Chris has caught the flu, and is not with us. Ray is in charge today. Players include Bruce (Elias Sauek; new character), Nick (Angel) and Tim (Marquis deLanders Mah'sot al-Malik).
Most of the characters (Tim and Nick) are on board the Ezekiel (a huge Charioteer ship), which has recently been attacked and boarded by an Ur-Kagan ship. In the assault, the Kurgan ambassador was slain, and Marquis Mah'sot saved the life of the Hazat Count who was to negotiate with the Kurgan.
Shortly after the attack, several fleets arrived insystem. They include:
The Imperials appear to pretty much control the situation. They have blockaded the jumpgate, and are preventing any from leaving it. The Ur-Kagan ship, barred from the jumpgate, has fled into the asteroid belt.
The Ezekiel is being towed in towards a shipyard at Tethys under Imperial escort.
The Hazat count is interested in finding a relatively independent representative to manage one of his properties (on Cadavus). His primary motivation is to provide himself with a safe refuge in the event that his dealings with the Kurgans blow up in his face. He has chosen the na-Marquis Mah'sot as his representative, and is offering him the worst piece of land among his holdings. He has chosen the Marquis as his agent primarily because the Marquis was responsible for saving his life.
Count Dulcinea paints an attractive picture of Cadavus, a world beset by poverty that the Decados are selling off piece by piece, though they still hold 60% of it. The Reeves own a quarter of the world, because the Decados defaulted upon their loans. The Reeves' most important Agora is also located upon Cadavus. He explains that he is offering that particular holding because he feels it is most likely to be overlooked should his properties be confiscated.
The Count's holdings include:
After all the discussion, Marquis Mah'sot finally agrees to accept the land on Cadavus.
After four days, the shattered Ezekiel arrives at the Moldura station. The crew on board the Ezekiel is held in quarantine for several days.
Elias Sauek arrived on Moldura about a day before the Ezekiel did. He spends some time questioning Imperial troops on the station about the attack, learning that tensions are running fairly high. He also discovers:
The rest of the characters disembark upon the Captain's gig, along with several Charioteers (some high-ranking), one uniformed Vorox, several Hazat soldiers and a wounded Hazat noble. Sauek recognizes the characters as an arabic-looking al-Malik noble, one skittish-looking human in a trenchcoat, and an Ur-Ukar who keeps to the background.
Sauek approaches Angel (the skittish trenchcoat-wearer) in a gentleman's bar several hours later. Mah'sot is busy negotiating with the Count Dulcinea, so Sauek attempts to arrange an appointment on the next day. His success is less than inspiring, so he spends the rest of the evening trying to find other sources of information (Vanessa MacClure, a security officer of the Charioteers who was wounded in the assault, but who is concerned because someone from a different guild is talking to her. She knows little more than Angel).
The characters agree that they may be able to find the Ur-Kagan ship before the Decados do by commandeering the Scraver ship Sauek arrived on and using Marquis Mah'sot's knowledge to track the ship. Once the alien ship is located, the characters will provide the location to the Hazat warships (through Count Dulcinea).
Sauek talks to Captain Lytos, the commander of the Scraver ship. He agrees to provide his ship in exchange for 50% of Sauek's share of the loot.
Marquis Mah'sot and Sauek present this offer to Count Dulcinea, who agrees to provide them with 50 acres of prime land on Vera Cruz if the characters can find the Ur-Kagan ship. However, he demands that he be given sole credit for locating the ship (which the characters agree to).
Captain Lytos' ship is a heavily-modified scout craft. The Captain himself is a diminutive fellow with scraggly, stringy hair, baggy pants and a thick woolen cap. Upon arrival, the ship departs immediately.
The characters spend some time determining what they actually know about the aliens and their probable location:
The characters' plan is to search the volcanic rockball world. Most likely, the aliens are hiding there, close to the jumpgate, with their reactors are shut down to make them hard to spot. Because the Scaver ship must be able to reach the rockball without letting anyone else know they are in the area, Captain Lytos will perform a slingshot maneuver around the sun, then shut the reactors down and cruise towards the rockball world. All told, the journey takes seven days.
Cecil is the name of the rockball world. An initial visual scan of the world reveals an abandoned research station, and not too much else. A more detailed scan of the research station reveals several energy sources, though other nearby volcanoes produce much stronger emissions.
Marquis Mah'sot, Angel, and Sauek board a shuttle with one Scraver crewman and head down to the research station. Meanwhile, the Scraver ship enters an orbit to do a more detailed search of the planet surface, a task which will take at least half a day.
The research facility consists of one dome (with a crack large enough to fly a ship through) and a half-dozen support structures. One of the large energy sources is within the dome, while another is located out at the nearby landing field.
The group lands some distance from the dome, then sneaks up in space suits (using Angel's plans). The dome was once a large greenhouse with recent burn marks inside, as if a ship had landed inside recently. No ship is visible inside.
After checking the dome, the group looks around the exterior of the building complex, and spots an alien patrolling outside the building with a nasty-looking energy weapon. The characters depart back to the Scraver ship and warn the Hazat.
The Hazat send a frigate to Cecil, amid a large quantity of bemused Imperial chatter. The frigate destroys the research station, but is then in turn destroyed by a Temple Avesti ship.
During all the excitement, the characters remain upon the Scraver ship with the fusion engines powered down, orbiting Nessus with the intention of looking like an asteroid.
All characters gain three experience. Sauek gains an additional point because Bruce picked up on Ray's personal phrase. Mah'sot gains an additional point because Tim guessed that the Avestites were responsible for destroying the Hazat frigate.