Session 1: Investigation

General Summary

The Eigenvector convoy Rimtreader glides through the blackness of space, slowly passing by the nearby star Arge. After two months of hyperspace travel, followed by three days stopped by the Fognight Beacon, the restless population eagerly waits for the go-ahead from their scout team to round out the finishing stretch of their journey—through Network territory.

An Assignment

Four citizens of the convoy enter the office of Constable Jarnin Tong, waiting to receive their Civic Upkeep duties.

Already inside is a Kivik pilot, Vivec, informing the constable of the best route through the Network-affiliated pocket of space up ahead: through the asteroid field on the far side of the Arge system. She sends a page to the helm and flight teams with the order to set a course accordingly, and then turns to the four of you:

• Céad, a cloaked gastropoid figure,
• A worse-for-wear android, identifiable only as Callsign for now,
• Dee, a Verakor with conspicuous ears and some mammalian features,
• and Sgt. Bailey Davis, a Verakor with a noticeable lack of visible telepathic ganglia.

Jarnin gives you your assignment: she wants a report on the mysterious ship that docked yesterday. Rumors are going around that this is a terrorist vessel, and goodness knows the people of Rimtreader are antsy enough from their long voyage without a tall tale about Nullspace making its way around. Find out who this visitor is, and what they want aboard the convoy. And if the Kivic would go along too that'd be swell. (He does.)

The group starts the investigation at hangar bay A, where the mysterious vessel is docked currently. Inside, a boxy-looking freighter is dropping off a crewmember next to an ominous-looking dark frigate

RECAP

The expository bit

• The convoy Rimtreader has been hauling a shipment of yttrium ore through hyperspace for the past 2 months. Three days ago it left hyperspace as it reached the threshold of Network-affiliated space. The scout team was scheduled to regroup with the convoy today and advise the constable regarding the presence of Network Council ships, and propose a safe path through the area to avoid detection. And the plan was that at that point, the ship would start up again at sublight speed to round out the journey. In fact, as you learned, by the early morning the ship had already started to make its way toward a mysterious set of coordinates programmed by an unknown party who snuck aboard and took the helm.

The session

• Jarnin asks Bailey, Callsign, Céad, Dee, and Vivec to investigate a mysterious ship in the hangar bay.
• So they head to the hangar, finding a boxy-looking freighter and an ominous, dark-colored frigate.
• Out of the freighter steps Vesqua, a Verakor woman, and she asks them if they know anything about the "course change." (course change?)
  • Apparently, Rimtreader resumed flight hours ago, and a ping was sent to her freighter's navigation systems (a communication method that doesn't get used much).
  • Now that she's received verbal communication from the constable to travel in a different direction, she's become a bit suspicious. She heads out of the hangar.
• Looking over the other ship, it is indeed a Nullspace vessel. (Allseer class starfrigate)
  • Looks like it's flown through an explosion,
  • And the interior was depressurized at some point.
  • Céad catches a glimpse of someone looking out at them.
  • Try to communicate, but no response.
• While this is happening, Bailey checks security kiosk for footage of the hangar, and sees two figures emerge from the ship carrying two others; the figures leave the hangar.
• Next stop is the junkyard, to investigate the site where Callsign was attacked--maybe this is connected.
  • Party identifies footsteps leading out from one of the scrap jettison capsules.
  • Dee accesses the logs on the device controlling the capsule hatches to find they were indeed opened without an outgoing command from the controller (so that would be consistent with someone accessing and opening the hatch directly).
  • These clues seem to suggest someone came in through this scrap-jettisoning airlock.
• The party then visits the medbay looking for the figures Bailey saw on the security tapes.
  • The nurse takes them to a gastropoid dude (a Pung) named Ifeanj, who is keeping an eye on an avian and plantoid who are unconscious in their vitabeds.
  • Ifeanj explains they are NOT with Nullspace, they just commandeered their vessel. Arkesia, another crew member, advised they dock on Rimtreader for medical attention, as she has a contact living here who could get them onboard. She left with the doctor a while ago.
• Now, Vivec gets a call from his scout team, who are still escorting Rimtreader in their small fighters. They say the mothership hasn't changed direction yet despite the order from the constable, and are wondering what's going on.
• The team gets in touch with Tong about it, and they agree to meet at the helm to investigate.
  • The party arries before the constable to a locked helm door, which they unlock easily.
  • But they're met with the scene of a murder; all 4 helm crewmembers are dead, and have been since some time last night.
  • Ship comms logs show the last directive was pre-programmed and administered in the middle of the night, after the assassination, and that Tong's command was received on comms but not carried out at all.

Summary of events

1. Three days ago (156,072-26), the same day Rimtreader came out of hyperspace, someone came from the ship exterior through the scrap airlock and incapacitated Callsign. Then two days later (last night) camera footage shows them appearing in the helm and assassinating the helm crew.
2. 156,072-26 was also the day that Vivec's flight team was deployed to survey the area for Network presence. After spending two nights on scout duty, Vivec regrouped with the convoy last night while most aboard were asleep. He delivered his debrief to Jarnin this morning (156,072-29).
3. On the evening of 156,072-28, prior to Vivec's return, a Nullspace starfrigate carrying the crew of the Icarus boarded the ship, having received the access key from a friend on board. Arkesia and Ifeanj promptly took Krow and LT to the medbay, where the latter two are still being treated. Now this morning, Arkesia joined this friend in the canteen Sunset Avenue.

Report Date

10 Dec 2023