A Knack For Trouble
The Way of Things
… Late in the 21st century, mankind left the cradle of Earth, migrating to the stars. They took with them dreams of a better tomorrow, settling dozens of worlds. While teeming with plant and animal life, humanity found itself alone among the stars. Those systems were dubbed the ‘Colonial Core’, or simply the ‘Cores’. Two hundred years later, guided by Earth, the Cores came into their own. Together they ushered in scientific and technological miracles. After that, they set fire to the galaxy. The Cores War raged for ten years. It engulfed the twelve colonial Core regions of deep space in blood until the fighting came to a tenuous end. Humanity had fallen from its zenith, with most of its scientific achievements lost to the ravages of war. Some, like starships, survived but were harder to produce in the post-war era. Now, fifteen years later, some Cores are ruled by militaristic regimes, others by dictatorships or organized crime, and still others by shaky presidencies. Many inhabitants, looking to leave their past behind, make their post-war living as ‘vessel extractors’. Otherwise known with derision among the Cores as SCRAPJACKS. Scrapjacks skate the line between piracy and legitimacy. They navigate unstable colonies rife with underhanded business practices and corrupt government officials. Trying to repossess or salvage illegally seized freighters, decommissioned military ships or other craft can prove dangerous. But scrapjacks are well-entrenched in the seedy underside of colonial life, willing to use inventive or questionable tactics to solve the problem at hand. They are paid well, considered indispensable by some, and free to move through the Cores with relative anonymity. Clients go to great lengths to guard their ‘jacks identities against those who fall victim to a scrapjack’s “ship liberation”. But a scrapjack’s work sometimes causes more trouble than even a few million cred - and a little luck - can fix.Out to the Black
Captain Mao Tanner with his new hired crew set out on a mission to track down and bring back a long lost exploration ship. A 900 ton Odyssey Class called the Argo. It’s a “bread and butter” job. Get the ship and tow her back to Calim Station for the client to take ownership. Nothing easier. That was easier said that done.A Knack For Trouble
Now, the crew of the Calypso have a bucket-load of passengers, not all of them organic, and a mission of mercy on their hands. Behind them is the derelict ship, Argo, now blown to bits, along with possibly an angry patron who wanted the ship. This is not to mention the Plantagenet Syndicate, which was using the Argo for some… less than legal personal projects… that are now so much space dust thanks to the scrapjacks of the Calypso. Ahead? There lies a new system. Uncharted and not known to the public, but absolutely “off the books”, since its being strip mined by one Tellmark Labs. Much to the dismay of what may be the first non-human, organic, species ever encountered. Maybe. After all, things are never straightforward out in the black. Usually they are a bit sideways.Structure
Exposition
Eight days of transit ended at a jump point at the other end of a hydrogen stream out of Core space. The Calypso settled in at the edge of a system bathed in the glow of a blue giant star.
Tanner walked over to stand behind Jo in the pilot’s seat as the telemetry scan of the system stated to pour in.
“Four planets, a fifth one somebody broke.” Jo blinked at the screen. “… and a ‘I don’t know what that is’. It’s like one of the dwarf planet world-station things some Cores have.”
“Which they aren’t able to make anymore. But this one’s shaped like a ‘ring’.” Tanner pointed at the display. “That worries me more. That’s stale hive comm traffic from automatic mining drones strip mining the same world Dǎo Zen was so hot to get back to. He’s been saying his makers, the Ul’mor? Them. They were being attacked by a force that might wipe them out. Looks like that force… is us. Humans.”
Jo tapped the screen to get Telemachus to focus in on the old strip mining drone traffic and translate. A second later, she cut loose with a short stream of profanity before she glanced up at Tanner.
“Not just humans. Damn it all! Telemark Labs humans.”
Rising Action
Chapter 1
Scene 1
Scene 1
Outline
Setting: Aboard the Calypso, Tanner and Jo on the bridge. 8 days after the jump from the previous system.
Panel 1 [medium view]: Tanner and Jo watching a screen. Recap of discovering Tellmark Labs automated mining drones. Feed is old but accurate. Telemachus is displaying the hive comm traffic from the mining drones strip mining the 3rd world in the system.
Tanner (to Jo): Looks like you're getting your wish on Tellmark Labs. At least this part of 'em. You know, this might help with the salvage problem."
Jo: "All right, give. How?"
Tanner: "Last I *ever* heard, Tellmark Labs doesn't directly do mining. They make short range mining drones but they don't actually get into the mining business. So first, there's got to be a good size mining ship out there around that 3rd planet that's their base. Two, that 'ring' shaped world-station. If there's anyone looking ot repo or taking on salvage of pre-war tech, that's a big batch of it right there."
Panel 2 [close in on Tanner]:
Tanner taps the console while Telemachus comes up with information about the drones.
Tanner: "*Merci* Tele, just what I needed."
Telemachus from a console, cheery as always: "You're welcome, Captain!"
Tanner to the crew: "All right, rise and shine. We're where Dǎo Zen wanted to go and as it turns out, we've more in common with Dǎo Zen's problem than we realized. The heavy ton mining ship, the *Mathias* is sitting near the 3rd planet and spitting mining drones on Dǎo Zen's world and people. I'll pipe the details down. Now, for the fun part."
Jo: "Fun. You always call it fun."
Tanner: "I do, becuase it is."
Tanner: "First, we're pretty far out so ancible signal back to the Core systems is sketchy but someone get me who owns the *Mathias* and what lie they told as to where the *Mathias* was headed. Second, seems there's a long lost world-station out here that everyone forgot about. We need to see if any of the corps out there have an open salvage out for 'world-stations', someone may want it back. Last, when we head in to drop Dǎo Zen off with his package, I don't want the *Mathias* to know we're there. I'm looking for good ideas on that one."
Tanner (to Jo): "Meanwhile, I leave the brilliant plan of flying around that mess of an ion cloud that's in a chase orbit near Dǎo Zen's world to you."
Jo: "Oh, thanks for nothing. What will you be doing? Napping?"
Tanner [chuckling]: "Not a bit. We've passengers and I'm about to see if we can get them to earn their keep."
Challanges
[1] Plot a course past the ion cloud to the 3rd world in the system. Should be simple, right? Right. Nothing's *that* simple.
Strong
The cloud has some odd relationship with the planet's magnetic field. But there's a gap, so no problem. Scanners will be blind to the universe for a second or so but what could go wrong?
Weak
The cloud has some odd relationship with the planet's magnetic field and it never stops rolling. It'll be a bumpy ride but you have a way through. The ship might/does takes some damage, what?
[2] Info on the *Mathias*.
Track down what there is to now about the *Mathias*. Is she just a mining ship? Or is there more to her than that? Who owns her? Any dirt in her background?
Strong
That's no mining ship... or at least *just* a mining ship! What else is the *Mathias*? Who REALLY owns her?
Weak
She's mostly a mining ship. Nothing too interesting. Was refitted twice during the war. How?
[3] Search the ScrapJack listings!
Ping the ansibles to pull down the salvage lists. Is anyone looking for pre-war lost tech? Like a world-station? Pretty odd thing to ask for...
Strong
Despite the usual comm delay over the ansibles, you find a short list of buyers. Could be some risky buyers, but you see some unexpected names. Who?
Weak
Despite the usual comm delay over the ansibles, you find a short list of buyers. Some seem like trouble. What trouble?
[4] How to avoid detection?
If the crew aboard the *Mathias* is paying attention, they'll notice a 40 meter long Gorgon-class ship like the *Calypso* come sailing by. So what's the plan for making sure the crew of the *Mathias* isn't paying attention?
Strong
No problem! You know a trick you've used a hundred times before! What is it? What *might* go wrong? No really, what?
Weak
This could be a problem... you've plenty of tricks but they're risky. What *does* go wrong?
( *Note, 'Info on the Mathias' could impact the outcome here!* )
Track down what there is to now about the *Mathias*. Is she just a mining ship? Or is there more to her than that? Who owns her? Any dirt in her background?
Ping the ansibles to pull down the salvage lists. Is anyone looking for pre-war lost tech? Like a world-station? Pretty odd thing to ask for...
If the crew aboard the *Mathias* is paying attention, they'll notice a 40 meter long Gorgon-class ship like the *Calypso* come sailing by. So what's the plan for making sure the crew of the *Mathias* isn't paying attention?
As if on queue, the ship screamed before the universe fell out from underneath her when a low bang rattled the hull.
An unmistakable yelp of terror joined the shriek of abused metal and popping weak joints in the ship’s infrastructure from *Telemachus*. The AI designers spared no detail when they made him, even including the perfect pitch of a terrified eight-year-old boy in pain.
Fi-op cables exploded out of their junction ports. Sparks and a few aged panel components shot across the bridge and inside the engine room. Trails of plasma chased them, leaving ugly burns wherever they touched.
Lin, clinging with a death grip to her hammock as it tossed her around like a rag doll. Her eyes snapped to a nearby holoscreen. The one that kept a constant display of engine statistics.
They were off the chart.
She recognized the readings. It was very rare, and the last thing any mechanic wanted to experience.
An ionic flashover.
Tendrils from the ion cloud reacted with the Calypso’s passing. It couldn’t have happened, shouldn’t have happened… but it did. Those same tendrils momentarily latched onto the ship, causing a near-simultaneous spike in power across the ship.
Which was the moment when the main power, and most of the Calypso’s systems, snapped offline. The ship plunged into near darkness, broken by lurid red emergency lights.
Fortunately, artificial gravity still worked, which Lin discovered the instant she fell from her hammock.
———
From nose to stern, objects and people not strapped down were tossed in random directions until they met the deck with a crash.
Acrid smoke from savaged insulation and burned fi-op cables danced across open spaces. It tainted the air with the stench of abused electronics. Holoscreens spat occasional fireworks as the auxiliary power fought to maintain key systems while the main power snapped offline.
People inside the Calypso gathered their wits and nursed bruises from the sudden surprise.
Meanwhile, Jo, from her pilot’s seat, recognized the aftermath of an ionic flashover. More important at the moment was the icy chill of déjà vu that rose in the back of her mind. A specter of half-memory that had survived being eaten by her amnesia.
The memory ghost whispered to her muscle memory while the Calypso drifted out of control toward the third planet.
This was familiar. It was all familiar.
Her muscle memory itched at her to move, to react to a familiar threat she couldn’t quite remember.
Challenges
[1] Repair the Calypso!
She just took a beating from the ion cloud. Power spikes, especially aboard ship, are no end of trouble. You've avoided the Mathias' attention but getting the Calypso might undo that. There is damage inside and some outside the Calypso and she needs a lot of bandages.
Strong
Use the remaining ionic flashback to jump start the engines! It should work and if the Mathias is watching, it might look just like another energy burst from the ion cloud. Right?
Weak
The backups! Sure the Mathias will probably notice, and it'll drain the Calypso's batteries, but jumping off the engine using the backup batteries would get you to the planet with the main systems running.
[2] (Jo only) Search your feelings...
...or more accurately, your rattled memories. Something about this feels eerily familiar, and important!
Strong
Of course it's familiar! It was when the Battle of Frozen Oasis had turned ugly. But you remember a piloting trick that is sure to fool the Mathias that the Calypso is just 'space trash'. (Note: this goes to helping hide from the Mathias)
Weak
You've been here before. This system. That third planet. Somehow you know where to land, which bothers you a little. But the cloud. There is something very dangerous about the cloud! What?
She just took a beating from the ion cloud. Power spikes, especially aboard ship, are no end of trouble. You've avoided the Mathias' attention but getting the Calypso might undo that. There is damage inside and some outside the Calypso and she needs a lot of bandages.
...or more accurately, your rattled memories. Something about this feels eerily familiar, and important!
There wasn’t a countdown like in the holodramas. No machine-generated voice rattling off the seconds. Anyone that had a hand in the plan knew what they needed to do and when.
It was a unique type of orchestra with unusual instruments and a nervous conductor. Which meant the ‘countdown’ was in the melody.
Lin made one last change to the flow through the engine’s manifold and the power breakers for the ship’s capacitors. It was the same ‘one last’ change she had made four times in the past few minutes.
She was alone in the Calypso’s engine room. Diego, just as Jo predicted, didn’t physically appear. But he was there virtually the instant after Lin sent what she needed from him. Even Vega had stopped his lurking and bolted himself down in a safe place.
It was up to Lin. She knew that she would start the song with mei mei. If even a single calculation went sideways, a power spike that threw off the engines’ churning rhythm… she would lose mei mei. Probably lose everyone else aboard.
No pressure.
She wrapped prayer beads around her wrist and hummed. In time with the song, she set her tools out in the available space she had. In moments, her mind wasn’t on her past, nor anyone’s future, but the ‘now’. She almost missed it when Drozen joined in. What surprised her, for just a moment, was when the AI they rescued from Dr. Kana, Nausicaa, also lent her digital voice.
In time with the song, Lin shifted the capacitor connections over to direct feed into the ship’s Cannae Drive. It’s engine and primary means of power and ability to travel between the stars. The ship’s heart.
A low hum rose from the engines joined in on the second measure of the song.
Elsewhere, strains of the harmonized song drifted through parts of the ship. Jo sat in the pilot’s seat. Like any pilot, ‘feeling’ with her mind and instincts the act of flying. Being one with the ship in motion.
She had listened to the tune Lin handed her. It wasn’t her kind of music, but it wasn’t bad. It had a good beat. Jo wasn’t sure of all the engineering Lin was up to, but she understood the risk here. A hard jump? Pilots joked about it, but it was serious business. That kind of thing can literally tear a ship in half at worst. At the least? Magnetize the hull and cook anyone inside.
The tune drifted in and met up with what Jo had memorized. She heard the downbeat of the second verse and reached for the controls. Time to get to work.
Noah had strapped mid-deck with Zeitlin and anyone else not needed for the risky maneuver. All they had was waiting and worry. Two exceptions to this were Tanner and WD.
WD was attached to a bulkhead and connected to the ship’s AI space. Through that he was assisting on a deeper level, monitoring power flow through the ship, re-routing where necessary around still damaged connections.
Tanner, not critical to the process, kept to the second set by Jo on the bridge. It was another pilot’s seat, though he kept his hands off the controls. Worry was on his mind, too. But it wasn’t over what his crew was up to. They had that under control. His worries were about what came next and why a Neurological Ionization Net-Field was put out in the middle of nowhere.
Also on the bridge, Braam was on the deck lying on his back, buried in the starboard console. As a Straatveger, crafty and questionably unsafe techniques to solve a problem aboard ship was nothing new. It could be considered just part of the way of life.
If the attempt succeeded, Braam knew they would need to see where they were heading. Which meant it was a perfect time to get some maintenance done on port DX-93-B-T-009. It kept going out if Telly was to let anyone know what the sensors collected. That port needed to behave.
He felt the familiar vibrations in the deck plates. Ship jump. Braam instinctively braced his feet against the access hatch.
The lights dimmed and the Calypso’s drive flared. A ripple of sympathetic energy passed over the Neurological Ionization Net-Field that matched the drive flare. Then the Calypso leaped in a burst of speed and light for the planet ahead.
Below, in the abyssal-dark of the starboard cargo hold, Dr Kana huddled over a cobbled together datapad and laughed.
Scene 2
Scene 2
Ahead, light bent around a fixed point in space. Then, with a flash, the Calypso broke the crest of a cold hydrogen stream. She dropped from the gravitational corridor and the third planet burst into view.
Telemachus giggled with delight as the Calypso’s sensors focused on the planet. The sensor AI even hummed a faint tune while he deposited information on nearby holoscreens as quickly as possible.
It was barely larger than Old Earth with a quartet of healthy continents, most sitting in survivable climates. All save for the southern pole was covered in lush foliage broken by tall, orange or purple mountains. The northern pole was nothing more than a jumbled puzzle of ice. Thick clouds, suggesting imaginative floating landmasses, sailed through the atmosphere.
Most interesting were the telltale signals from a mineral refinery in the high country of the northern continent. Second to this is unusual ground patterns. It could have been from weathering, or even worked fields, if that part of the ground wasn’t underwater.
Despite how interesting the planet was, the Calypso answered the important, unspoken question.
The gamble worked.
The Calpyso was back online with no noticeable harm to anyone aboard, digital or otherwise. Except for the backup circuits, that is. But, as Lin was often fond of reminding Captain Tanner, those were due for an upgrade. Soon.
Tanner stared at the planet and almost smiled.
“Never thought I’d be glad to see that.”
Jo turned a sharp frown on him.
“What? You doubted my flying?”
The captain held up his hands in defense while he rose from the chair.
“No, no. I’m prone to stupid things, but doubt your flying? No. Not in the least.” He sighed once more, then tapped the comm panel switch.
“We’re here and it looks like in one piece. No disrespect to Dro’zen, but before we help him with his delivery, I’ll be more comfortable knowing what is where. Jo’s got us in a solid orbit. Looks like there’s a refinery down there. We need to see if its talking to the Mathias about us… or anything, really.”
A warning light for low bandwidth flashed over the comm panel console. Tanner’s frown deepened.
“… and someone fix whatever’s making the comm system hiccup. Meanwhile, stretch your legs, check your gear. No telling who we’ll be meeting dirtside.”
Challenges
[1] Questions and Answers (Jo Only)
Aboard the Argo, Kana recognized her, remembered her, and ranted over something she had done to ruin his life. That and her deja vu sense of having been in this system before was just too much. Now that there’s time to think about it … that evil little toad knows something.
Strong
Through charm, guile, or scaring the hells out of him, you get Kana to admit to what he knows about the planet, this system, etc. Especially something key to your memory. What?
Weak
You manage to wring some information out of Kana but you feel he got more out of you than you did out of him. What did you let slip you that you would rather Kana not know?
[2] Check on the Mathias with Diego
Jo did say on arrival, that the third planet looked like the Mathias’ home base. That refinery just confirms it. By now, Diego has had plenty of time to go snooping to see what’s out there… and what unsecured back doors exist in networks. He’ll be just the one to ask for some help on eavesdropping on the Mathias and the refinery.
Strong
The signal’s secured with an older Telmark Lab’s encryption. Tough work but you get into their net traffic. The refinery is alarmed over something planetside. What?
Weak
The signal’s secured with an older Telmark Lab’s encryption. It was a short burst between ship and refinery. Then it just stopped. No conversation. In fact dead silence. But you picked out something. What?
[3] Get some eyes on the planet
As the data comes in, Telemachus and Odessyus are having an argument. Tele is fascinated by the planet. Specifically over what he thinks is where the seabed near the shore and in the jungle has been ‘worked’. Ody says he’s exaggerating.
Settling their argument would be the best way to get some eyes on the planet down there.
Note, the outcome here might cause an AI to hold a grudge for awhile!
Strong
This job has been going sideways since the *Argo*. Tely gets excited but there’s something odd going on. How do you settle this in favor of Telemachus? Is he right about what he is seeing?
Weak
Ody is surly but he has a point. Telemachus can get over-excited at the prospect of seeing something new. How do you settle this in favor of Ody but not hurt Tely’s feelings.
[4] Rat in the Walls
There are odd, unexplained fluctuations in the Calypso’s network. It’s intermittent, so tracking it down is beyond irritating. But the source is somewhere near the cargo holds… you think.
This could overlap with “Questions and Answers”!
Strong
DR. KANA! Gorram it! That evil little troll is up to something! *Again!* What has he cobbled together? Where was he hiding it? What kind of problem did he cause or was about to cause?
Weak
Not sure, but something’s loose or malfunctioning near the cargo holds. More than likely something just shook loose. Can’t be all that bad. What is it?
On the bridge, the comm system was a mumble of chatter between *Odessyus* and *Telemachus*. The argument had grown to where only 2% of the sensor data had been processed and released to the crew. The rest? That is tied up in a proverbial tug of war between the two AIs. Neither will let it go from each other, or to hand over to anyone else.
“Tele, ecosystems sometimes grow like that.”
Ody’s normally surly tone was even more sharp than usual.
“No, it doesn’t!”
Tele was already sputtering. Lin had looked dozens of times, but she had yet to locate why the AI stuttered when he became rattled, like now.
“That is a *tree farm*. Ok, they are blue trees, but it is a tree farm! And that has to be an underwater farm down there. Like the Old Earth stories of Atlantis, the Lost Continent! I bet they use magic crystals!”
Ody grunted. Something he only did when he was truly frustrated.
“Atlantis was a parable. A myth. Magic isn’t real. This is real. That is just an old lava flow.”
The chatter was distracting, to say the least.
Some details were clear based on the data *Telemachus* had processed. The Telmark Labs refinery has been in place on the planet for some time.
There is almost no sign of heavy mining in any of the mountain chains, but there are plenty along the lowlands and underwater. Automated strip mining has been tearing into the landscape. Acid mine drainage from dark, cavernous mine shafts has made toxic rainbow pools.
A holoscreen on the starboard side of the bridge displayed satellite imagery of the location in all its industrial glory. It was, roughly, a 4 square kilometer complex. Recent construction on the southern side looked recent. As if repairs were made within a few months to a year ago.
But most of the structure was old. Years old. Some of it might even date to just before the Core Wars.
Storage tanks, and reactors along the west side suggested heavy mineral processing. This is like what is used in other parts of the Core for fuel or Flexsteel alloy component processing.
East were low buildings that looked like machine shops, 3d industrial printing machines, and what may be the administration center. South was a gate with a road leading to the strip mines. North was a massive, well-used landing pad for ships.
This factory has also been releasing toxic runoff into the jungles and shoreline of the nearby ocean. Beyond the purple haze of the atmosphere, pink and sapphire trees are a rotten black and brown near the river of sludge. The greasy brown of the fluid spills out into the ocean, forming a giant brown fan of discolored water easily a 100 meters long. Odd things float in the water, but the current satellite imagery only shows frustrating gray blurbs.
Rivers, running parallel to the acid mine and refinery runoff to the sea, have thick primeval trees. So dense that passive satellite scans cannot penetrate it. No settlements rise above the trees, but the average height of the trees measure in at 75 meters or taller.
These alien redwoods are so thick and widely dispersed, they could hide settlements. They could also hold settlements. Also, they could just be large blue and pink trees.
But, the imagery also shows there are patches of trees growing in uniform lines. Nature prefers order, but this seems almost “too regular” for natural tree growth. But trees are also rarely pink or blue.
Tanner walked the main passageway between the living spaces and medbay after a short visit to Dr. Abraiser. The captain was frowning at a set of files on his datapad while he walked.
It was what Diego had gleaned so far about the Mathias. There wasn’t much information, which for Diego was almost embarassing. But he had added a note saying he was waiting on some help from Lin with a nasty encryption he ran into.
“Must be something serious about the Mathias if it's taking Lin this long.” He tapped the datapad against this thigh as he walked. “Could just be the engines needed some TLC after our jump start.”
The bridge door popped open, letting out the last strains of conversation between Zeitlin, Odessyus, and Telemachus. Tanner hadn’t heard everything, but he heard enough. The AIs had taken to squabbling and Zeitlin found a way to get them to play nice again. That, sometimes, was a small miracle given how contrary Ody could be at times.
He was about to say something when Jo spoke up from the passageway behind him.
“Tanner. We need…”
Whatever else she was going to say was lost as the pre-launch system came online with a sharp tone. All eyes on the bridge snapped over at the holoscreen to the left of the bridge entrance.
The Calypso’s Runabout shuttle.
Tanner stabbed the console with a finger.
“Who lit the fire for a pre-flight on the shuttle?”
A round of negative replies came back from everyone, save one. Tanner tapped the console again.
“Braam? Braam! Respond!”
The Captain waited long enough that Braam should have replied.
“Ody? Get me a location on Braam. Now.”
Ody wasted no time.
“Braam is inside the cargo hold set aside for our guest that Jo considered tossing out the airlock. His heartbeat is irregular and faint. I think he is gravely hurt.”
“Inside…” The words took a moment to process.
“Kana.”
Jo said the name like a curse. To Tanner, it practically was.
“Putain de bordel de merde!” the captain spat.
He jabbed a finger on the ship’s comm panel.
“Kana’s loose. I don’t know how, but he’s out of the containment field and left Braam in his place. That lunatic scientist has taken control of our shuttle. Somebody get down there and either patch up Braam or get him to Dr. Abraiser. Everyone else, get control of our shuttle back and if you run into Kana? Bounce him off a bulkhead a few times before locking him in a closet.”
Challenges
[1] Stop the Shuttle!
The Runabout shuttle is a small service shuttle most often used for ScrapJack jobs where the Calypso won’t fit or shouldn’t be seen. Just large enough for two or three people, it can manage a single trip through a jump point.
On a dozen consoles, power transfer lights blink as the dormant pre-launch system for the endo/exo-atmospheric Runabout shuttle comes online. The automatic process for launch prep kicks causing a live video feed from the Calypso’s tiny docking bay to display on ship holoscreens.
Safety lights running the length of the bay wink on, breaking up the darkness. At the far end, past the nose of the small craft, a blue glow surrounds the hatch door. The blue light paints an otherworldly glow across the shuttle over the holovid feed.
During normal running of the Calypso, the docking bay is kept depressurized. Readings on the holoscreen next to the live feed show atmosphere cycling into the chamber. Meanwhile, a handful of running lights glow from around the edge of the beetle-shaped shuttle. A sign that the internal systems are fully coming online.
Tanner rubbed his eyes.
“All right, at this point damn him, but I want my shuttle back. Jo, get…”
He never made it to the next word.
The Calypso suddenly jerked like a wild, mad horse. Somewhere in a distant part of the ship, the thunder of an explosion vibrated through the hull.
Anything not strapped or bolted down was hurled against at least two bulkheads before coming to a hard stop against the deck. Power, already fragile, flickered before the Calypso’s engines shook.
They roared to life at full throttle, racing for the red-line indicator.
Ship A.I.s scrambled into action. Odessyus let out a stream of curses in nine human languages. Telemachus shrieked in terror, true to his design of an eight-year-old, but between digital sobs tried to continue reading out sensor scans. Hopeful even in terror that someone would help.
Tanner got his wits back after the third round of curses from Ody and terrified hiccups from Tele. Most of his joints and a few bones hated him for the sudden abuse and felt obliged to tell him so. The captain ignored it and shoved himself to one knee. He was hurt, but that didn’t matter at the moment. The ship jostled and he could feel the increased rumble of thrust through the deck plates.
The air was laced with thin trails of smoke. An odor of burnt plastic, metal wires, and new ozone was everywhere. Red emergency lights fought for control over the flicker of the failing main cabin lighting.
“Report!”
Tanner snapped off the order a bit harsher than normal. Memories from the war were trying to crowd into his vision. He slapped a bulkhead with a hand. The sting of pain kept him grounded.
“The engine’s taken off the main data line,” Ody snarled. The A.I. sounded beyond surly and was well into raw anger. “I’ve found the remains of a rogue program in the network. It was injected about the time the shuttle launched. Diego has disabled it but neither one of us can get control over the engine commands. There’s no word from Lin.”
Jo shook her head and wiped the blood from a cut lip.
“Kana,” she snarled.
“Captain?”
It was Diego, voice shaking, over the comm system.
“Kana injected an attack script. Looks custom-made, but real advanced. Last time I saw this was from a Plantagenet Syndicate coder. But I think…”
A dull peal of thunder with a burst of static, and the comm went silent.
“Diego!” Tanner roared.
The comms stayed silent.
“Tele! Course?” Tanner snapped.
“Where the hell are we headed?” Jo echoed sharply.
Tele hiccuped again before he could answer.
“The planet. Nose first. We’re heading for the atmosphere like a missile…”
Scene 3
Scene 3“Jo…”
“I know,” Jo snapped, cutting Tanner off as she staggered to her feet. “It’s ‘please, Jo, fly the missile and save our ass’. Anything you’d like to explode into? Or are you still into surprises today?”
Tanner’s reply was a stern look.
“Fine, surprise it is,” Jo said. “Time to fly a brick.”
She turned and stumbled for the cockpit.
“Between a planet, some old station, the Mathias, and some trojan asteroids… I can find *something* to hit.”
Anything else, which Tanner knew there had to be, he lost among the alarms, sparks, and a groan from Noah.
The captain glanced over to the groan. He expected to see Noah, either on the deck or stumbling to his feet. But the ugly stain of blood on the deck plates? That he didn’t expect.
Tanner rushed over as much as the rocky jolts would allow and felt the big man’s neck. There was a pulse. It was thready, but there.
“Moving you is a bad idea, but today ‘bad idea’ is all I’ve got. So, here we go.”
Gently as he could, Tanner braced Noah’s head and lifted him up. Fortunately, Noah was semi-conscious and helped with the attempt. But semi-conscious wasn’t coherent. The big mercenary said something to Tanner. It sounded like ‘thanks’, so Tanner took it that way.
“Not now. First, we get you to the Doc. He’ll get you patched up.”
Tanner regretted those words at the sight of the medbay door.
The blast, along with the sharp acceleration, had torn some of the physical ship loose. In particular, the medbay doors. One was off its track and jammed the doorway. Beyond, wires and cables dangled free, suggesting the bay might be worse off than the corridor. Fortunately, the door was open just enough that Tanner could squeeze inside and drag Noah in after him.
Ribbons of smoke danced through the air of the bad. Tanner sniffed, then shook his head.
“Ozone. Burnt wires,” he muttered.
Most of his own ‘Mors Angelus’ enhancements required a special armor. Which he had left behind when he chose to ‘retire’. But some enhancements worked just fine, like the Dualis Rebreather Mesh integrated into his lungs. They filtered out the sharper of the airborne toxins in the room.
But that didn’t help anyone else.
Then he saw a flicker of light. A blue aura among the cables.
“Mao!”
Tanner nodded.
“Nala, where’s WD? Anyone?”
“The power has cut off most of the other AIs from here, the engines, and other parts of the ship. They can talk, but not much else. WD? He went to help Diego or Lin, I think, but there was a power surge and he just vanished from the channel.”
“Putain de bordel de merde!”
Tanner’s eyes looked over at the table where Braam lay while he carried Noah to a spare medical bed.
“Braam?”
Nala shook her head, then ran a hand through her holographic hair like she might be about to rub her temples.
“He’s stable? Nausicaa was cut off like everyone else. She injected some nanites into him to start repairs. I… had to direct them.”
The ship jolted again, but not before Tanner strapped Noah securely to the bed. He slapped the control to activate an emergency isolation field around Noah. Fortunately, the bed had its own battery backup for just that emergency.
“Direct how?”
“I directed them to use that alien alloy residue and cannibalize themselves to construct cybernetic replacements for Braam. It won’t be perfect. He’ll hurt for a while as his body gets used to the cybernetics, but he’ll be alive.”
Tanner moved Dr. Abrasier to the remaining bed in the cramped medbay. This was tougher than with Noah. The doctor was unconscious and looked more gray than he should have. Once the doctor was in place, the captain turned the isolation field on to filter out the light smoke.
That done, he fished a small cylinder from a vest pocket. It was as thick as two fingers and a good seven to eight centimeters long. He tossed this over toward Nala. Like a ghost, she passed through the table and Braam for the device. Her hands glowed an intense blue the moment the small cylinder was in contact with her holographic form.
“You kept one?” she said, amazed. “I thought we destroyed all of these?”
“That’s the last one. The prototype. Besides, I think we’re past the hiding things part now,” Tanner told her. “If nothing else, Vega was bound to stumble over the fact you’re a real, actual, Nightshade.”
The captain gestured at the door.
“Use your stabilizer to boost your form and go find Vega. The two of you have the best chance to get the AIs back in touch with the *Calypso*.”
Nala slid the device inside her hand. The instant the cylinder entered her hand, it vanished, and she visibly became more ‘solid’ than ‘hologram’. She looked over in time to see Tanner heading for the medbay door.
“What about you?”
“I’m heading for Page Zeitlin. I’ve a good idea she’s up and about despite all this. Once I do, we’ll check on Lin. After that? Track down WD and Diego.”
Tanner slipped out the door with Nala right behind him. On a guess, or maybe a wish, he jabbed a nearby commlink control.
“Anyone aboard who can hear me… thanks to Kana, the engines are about to redline and the AIs have probably been cut off from most of the ship. Jo’s working to fly us toward something safe. Meanwhile, we need to get the engines cooled down before our life support system goes out, and get the AIs back in touch with the interior network.”
Tanner paused, then hit the key again.
“After that? We go find a certain angry little man and show him what ‘angry’ really looks like.”
Challenges
[1] Get the ship's network online!
Kana’s hack forced the internal ship’s network to disconnect from the main data crystals that act as the ‘home’ for the ship’s AIs. They can see outside the ship, use the fractured communication system… but nothing else!
The magnetic cable clamps slammed against the shuttle’s hull and locked the same moment Braam scurried inside the Calypso. A half-second later, the cable snapped taut.
Metal joists and supports screamed. The Calypso was a heartbeat away from shaking herself apart.
But the tow cable held and so did the Calypso.
She reached the atmosphere of the third planet with the grace of a drunken asteroid. Heat erupted around her hull, giving her wings of file while she descended. The outer hull plates went from dull grey to white in less than a second. The tow cable, then the shuttle, followed suit.
Suddenly, the heat stopped. The Calypso had reached the planet’s cirrus cloud layer while her engines reached a safe output.
Heat and smoke trails chased the Calypso through the clouds. Flocks of four-winged birds scattered and screeched complaints while the ship headed for a thick stretch of forest on the southern continent.
Inside the bridge, Tanner glanced at Jo.
“You sure you know where we’re going?”
Jo spared a second to jab a sour look at him.
“Yeah,” she snarled. After a second, she took a deep breath, then sighed. “As sure as I can be,” Jo added in an odd, almost morbid, tone.
On the ship’s holoscreens, the automated landing sensors outlined a landing zone ahead in a forest clearing in neon blue.
“Another hunch?” Tanner asked. “More missing memory coming back?”
Jo shook her head, then adjusted the Calypso’s thrusters while they approached the landing site.
“I’m… not sure.”
Tanner frowned but kept his reply to himself. Instead, he focused on the Calypso’s status readout. It flashed more red and yellow lights at him than a Founder’s Day celebration in a Core XI world.
“We lost the tow cable,” he said. “Shuttle made it though. Looks like it slammed to ground somewhere to the south of here.”
Jo’s expression turned into a thundercloud.
“That slimebag better have lived through that crash, so I can kill him properly.”
Tanner didn’t reply. Instead, he stared out the front viewport while the Calypso touched down. Blue and green trees filled the view for miles. Where there weren’t trees, there was tall amber grassland. Tanner wasn’t focused on any of that.
Instead, all he saw was a weathered stone statue of Jo, posed with a blaster in one hand, as if she would shoot out the sun.
Tanner gestured out the viewport while he glanced at Jo.
“Anything you’d like to tell the class?”
Climax
Chapter 2
Scene 1
Scene 1Captain Tanner walked out of the dark side room in Calypso’s cavernous cargo hold then locked the door behind him. A random spark, another loose wire somewhere, sputtered. Another complaint about recent events. He sighed and tried not to think about three of his crew he had just put into ‘low-berth’.
Low-berth. He always thought the name was a little misleading since they weren’t a ‘berth’ at all. All ships had a ‘low-berth’, or a room equipped to house a set of cryogenic chambers for people or anything organic that needed to be kept in stasis. On larger ships or ships that traveled the main jump points and hydrogen stream routes between Cores, it was common for people to pay cheap rack rates to travel frozen in low-berth to their destination.
It was a way to travel; just not one Tanner quite understood.
Right now, three of his crew had little choice. They needed medical attention, and since one was the doc, this was the best Tanner could think to do. The best choice out of a list of bad options.
Now he had work to do. Other than repair the ship was that statue of Jo outside. She didn’t have an answer when he asked her once they touched down. He only got back a haunted expression. It was one of the rare moments in all the time he’d worked with her where Jo had nothing to say. Not a sharp remark, not a sneer, nothing.
Tanner preferred the Jo that told him off on a semi-regular basis.
“Captain? I understand the hardship, but I wanted to thank you before we left.”
Tanner pulled away from his dark thoughts. To his left, using one of the recent working holoemitters, was the ‘alien’ AI, Dro’zen. The octopus-like image hovered in the air, tentacles constantly in motion. Tanner was still dubious about how ‘alien’ Dro’zen’s makers were, but he was willing to keep an open mind.
“Left?” Tanner glanced out the open cargo hatch to the world outside. Blue-leaf trees swayed in a gentle breeze. “Ok, listen. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that. How are we to get word to your makers? You already contact them?”
Tanner considered asking about a doctor, but if this was a non-human civilization, their doctors wouldn’t know anything about putting a human back together.
The octopus AI bobbed its body in what Tanner had figured out was a human ‘nod’.
“Yes, I have. They’re overjoyed and are eager to meet Nausicaa.”
Tanner folded his arms over his chest.
“Is that what Nausicaa wants?”
Dro’zen blinked. The AI was silent for a few seconds.
“I’ve asked her multiple times, and she has always said ‘yes’. She would prefer to make instead of destroy.”
Tanner nodded slowly.
“I don’t mean to offend anyone or anything, but I’d like to hear that from herself.”
“I didn’t know you cared for AIs so much, Captain?”
Tanner pursed his lips. It wasn’t that he didn’t like AIs; though he’d heard that rumor about him more than once. Tanner wasn’t comfortable letting anyone, human or AI, get too close. Life was easier that way.
“It’s not that. I watch out for the people I take aboard. AIs included. We’ve been through hell, she’s been through hell. So, I want to know her side.” He shrugged. “It’s only fair.”
“Very well,” Dro’zen replied. “Quite understandable.”
Tanner raised an eyebrow at Zeitlin, then finished chewing the last bite of his turkey on rye sandwich. It gave him a chance to measure that idea in his head against everything else that needed to be fixed, mended, or patched. It was a long list. He pursed his lips, then looked around at the others pensively.
“I’m for it. I spoke with our resident alien AI we picked up at the Argo before I came in here. Do’zen says that’s the settlement should be some of his ‘people’. If that’s true, we’ll need to package both him and Nausicca up on a powered data cube and take it over here.”
Tanner’s expression faded toward a frown.
“If that’s true, and that’s his settlement.” He sighed and pushed his near empty metal food tray a few centimeters away from him on the table. “For an out of the way system, this place is way too busy for my comfort. I will admit to being very curious about who, or what, his ‘people’ are.”
Tanner shook his head.
“Anyway, we do need a damn quick scout of that settlement. But,” he eyed his crew, at least all the ones that hadn’t been frozen in low-berth, “our shuttle came to ground near here, too. A few kicks to the north. We’ve no idea if the shuttle, Kana, or his science project survived. But if the shuttle can be repaired and flown, I’d like that back. We’ll need it or at least the parts.”
“What about Dr. Kana?”
The question came from the block-shaped metal brick surrounded with wires, a hastily made voice modulator, and a small display screen. It was they had left of WD, at least until Lin had a chance to throw together a new frame for the War Droid. Tanner fought down the urge to wince when he looked at the box. He knew WD didn’t feel pain like humans did, but that didn’t stop the captain from feeling some sympathetic emotions.
“Complicated question,” Tanner replied. “One with a complicated answer, too. If the evil little bâtard and his ‘Make-a-monster’ kit were turned into red chunky sauce, we hose out the shuttle. Hopefully, he won’t poison the plants.”
“I put the estimate that he survived at 35%,” WD replied. “A low 35%. What if he did survive?”
Tanner tapped the table with his index finger while he studied the gray metal food tray in front of him. None of the options he thought of appealed to him.
“I’m not one for cold-blooded murder, even if Kana’s earned it twice over. No. If the worm is alive, we knock him out and freeze him in low-berth. It’s probably what we should have done in the first place.”
After a quick glance around, Tanner put his hands on the table.
“So. I need a scout or two for the settlement, and some for the shuttle. Then there are repairs here to finish. Zeitlin’s up for the scouting. Any more volunteers?” Tanner glanced at the menacing shape of the spider-like repair droid at the far end of the mess hall table. “That includes you, Vega. You’re aboard, you earn your keep, too.”
Challenges
[1] Scout the settlement
The settlement is possibly Do’zen’s “people” he’s been wanting to get back to. The ones that have been under threat, if not outright attacked, by what the Telmark Labs factory, refinery ship, and more have been up to in the system. As the Old Earth saying goes, best to ‘look before you leap’.
How do you go about scouting the settlement? What do you find?
The shuttle came down only a few kilometers to the north in a thicker part of the blue-leaved forest. It’s a new world with a Mother Nature that plays by new rules. This could be blazing a new trail in more ways than one!
How do you handle the hike? What do you find? Is Kana alive? Or did something unpleasant happen to the mad, evil scientist?
The captain understated the obvious. There’s a lot of work to get the *Calypso* back into flying shape. Then there is WD, Vega and all the attempts around getting physical forms for the two of them. Parts and resources are a bit scarce.
Then there are the AIs. Are any damaged? Is Nala, whose using that prototype device to give her a physical ‘energy body’ the only AI in good shape?
Do things go according to plan?
Captain Tanner sighed after Zeitlin finished her report. Telly already sent in what the impulsive AI, Jo, and Braam had discovered. Which was nothing good. This entire job was a mess from start to finish. Now?
Aliens. Real ones. Non-human intelligent life. Even with all Dro’zen’s talk about ‘his people’, that reality hadn’t quite sunk in for Tanner until now.
Two steps later, off the Calypso’s loading ramp and onto the surrounding grass, he looked up at the light cobalt sky. A flock of the local four-winged birds flew past a cluster of gray clouds. Tanner glanced over at the mysterious statue of Jo that stood near the edge of the landing zone.
Weather and time had taken some toll on the statue. A little moss grew near the base, but not much. Tanner stared at that carving a long time.
Flavolar. Jo said she had been at Flavolar.
Statues were symbols. Sometimes to remember an important person. But a long time ago, they also were thought to ward off evil. Both? Sometimes both.
“Tanner?” said Zeitlin over the comm channel.
A thousand replies in his head clamored for attention. One stood out among all the rest.
“Zeitlin? You and Vega stay there. Secure the settlement. I’ve an idea.”
“It better be good, Tanner,” she replied.
The captain smiled.
“If I’m right, it’ll be great… and Jo’s going to hate it.”
Scene 2
Scene 2“Zeitlin. Keep an eye on that settlement, but… look out for the *other* settlement.”
The comms were silent for a solid three seconds.
“The *other* settlement? *What?*”
“Exactly what I said,” Tanner replied. “It’ll be close by. Once Jo and the others get there, shove Jo and Braam out there to play diplomat with the locals. I’ve a guess we’re going to get more mileage that way. I’ll help Lin get finished up here and head your way with Dro’zen in a Data Cube… if we can find the parts to put one together. In the meantime, will you and Vega please dissect Kana like a cybernetic frog and toss the bâtard in a fire?”
“Hold on, back up. About this other settlement. Where is it?” Zeitlin asked.
“Coordinates inbound.”
Tanner closed the channel.
“As soon as I have them,” he sighed.
Tanner raced up the cargo ramp back into the *Calypso*. First stop? The bridge, which was ultimately a lost cause. It was serviceable, even close to flight worthy, but the connections to Telly and the sensor array were barely there. A quick fight with loose wires didn’t help matters.
There wasn’t enough power coming off *Calypso’s* auxiliaries. Tanner raced out of the bridge, then headed to the engine room. He skid to a stop at the hatch.
Two metal skeletons, complete with what looked like myomer muscle, wiring and more, were stretched out on a large table. To Tanner, it looked like someone should be about to shout *“It’s alive”* at any moment. He frowned at it all.
“That’s my bloody coffee maker!” He exclaimed.
“Tea is better for you,” Lin replied from the far side of the room.
Tanner blasted a frown in that direction. Lin rose from the other side of the massive engine housing that dominated the center of the room. She peered over the top of the engine housing at him, not far off from a cat watching something suspicious.
“I replaced it with a Creole Press,” she added. “Which is much better.”
Tanner pursed his lips and shook his head.
“This,” he said with a quick sweep of a hand to the two droid frames, “is a conversation for later. Right now, I need to divert some battery power to the sensors.”
That brought Lin out from behind the engine.
“Why?”
“Yes, why Captain?” echoed W.D. from a nearby table.
Tanner glanced between Lin and the disembodied War Droid then started typing on an engineering keyboard console to his left.
“Short form. Kana’s alive and getting worse by the moment. Jo, Braam, and Telly are chasing him. Zeitlin and Vega have met Dro’zen’s uh… people… and it went about as well as our other plans.”
“So, a disaster then?” W.D. asked with a touch of human-like sarcasm.
Tanner didn’t comment. Instead, he boosted power to the sensors, then took control of the system. Using the position of Jo’s statue as a fixed point, he had the scanner sweep from there out to the crew near the shore and swamp. Dim, overgrown outlines of Quonset hut shapes appeared on the holoscreen. He punched the comms button.
“Dro’zen!”
The now all too familiar figure of the holographic squid appeared next to the console.
“Yes, Captain? You’ve contacted my people?”
Tanner narrowed his eyes at Dro’zen. A chime sounded while the screen outlined a settlement just below the water offshore, thick with activity. The overgrown Quonset huts? They were one hundred meters inland from the shore and nearly overgrown by the forest. Zeitlin and Vega were fifty meters south of them. Jo, Braam, and Telly were to the west. Tanner forwarded the scan results to the others out in the wilds.
“Yes,” Tanner said slowly. “Now, how long have your people been sheltering human refugees? And why doesn’t Jo remember this?”
The alien AI looked around the engine room. First to the android skeleton frames, to W.D.’s brain housing, finally to Lin, who folded her arms over her chest with a furious glare of her own.
Dro’zen cleared his holographic throat in an all too human sound.
“I really can’t tell you that, Captain,” Dro’zen replied. “I was left with detailed instructions not to talk about it.”
“Oh?” Tanner replied sarcastically. “By *who?*”
“Josephine Trewz. She was most explicit.”
Tanner rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“She usually is.”
Challanges
[1] Distract or Trap Kana! (Vega, Zeitlin)
It isn’t hard to find the overgrown, abandoned settlement once the *Calypso’s* sensor scans arrive. They are an older model of Quonset hut with familiar patchwork repairs because of the black smudge markings that are supposed to call down good luck, or good providence.
These had been used by Straatvegers. Braam, a Staatveger, makes that same sort of mark on his welding.
You find a way to either trap or distract Kana! His new half-human, half-alien form is almost more than you’re able to deal with but you manage it. How do you do it? Do you capture him? Or do away with him?
You find a way to distract or trap Kana, but he escapes! Someone is hurt in the process! What did you try and how did it go wrong? Where is Kana headed now?
You arrive only to get shoved out into the open per Tanner’s orders, not chase down Kana. Ten meters away, a wounded cephalopod-like creature with far too many octopus tentacles and triplets of eyes gestures at you with an orange avocado-shaped device and a blaster. It doesn’t look friendly.
But, it looks shocked to see Jo and Braam. If octopus colony creature can looked shocked as it says… “HER!”
The creature’s language is nothing you’ve heard before. But you find a common ground… you think. How do you do it? What is the Jo - Straatveger connection? Why is it suddenly protective of Jo and Braam?
That could have gone better. Somehow, you were making progress when an unexpected interruption brought the whole negotiation crashing down! What was the interruption? Did it turn hostile? Are blaster shots being exchanged? Is it even WORSE then that?
Enough is enough. Time to get Dro’zen back to his ‘people’. But transporting an AI requires a body. Using more cobbled together parts, you get something together and head out.
No problem, right? What could go wrong?
You cobble something together and head out. As you do, trouble isn’t far off as you almost run into a set of thugs dressed in Telmark Labs security gear… but they aren’t Telmark Labs. Who are they? How do you avoid being spotted?
You cobble something together and head out. As you do, you run right into trouble! Telmark Lab security… that isn’t? Who are they and why disguised as Telmark Labs security? How are they FAR worse than Telmark Labs enforcers? What goes wrong?
Plot type
Adventure
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