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| Finders Keepers, Losers Burn Up in Re-entry |
After examining the contents of the bank, Ragnar realises that he now owns an asteroid in the Tyrfing system, the deed to which was in the form of a bearer bond. After transfering the deed into a more secure form tied to his ID, Ragnar and the rest of the party along with their newly acquired Vargr friends, the Uergoegz family, travel to Tyrfing to claim their prize.
The personal bank is set up to do certain purchases without further
authorisation, however most of the functions and access to the account details are protected. Essentially they can buy fuel from Tyrfing Star Fuels,
food and provisions from Highpoint Imports and travel facilities from
Sleipnir Passenger and Freight all based in Niflhel Station, a large
asteroid habitat in the Tyrfing System.
After an uneventful trip, the part arrives at Tyrfing and are dropped off at Tyrfing Highport after a minor incident with a Gazelle Close Escort, one of the Imperial ships operating in the area to enforce the peace following the Fifth Frontier War.
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| Tyrfing Highport, or something like it |
Examining the data, Ragnar sees to his shock that although for the first 2 months a good profit was being made, that then slumped during the middle period and there was a substantial loss for the last 2 months, wiping out all profit over the period. In addition there were several warning messages from various banking concerns that have not recieved any payments during the six months away – loan repayments and late payment penalties to the value of Cr80,000 that need to be paid as they have been
guaranteed using the asteroid as collateral.
But finally some good news, the former owner of the asteroid paid to have his 30 ton boat fully serviced before leaving and its now complete and waiting for its new owner at the space docks. Leaving in their shiny new boat, the group made there way to the asteroid.
As they closed with the asteroid, the bank started bleeping again and brought up a map. On it where five flashing red markers, as well as the pressure status of all the areas, blue for breathable.
But the docking bay for the ship appears occupied! And by a dirty looking ship with missing inspection plates and a general run down look too!
As the party debate what to do, the sensors package pick up a transmission from the asteroid, encrypted so unreadable but a definite indication that the asteroid is occupied.
Ansgar and Sali suit up in emergency vacsuits, strap on their improved cloth flak jackets as an outer layer and prepare their weapons. They are both armed with ex military weaponry from their time in the Sword Worlds military.
Sali is armed with a Vendel machine pistol and Ansgar uses his Knekt combat rifle. Neither weapon is especially suitable for use in a zero G environment, but no other options are available. Both are equipped with multifunction image enhancement goggles.
Ragnar puts on a vacsuit but has no armour and only a token Svaerdir blade for weaponry, his chief attacking skill comes from his martial arts knowledge.
Leaving the Uergoegz family in charge of the ship, Sali, Ansgar and Ragnar leave the ship and head over to the asteroid and enter area A, one openings into the interior of the asteroid. As the head over, the digital map indicates that the interior airlock has cycled.
The party move to check out one of the flashing red icons at area M but as they pass the tunnel to area K someone takes a shot at them! The round misses Ansgar, who is in the lead, but nobody spots the impact on the asteroid wall, and as the area is in vacuum nobody hears anything either. The next round misses Sali, but this time Ragnar spots the impact and warn the others.
Sali and Ragnar take cover at the entrance to K, while Ansgar pushes on to M where he finds a spider shaped mining robot in distress. It looks like its been in this way for some time, explaining the fall off in profits if all the other flashing icons also represent broken robots that should be mining away merrily.
The party make a quick plan, Ansgar will make his way via vertical passage V6, along U, T, S, Q, R and then via V3 along G and F to catch the assailant in a crossfire. Aside from an encounter with a working mining robot the journey is uneventful and Ansgar gets into position. Spotting the gunman hiding in the mouth of vertical passage V1, he takes aim and shoots him in the back.
While Ansgar loses control due to the recoil the gunman retreats to Z via V1 and attempts to patch the hole in his suit. Sali and Ragnar rush in and lose control due moving too quickly in zero gravity.
Eventually everybody gets back in control and Ansgar follows the gunman while Sali and Ragnar enter the airlock to discover gravity or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Ansgar tracks down the gunman by following the floating droplets of blood and discovers him dead in the chair in the Launch Room.
The cycling airlock makes enough noise to alert another gunman who waits around the corner by the Storeroom and ambushes Sali and Ragnar, shooting Sali twice in the chest with his snub revolver. Sali's armour is reasonably effective stopping all but 2 points of damage from each round and the gunman flees.
Sali follows up and takes a bead on the fleeing man, selects burst mode, and proceeds to miss with every round. The gunman runs to the docked boat and locks himself inside and prepares for departure. As Sali and Ragnar looked for a way in, a third man stepped out behind them from Cabin 1, Sali heard the man mumble "What's going on?", turned round and shot him several times, rendering the man unconscious.
As Ansgar made his way down from the Launch Room via the Power Plant room, the ship undocked, fired up its drives and left at high speed.
Sali and Ragnar checked the rest of the living areas while Ansgar stopped the shot man from dying of blood loss as well as tying him up.
Finding nothing but a mess in every room, appalling 3D pay to view holoporn running on every display screen and a mycologists wet dream in the kitchen, Sali and Ragnar return and the group wake up the gunman and begin to question him.
He's quite abusive and tells them his brothers going to kill them, that the rock belongs to him and his brother and would the party please go away (or words to that effect). Sali employs his telepathy skills and finds that the gunman, one Dolf Pederson Slodi, actually believes that the asteroid belongs to him and his brother, his brother seemingly acquiring it from Una Magnusdotir Hos, the previous owners daughter.
...to be continued...
But finally some good news, the former owner of the asteroid paid to have his 30 ton boat fully serviced before leaving and its now complete and waiting for its new owner at the space docks. Leaving in their shiny new boat, the group made there way to the asteroid.
As they closed with the asteroid, the bank started bleeping again and brought up a map. On it where five flashing red markers, as well as the pressure status of all the areas, blue for breathable.
But the docking bay for the ship appears occupied! And by a dirty looking ship with missing inspection plates and a general run down look too!
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| An asteroid not unlike the one the party travelled to |
Ansgar and Sali suit up in emergency vacsuits, strap on their improved cloth flak jackets as an outer layer and prepare their weapons. They are both armed with ex military weaponry from their time in the Sword Worlds military.
Sali is armed with a Vendel machine pistol and Ansgar uses his Knekt combat rifle. Neither weapon is especially suitable for use in a zero G environment, but no other options are available. Both are equipped with multifunction image enhancement goggles.
Ragnar puts on a vacsuit but has no armour and only a token Svaerdir blade for weaponry, his chief attacking skill comes from his martial arts knowledge.
Leaving the Uergoegz family in charge of the ship, Sali, Ansgar and Ragnar leave the ship and head over to the asteroid and enter area A, one openings into the interior of the asteroid. As the head over, the digital map indicates that the interior airlock has cycled.
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| Lower Section of Asteroid |
Sali and Ragnar take cover at the entrance to K, while Ansgar pushes on to M where he finds a spider shaped mining robot in distress. It looks like its been in this way for some time, explaining the fall off in profits if all the other flashing icons also represent broken robots that should be mining away merrily.
The party make a quick plan, Ansgar will make his way via vertical passage V6, along U, T, S, Q, R and then via V3 along G and F to catch the assailant in a crossfire. Aside from an encounter with a working mining robot the journey is uneventful and Ansgar gets into position. Spotting the gunman hiding in the mouth of vertical passage V1, he takes aim and shoots him in the back.
While Ansgar loses control due to the recoil the gunman retreats to Z via V1 and attempts to patch the hole in his suit. Sali and Ragnar rush in and lose control due moving too quickly in zero gravity.
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| Upper Section of Asteroid |
The cycling airlock makes enough noise to alert another gunman who waits around the corner by the Storeroom and ambushes Sali and Ragnar, shooting Sali twice in the chest with his snub revolver. Sali's armour is reasonably effective stopping all but 2 points of damage from each round and the gunman flees.
Sali follows up and takes a bead on the fleeing man, selects burst mode, and proceeds to miss with every round. The gunman runs to the docked boat and locks himself inside and prepares for departure. As Sali and Ragnar looked for a way in, a third man stepped out behind them from Cabin 1, Sali heard the man mumble "What's going on?", turned round and shot him several times, rendering the man unconscious.
As Ansgar made his way down from the Launch Room via the Power Plant room, the ship undocked, fired up its drives and left at high speed.
Sali and Ragnar checked the rest of the living areas while Ansgar stopped the shot man from dying of blood loss as well as tying him up.
Finding nothing but a mess in every room, appalling 3D pay to view holoporn running on every display screen and a mycologists wet dream in the kitchen, Sali and Ragnar return and the group wake up the gunman and begin to question him.
He's quite abusive and tells them his brothers going to kill them, that the rock belongs to him and his brother and would the party please go away (or words to that effect). Sali employs his telepathy skills and finds that the gunman, one Dolf Pederson Slodi, actually believes that the asteroid belongs to him and his brother, his brother seemingly acquiring it from Una Magnusdotir Hos, the previous owners daughter.
...to be continued...
Great write up!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the next instalment.
I liked the twist when our prisoner said the "claim jumpers" had bought the asteroid from the owner's daughter. This was a great sucker punch.
ReplyDelete"There's trouble abrewin'"