[21st Oct 23] Latest from Galactic News Network: Severe drought on Coriolanus, emergency supply of grain being dispatched from New Berlin. Several freighters expected to depart within the next week
[31st Oct 23] Galactic News Network: Grain shipments to Corialanus due to leave shortly. White Star Lines still have opportunities for those wishing to join. This could be the start of your career amongst the stars! White Star Lines are an equal opportunities employer.
[1st Nov 23] Stars Without Number - Tutorial: The Rat Hunt
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Yes, it's the obligatory pre-game rat hunt. Good luck!
Day One: Aboard the freighter Stehekin, a day out from New Berlin, heading to Coriolanus with a load of grain and some passengers.
The Crew:
Liz (Mecha) - Ships' captain, first voyage in charge.
Ash - Science & Executive Officer, ensures White Star Lines interests are represented
Sorcha (Sapphire) - Communications Officer
Passengers:
Vardia - A diplomat who is overseeing the grain shipment
Datham - A middle aged and rather heavy man
Julie - A quiet and shy young woman
Cargo:
About a billion tonnes of wheat
ETA Coriolanus: Nine solar days
It's customary that on the first day of a voyage, passengers explore the ship and get familiar with the layout. The crew are largely redundant, there are many mechanical back-up systems if the central computer fails. Another custom is that on the second day, the Captain announces a group meal, all invited to attend, so everyone can get to know each other.
[1st Nov 23]: Mecha: Liz DeWitt sat in the command chair looking over everything. She wasn't sure how she got this gig but was damned if she was going to screw it up."We have a nine day trip, let's try to make it smooth shall we? "After that she begins humming a random tune.
[2nd Nov 23]: Ash, while logging a few readouts: "We're just shuttling grain between two local worlds, should be quite mundane as trips go."
[3rd Nov 23]: Sapphire: Sorcha, as communications officer, ends up surprisingly busy in the ships control rooms, mostly in terms of keeping track of other ships in the area and interfacing with Traffic Control. Normally such tasks would fall to the Pilot, but since on this craft they're letting the autopilot handle that, someone has to man the radio station.
She glances back to Liz, cheeks freckled densely enough to mimic a starmap. "Luck be with us, 'mam," she offers in contrast to Ash, while making sure to keep a good passive scan of other ships and being ready to send an active sensor ping at anyone coming closer than they should.
[3rd Nov 23]: Ash: "Captain DeWitt, just a reminder, once we activate main drive, it's usual to announce the first meal for all crew and passengers."
[3rd Nov 23]: Mecha: Liz opened up a comm channel."All crew to positions for pre flight preparations.
[4th Nov 23]: Mecha: We are about to head out. For the first meal of the trip I want something memorable I believe we have some steaks let us do steak and vegetables for the first meal.
[4th Nov 23]: Ash: "Steak is a good choice. Well done for me, if you don't mind."
[5th Nov 23]: Mecha: She looks over at Ash. "Well then, let's get going, we have a nine day trip." Before opening the intercom."We are about to depart for Coriolanus please make sure everyone is prepared."
[5th Nov 23]: Ash: "Say the word, and I'll set us off. We'll go Deep Space in about an hour after that."
[5th Nov 23]: Mecha: Word is given. Let's get moving.
[5th Nov 23]: Ash: Ash nods, types a few commands onto a terminal, and there's a slow impulse as reaction engines fire and accelerate the freighter from low orbit to the minimum allowed distance for engaging warp fields near populated planets. "Warp in one hour, seven minutes."
[6th Nov 23]: Sapphire/Sorcha: Sorcha confirms that she is not very picky at all, medium well if the plan is still steaks. At the captains order she relays the notice of their planned warp schedule out to traffic control so as to ensure they have a clean travel corridor.
[7th Nov 23]: Ash: Ash busies himself with spreadsheets and data and logs, and finally gets around to checking the navcomp.. 1hr 5mins... 1hr 6mins... 1hr 7mins... 1hr 8mins... 1hr 9mins... the transition from what is known as the real universe into the higher dimensional warp space for FTL travel goes completely unfelt. He checks the chronometer... a steak dinner is not too long away. Nearly time to head to the wardroom where dinner will be served.
[8th Nov 23]: Vardia: Slightly out of breath from exercising, with her short blonde hair and tight black body suit she strikes a stern figure. She carefully blocks access to the room, leaning around the door. "A steak and some potato would be perfect. Not too well done, but no blood, please."
[8th Nov 23]: Datham: he answers the door at Julies' room, and likewise blocks entry, leaning out from behind the door. Julie can be heard, breathing quietly and out of sight. He speaks for them both. "Thank you, steak and baked potato would be nice. Rare for me. A small portion for Julie, she does not tend to eat much. Thank you, we look forward to it."
[8th Nov 23]: Ash: Enters the wardroom, and takes a seat by the head of the table (the head is of course for the captain), sits at the right and checks his tablet for any last minute news. He's sure that the crew and passengers will be along directly, the first meal on any flight is always an important occasion.
[8th Nov 23]: Sapphire/Sorcha: Sorcha signs off her station, trusting it to the ship AI, who can send her an alert to her pocket-computer if something comes up.
She freshens up in her quarters prior to attending the dinner, confirming that her firery hair is properly curly and sheened, but otherwise attending in her ships uniform. As she strides over to the wardroom, her posture relaxes a bit as she gets ready for practiced schmoozing and small talk, recognizing that the first meal is as much about assuring the guests of competency as it is being friendly enough to be sociable.
More complicated talks can always come later.
"Good tidings, all," she'll offer sweetly, "A pleasure to have you aboard our ship."
[9th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz enters and stands by her seat at the table. Now that she is not in her command seat it is obvious she is not carrying a traditional look to her. Her brown hair is in a bun. her ears have a line of piercings and she is wearing a vest with a few patches on it from various musicians. If anyone stares she comments." Greetings, I am your Captain Liz Dewitt. If you are cruious about the look, I checked, a bit of flair is allowed in our appearance as long as we don't go wild with it." She then looks around. "I will have the creamed spinach with my steak, blue rare please, and a cup of tea. In the mean time, please introduce yourselves around the table." As she sits down
[9th Nov 23]: Vardia arrives. Tall, with fairly short blonde hair and wearing her official black robes, complete with ceremonial katana slung over her shoulder, she settles at one end of the table. Her forest green eyes sweep up and down the group, and later on, she'll be watching Datham closely, like a hawk. "Greetings, Citizens and crew, I'm Vardia, I'm accompanying the grain shipment, purely as a formality. I'm sure the Captain and the White Star Lines can be trusted with this monumentous task. I'm afraid my story will be quite dull, unless you want to hear of past diplomatic negotiations."
[9th Nov 23]: Ash: Ash is a short, middle aged man, somewhat stout but not fat, he's clearly quite muscular. Despite the lack of height and reach, if you were in a bar room brawl you'd want him on your side. With greying hair and his tendancy to wear a grey top and grey trousers, he looks somewhat carved from stone. "I am the first officer, I represent White Star Lines in any matters, questions about the cargo go to Citizen Vardia, and as Captain DeWitt says, we celebrate diverse expressions, although I'll be reporting on her choice of dress later... just kidding! I'm afraid a lot of space flights are very mundane. Today a shipment of grain from one world to another, my last flight was with the Nostromo, trucking a load of petrochemicals. Real exciting stuff. So, for the next ten days, the automated systems will look after us, and we'll arrive at Coriolanus in nine days. Not much more than that to say, really."
[10th Nov 23]: Datham arrives and swaggers in, wrapped in a grey robe, with Julie close behind, likewise in a grey robe, looking wide-eyed and terrified as she looks about, staying as close to Datham as she can, literally hiding behind him. Datham saunters to a place and sweeps out a chair, and Julie sits quickly and stares at the table, fidgeting and wringing her hands, while Datham sits nearby. "I'm a trader," he announces when asked. "What is surplus on one planet is a deficit on another, and the opportunity to trade exists. For example, the grain we carry. I arrange such trades between worlds." He stretches and smirks lazily. When Julie is asked, she gives a start and looks up, an expression of sheer terror on her face, then she looks at Datham, who says: "Ah, my, er, niece... she is very shy and reserved and much prefers to stay in the background. Don't you, Julie? You much prefer to stay in the background." Julie just stares straight ahead and says in a monotone, her voice cracking slightly. "I much prefer to stay in the background." She trembles and whimpers, then looks down at the table, while Datham looks around with a smug and satisfied air.
[10th Nov 23]: Vardia, meanwhile, narrows her eyes ever so slightly, her gaze flicks from Julie to Datham.
[12th Nov 23]: Sapphire/Sorcha: She does also eye the intereaction between Julie and Datham oddly, suspecting that the merchant is being less than completely honest about what the situation is. A flick of her view around the room suggests she is not alone in this conclusion either.
Sorcha is quite interested in hearing from Vardia about past diplomatic relations, interplanetary politics is one of her interests. When a free moment comes up, she'll inquire, "Miss Vardia, even if this is just a formality trip for you, is the destination planet one you're already familiar with?"
[12th Nov 23]: Vardia looks to Sorcha, although her gaze flicks back to Datham a few times. "I know of it, certainly. A largely agricultural world, producing many plant products - spices, alcoholic beverages, pharmaceuticals, that sort of thing. The sort of things that heavily industrialized planets often lack the capability to produce."
[12th Nov 23]: Datham smiles over. "See, the sort of planets that trade and require agents, like me."
[12th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz watches the interactions. Her eyes not going to Datham but she takes a note or two for later until his last comment."What objects does an agent such as yourself trade in?" She asks before taking a sip of tea
[12th Nov 23]: Datham: "Oh, this and that. Anything that might be in excess on one planet and in demand on another. Gemstones, jewelry, fine art, wines, pharmaceuticals, rare minerals. Whatever I can trade for a profit, really."
[14th Nov 23]: Plates are becoming bare and empty. Everyone, with one exception, has clearly enjoyed the meal. Most plates are empty, except for Julies' plate; it's clear she's done little but push the food about the plate.
[17th Nov 23]: Ash: pushes his now empty plate aside. "If you'll excuse me - and compliments to our cook! - but I better get back to keeping on eye on things. Nice meeting everyone and I'm sure our paths will cross again soon." He rises and leaves the wardroom.
[17th Nov 23]: Liz does the same. "Same here, the food was delicious." As she leaves the Wardroom as well. As this was a straightforward trip she still wanted to be thorough as she went, so she would check logs and see if any new information arrived during dinner. She was especially wanting to look over the manifest of travellers on the ship.
[17th Nov 23]: The logs don't show much other than a near endless column of periodic system checks reading: Status: OK. No information will arrive, or can be sent while in Deep Space; the ship after all is no longer anywhere sensible in the Universe, traversing instead a seventh dimensional plane. The passenger manifest is pretty bland and reveals little: Vardia, of the diplomatic corps, attached to the grain cargo, Datham and Julie, listed simple as "private Citizens, on private business."
[19th Nov 23]: Datham: "Guess it's time we wandered back to our rooms." He stretches, gets up with a grunt of effort and wanders out.
[19th Nov 23]: Julie: rises quickly and hurries after him, almost close enough to trip on his heels.
[19th Nov 23]: Vardia: her eyes narrow as they track Dathams' retreating form, then she looks to the plates, of which only Julies' still contains the vast majority of the meal. For a few moments she says nothing, then, "Likewise, my compliments to the cook. Now, if you don't mind, I better return to my cabin. Some papers require my attention."
[21st Nov 23]: Sapphire/Sorcha has noticed that whatever is going on with Julie is both untoward, and only questionably her business to interfere in.
Still, to leave it totally up to chance seems untoward. She offers thanks to the chef, and requests to speak (discretely) with the captain on this matter a half hour later. "Captain," she begins, standing at attention while she speaks. "I am concerned about Datham and Julie. I suspect from their interactions that Julie may be a victim of a human trafficing ring. I request permission to set up a hidden camera in their cabin at the earliest opportunity."
[21st Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz is in her ready room, and looks at Sorcha and nods." Not sure if it is human trafficking but you are right something is definitely off about this." She shakes her head."I am honestly unsure if the hidden camera is a legal possibility however.." She ponders for a second before pressing the communicator." Ash please report to my ready room." She then looks at Sorcha."I definitely think something should be done."
[21st Nov 23]: Ash is not pleased, at all. "Are you mad? Have you forgotten GDPR legislation? We can't spy on our passengers without due cause. A girl not eating dinner is hardly due cause! There'll be an investigation, and it'll be a black mark on your record if it's nothing. While I agree there's something odd going on, I don't think we have grounds to do anything. I'm going to have to veto this idea, I'm sorry." (Also, while not widely known, ship cabins already tend to have cameras installed; and Ash has a point about accessing them drawing Questions from those in Authority.)
[28th Nov 23]: Sapphire/Sorcha: "It's her entire demeanor and the way her answers for her to any and all questions. In my view, she is being prevented from speaking for herself. Even if you think we stay out of their cabin, she should at least be given the chance to say what's actually going on without her handler in the same room."
[28th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz speaks up. "You are right it is suspicious as hell. However Ash is correct. Without something more concrete, there is little we can do. For all we know it might be a culture, or tradition situation. It could also be a Dom Sub relationship thing, we don't know. However if you can find just cause for a deeper investigation without putting yourself, your career, this ship or its crew at risk. bring it to me and we will go from there." Liz paused for a moment."Ash have we checked the crew and our travellers on their latest physicals and innoculations? We surely don't want someone bringing a possible virus to a different world. maybe we can check to make sure everything is up to date and if it isn't maybe go about remedying that."
[29th Nov 23]: Ash: Ash is -exceedingly- unhappy at this turn of events. "Well... fine... we're opening up a huge can of worms here, but I guess you MAY have grounds to investigate. But I'll warn you, Captain, if this turns out to be nothing, it will not look good on you, at all. Think on that carefully. I am not happy about spying on Confederate citizens, though."
[30th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz sips the Macha and smiles."Thank you for the drink." She then turns to Ash."You are mistaking questions for actions. Right now we are spitballing, and considering the files we should have on everyone on this ship it's simple enough to see if medical records are up to date. I believe that is part of GDPR regulations otherwise we could face issues. If we look and everything is on the up and up there is nothing to pursue or investigate." She pauses for another sip." Look, I am looking at options, but safety of the crew and passengers means ALL passengers and crew."
[30th Nov 23]: Ash: "Quarrantine rules mean all medical records must be up to date prior to any interplanetary sailings. However, from what Citizen Kensuke says, you have grounds to access the security camera footage, but again, if this turns out to be nothing more than a tempermental teenager then any penalties are on you, the Captain." He looks quite caught between a rock and a hard place, clearly wanting to protect the White Star Lines reputation; on the one breaching GDPR needlessly will attract hefty penalties, while on the other, if something IS amiss and no action is taken, that'll likewise tarnish reputations or even lead to accusations of negligence. Luckily, from his point of view, it's not going to be a decision on him.
[30th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz nods."Agreed, and I will take full responsibility for them. If anything is found we will go from there. If nothing is found as much as I hate to say it. We will have to let the matter drop unless we see something more concrete, understood?" She then looks at Kensuke."You say you can guarantee something without being able to explain how. I will need to discuss that with you in the near future. For now all three of you are dismissed." SHe sighs as they leave muttering "I should have stayed with the startrippers." She sighed missing her musician life
[30th Nov 23]: (Liz watches the security cameras)
You access the video feed for the passenger cabins, 15 for Datham, 16 for Julie. #15 is actually empty.
#16: you see Datham and Julie, and if your character isn't at all very jaded, then she's going to be shocked to the core. There's Julie, naked and face down on the bed, and there's Datham, likewise naked and raising a leather belt up. As Julie cringes on the bed...
...then you see Julie cowering on the bed, pleading for "it". And you hear Datham, saying, "Not before, after. Then you'll have it." You see Julie cringe and slink to her knees and...
Finally, you see Julie cower back on the bed, and Datham nods, pulls on his robe and don a pair of rubber gloves. He looks out - darts to his cabin - and you watch as he takes up a brief case. It's quite nondescript and opens readily.. paperwork, some body paints. He thumbs a small area, a hidden keypad, although you can't see where or what combination. Not that that matters, it's almost certainly keyed to Datham and will dissolve into sludge if tampered with. Out comes the inner tray, it's floating on a soft, squashy, fluid interior... Datham breaks a chunk off.
There's no doubt. Datham is a sponge merchant. The record nails him, no authority anywhere will let that go.
Datham returns to Julies' cabin and passes her the little piece of sponge. The majority remains in the case, where it slowly grows, a constant replenishing supply of sponge. Julie gobbles it down greedily, and slumps back, panting, as the alien spores circulate through her system, giving her respite from the symptoms of the now de-activated sponge. But, in a few hours, she'll need more...
Recording finishes, the computer flashes up a warning. WARNING, this recording will be shared with Port Authorities on arrival. Unauthorized use and access of the surveilance system is a Confederate crime, punishable under law. This event has been logged.
[30th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz presses the intercom button."Ash to my ready room please."
[30th Nov 23]: Ash returns, with a pained expression.
[30th Nov 23]: Mecha/Liz turns her monitor and shows the video."Sponge. I'll take the hit for watching first since it is already reported. But we have a big issue on the ship... Aside from confining them to separate quarters, any ideas?"
[30th Nov 23]: Ash: blinks, stares at the screen... takes a few steps back... blinks ...what the... ...on this ship...? wait... what? "Confine to quarters? She'll die in agony within the next few days!"
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