Characters: All
NPC: Captain Nokh Khoen, First Officer Gunderson, and crew
Location: The Seeker of Prime Hunting Grounds
(Aengkfaertoezthuedou)
System: Jumpspace between Llaedh and Guekha
Now that everyone has had a chance to review the reports on Unarsukhgnargvo
and Korstsouth, Nokh has called a meeting to discuss them and the Tsougak Trade
Federation.
"Before I begin," Nokh says, "does anyone have any questions about the reports?"
Mazun jumps at the chance. "Yes, I do." He rubs his forehead, then continues,
"I'm still fuzzy about who signed the 'simple treaty' with us in Korstsouth.
There are 14 independent islands. Did this 'welcoming party' speak for all of
them? Does that mean that there is a world government in place? Honestly, it
seems to me there might be an awful lot of tech and mineral resources for the
Pack here, and we should not back off so easily. What is to prevent us from
finding some 'friendly nations' and establishing a presence in the world to
compete with the TTF?"
Nokh chuckles. "I expected Darrurz to play that angle." He pauses before
answering. "The welcoming party was just that: a welcoming party. They were made
up of some defense personnel. There is no world government. The survey team
asked each of the 14 nations if they would meet to negotiate that opening
treaty. Fortunately, there's a framework in place for just such a thing so each
nation sent a delegation to the starport. It took a couple of days to put
together, but in the end, it got done.
"If there are other nations present, they're either mangy curs gnawing on the
bones of their dead cities, or they're on some submersible mining platform
hiding from the others. Both will take a great investment of time which will
only be possible if the 14 in charge allow us to stay.
"So don't think of it as backing off. We have our paw in the door. Pack Security
will see about getting that door to open a bit wider, but they'll need our help.
"Our mission has changed from simple recon and contact to full on intelligence
gathering. This ship will assess the strength of the TTF and gauge their
attitude towards outsiders.
"If they're weak and hostile, the Pack will take an aggressive approach.
"If they're weak but friendly, the Pack will look to annex them. But the Pack
will make it a sweet deal.
"If they're strong and friendly, the Pack will seek an alliance.
"If they're strong and hostile, then it's best the Pack knows that sooner rather
than later.
"Regardless, the Pack Security leadership on Llaedh dispatched a courier to
Igodosakfell informing them of what's been learned. Anticipating their reaction,
the Pack will be annexing the three abandoned worlds of Ourrgkhuzugh, Guekha,
and Khugz. Ships will be forwarded there to affirm our position. Reinforcements
will establish bases of operation. Strategically, they'll be buffer worlds
between the TTF and proper Pack worlds. Pack Security will also be place
listening posts in both the Unarsukhgnargvo and Korstsouth systems.
"Any questions?"
There aren't any, so Nokh continues, "Based on the reports we have from
Unarsukhgnargvo and Korstsouth, we're taking the approach that they'll be
non-hostile. Regardless, we'll need to know how they stack up.
"Darrurz, as our mercantile specialist, I'd like you to prepare an argument
outlining the benefits of trade with the Pack. I'll be relying on you to provide
an honest assessment of Tsougak's economy and see where we can gain leverage.
"Arthur, whether or not they're friendly, I'd like you to assess their defenses.
Get help from your crewmates if you hit any stumbling blocks like unfamiliar
weapons or language.
"Mazun, I'd like you to scrutinize their tech. Obviously, we're all capable of
recognizing what our eyes see, but I'll need you to sniff out what we can't see.
For instance, we might see a fully armed space station, but you might pick out
that it's a junk heap held together with duct tape.
"Joe," Nokh pauses before continuing, "if you notice or sense the presence of
any Vakh, let us know."
Joe taps his head, then replies, "Assuredly."
"I realize we're two weeks out, but jumpspace travel is dull. You should all be
familiar with the ship and its crew by now. It's time to prepare for your
assignments. Use the ship's library. And if you need the assistance of any
crewmembers, or even me, sniff us up.
"Any questions?"
Mazun asks, "Should we think about what we want them to see from us? I mean,
probably the welcoming party will have a similar list of assignments for
watching us. How do we want to appear, show off our best tech and weapons or
keep some surprises up the sleeve? In any case, we might need to think over
what we carry."
Without hesitation, Nokh says, "Strength. We vargr have a nasty habit of preying
on weakness. But if you show off our best tech, it may inspire envy. You'll
want to appear tough enough that anyone nipping at your tail is going to get
bit. Once we have a snout to snout meeting, I hope to have more intel on just
how strong we need to appear."
Joe moves to one of the displays and pulls up the local starcharts. "Captain, I
do have one suggestion. I assume your intent is to arrive in Guekha, refuel and
jump to Tsougak." Joe updates the star charts showing two hops one to Guekha and
a second to Tsougak.
Joe pauses giving everyone a chance to absorb his drawing.
"Actually, no. But please continue."
Joe erases his marks on the starcharts and starts talking as he begins drawing
again. "My thoughts are that since we now know the conditions at Korstsouth, we
can achieve a tactical advantage by jumping here, refueling, and arriving in
Tsougak with still 50% of our jump fuel available." The starcharts now show
three hops: one to Guekha, one to Korstsouth, and a third to Tsougak. "This
gives us the option to leave without performing re-fueling in the Tsougak
system, and allows for further intelligence gathering at Korstsouth, before we
arrive in Tsougak. Depending on how long we spend in the Korstsouth system this
shouldn't delay our mission to Tsougak by no more than two days."
Joe looks up from the displays and to the assembled crew. "What do you think?"
Nokh smiles with a measure of pride. "I think you saved me the trouble of
explaining. I was going to wait until we got to Guekha to inform everyone of the
plan, but there's no harm in knowing that now. Thank you, Joe.
"Since we're talking about it now, I'll go on to say that I intend to hit the
gas giant at Korstsouth rather than deal with any potential negative encounters
or too many questions at Korstsouth. If the TTF has a ship there, they might ask
us why we're there and where we're headed. And they could spoil the surprise by
running home to warn their pack before we arrive. I don't want that.
"Tsougak only has one gas giant. If at all possible, I'd like to refuel there
before heading in to the mainworld. But if we do encounter more trouble than we
can handle at the gas giant, we can slip away to let Pack Security know what
they can expect.
"Are we all on board with that plan?"
Everyone nods their heads or barks their assent.
Characters: All
NPC: Captain Nokh Khoen, First Officer Gunderson, and crew
Location: The Seeker of Prime Hunting Grounds
(Aengkfaertoezthuedou)
System: Guekha
The week in jump was routine. Darrurz ran through piloting sims. Arthur and Joe
exercised and trained with Rrokoth and Doukhken. They mixed it up to avoid
boredom: gunnery sims, hand to hand sparring, various calisthenics. During his
time alone, Joe got to know his new sword (after getting the captain's
permission): how it feels, a sense of its weight, the sound it makes cutting the
air. Later, he asked Arthur to be a spotter and offer him suggestions on his
technique. With his complexion returned to normal, and the scars faded and
hidden by a few weeks of hair growth, he starts to grow a beard, but keeps it
well-groomed.
Mazun worked on improving his portable sensors in an effort to bump up their
tech level by a decimal point or two, or at the very least make sure they're as
good as new. He enlisted Onguk's help, who was pleased to offer his familiarity
with vargr tech to him. By the end of the week, he has them feeding directly to
a HUD visor. He plans on spending the next jump calibrating them.
And now the ship has entered the Guekha system around the outermost gas giant.
The main world was abandoned before the Vakh found their way here; its
inhabitants resettled on Gvunaeknun. But Nokh has said that the system will be
annexed by the Pack and resettled to serve as a buffer world between it and the
Tsougak Trade Federation. Pack Security ships—Nokh doesn't say how
many—lie hidden in the system. To let them know they're friendly, Nokh
instructs Darrurz to execute two barrel rolls to starboard followed by one
backwards somersault with the ship. While this seems odd to Darrurz, Nokh
explains that it's safer than broadcasting their presence over the radio. Once
completed, the ship begins decelerating.
Aengkfaertoezthuedou has completed decelerating and is now headed into
the gas giant to skim for fuel. Not having skimmed fuel from a gas giant
in...ages, Darrurz takes a cautious approach. Gas giant fuel skimming
simulations were never a proper substitution for the real thing. Not liking the
readouts he received from the sensors, Darrurz passes on the first few
opportunities. Although no one has said anything, Darrurz imagines that the
captain and crew must be wondering what's taking him so long. He spots a pocket
that seems like it might be ok.
It's a rough go at first. There's more turbulence than expected. Down in
engineering, Onguk swears up a storm. But Darrurz manages to align the ship with
the laminar flows and it's smooth sailing from there. The tanks are filled,
Darrurz lifts the ship away from the gas giant. He mutters his thanks to
Llallaeknuez.
Now that the fuel has been purified and the ship is at safe jump distance, Nokh
gives the order to jump to Korstsouth's gas giant.
Next: Arrival in the Korstsouth System