.
Nevertheless, they had to dock if Janya were to make her delivery, so when they were eventually close enough for it be worthwhile, they hailed the station and were given a docking assignment.
Finish an Expedition: 'Travel to Gloam' troublesome; progress 9 vs 6 | 1 => strong hit => 1 tick on Discoveries legacy track
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", progress now 6/10
Hayla deftly docked the Edward Fegen as Janya prepared to board the station. Haila was staying aboard to guard the ship while Janya, the 'official' Iron Herald, made the actual delivery.
On the station, Janya had to establish her bona fides almost immediately, but smashing the first lowlife that tried to grope her into the deck, dissuaded the others, so she was able to move about unmolested. Finding a bar, she began the time-consuming process of locating William Nazari. In a more civilised place, she could have used the datanet, or asked law enforcement, but not here - so bartenders it was.
Secure an Advantage: sociability, +Heart; 5 +2 vs 9 | 5 => weak hit => +1 on next move
Gather Information: +Wits +1 SaA above; 4 +3 +1 vs 1 | 2 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +6
Janya was soon able to identify the district that Nazari frequented the most and made her way there. Her contract included a picture of the contact - how else would they be indentified? - so once in the district she kept her eyes open
Gather Information: +Wits; 4 +3 vs 2 | 1 => strong hit => +2 momentum now +8
Asking around in that district, which was predominantly engineering facilities, led Janya to a tiny bar, seemingly built in the unwanted space between two workshops. Entering it, she found it to be as much of a dive as the exterior had promised, but luck was with her. At the bar sat the unmistakable figure of William Nazari. Janya took the seat next to and ordered a drink.
"You William Nazari?" she asked sotto voce.
"Who's asking?" he said just as quietly - obviously he was expecting someone, even though he had a hunted air about him.
"Iron Herald," Janya replied cupping her ancestor-ship shard so that only Nazari could see it.
"Then I am," he said with an air of definity.
"Thumb," Janya instructed holding her datapad below the level of the bar. Nazari obligingly put his thumb onto the pad's sensor and the indicator light cycled through red, to orange and then green.
Janya let out a breath that she hadn't realised she was holding and put the datapad back in her pocket. Lifting her carrycase into her lap she opened it retrieved the datacube and passed it to Nazari as subtly as she could. Downing her drink, she stood.
Reach a Milestone: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari", progress now 9/10
Fulfill Your Vow: "I will deliver this datacube to William Nazari" troublesome, progress 9 vs 5 | 8 => strong hit => 1 tick on Quests
Leaving the bar, Janya headed back for the Edward Fegen, where Hayla was supposed to be arranging another courier job, a cargo, or both. Hopefully that would have gone as smoothly as the delivery.
Resupply: barter, +Heart; 6 +2 vs 10 | 6 => weak hit => +2 supply now 5 cargo 1, demand made
Back aboard, Janya told Hayla all about her trip. Hayla had caught the deck-smashing of the lowlife on the ship's cameras and they had a good laugh watching that back from several angles. Then they got down to business. The Iron Heralds had got a message to the station instructing them to take a Datacourier - an augmented individual who stored data in a secure internal chip - to Kalen's Folly. Luckily, Hayla had got the message before arranging a cargo, so had been able to get some polymers that the latest archive said Kalen's Folly needed. And even better than that, Hayla had secured the polymers before the archive update had been replicated across the station. No law - no insider trading, right?
Both the Datacourier - Severinus 'Harrow' Jemison - and the cargo should be aboard within the hour, so they'd then be able to leave for Sheraton, the star that Kalen's Folly orbited on the planet Nimbus.