A Long-Awaited Conclusion to Season 3

Favorite Out-of-Game Quote: "You ever going to update the blog?"

Date: Mid-Summer, 3800

Locations: Gub -> Zenna -> Sin -> Altrani Space -> Sin -> Zenna

Negotiations:

The crew awoke in the heart of Gubrox territory. The Red King appointed his second to show the humans around. Dax accepts the offer, and bugs the castle as he walks along the walls. In broad daylight he notices two other castles in the distance. When he inquires about this, he is told that they belong to other Gubrox kings. Further, the largest ship in orbit actually belongs to the "High King", the Gubrox that rules over all others. Realizing that they are not actually being hosted by the official government of Gub, Dax informs the crew of the confusion. The ambassadors decide to proceed anyway and see where discussions go.

After a hearty meal of xeno-beef and rice the diplomats began their negotiations with the king. The crew maintain a close distance in the event that a danger emerges. After morning negotiations they are guided to the arena pit for lunch. To the outrage of the humans, the Red King brings out a male human slave to fight. After a fierce debate over the legality of slavery, the Red King clutches his head and yields. The slave returns to his holding cage. Evening negotiations were rough, with the Michallo representative demanding reparations for previous Gubrox raids. Every time the Red King began to argue, his strange headache returned him to a passive state.

That night, the crew snuck into the Red King's tent and Dr. Vespers carefully conducted a medical examination. Analysis of his blood revealed mind-controlling nanobots similar to the ones used by Flash Cola. Instead of relying on wave signals, like the older bots had, these bots were pre-programmed with a specific task. The crew put up their guard, suddenly conscious of a set-up.

Siege:

The next day the crew awoke to the city in an uproar. The High King, the supreme monarch of the Gubrox, was not happy to find one of his sons courting humans. He challenged the crew to survive until the HSS Firehorn could come to their rescue. The other Gubrox factions banded together to launch a massive attack against the Red King's fort. In the initial battle the Red faction was decimated, with most of the Gubrox loyal to the Red King dying or retreating. The crew rallied the defenses, releasing the human prisoners to assist in the battle.

The battle consisted of four massive waves of Gubrox, both on foot and inside makeshift fighting vehicles. Dr. Harrison's heavy weapons slowly but methodically knocked out each vehicle as it appeared. Halic effectively pored rifle fire onto the attackers, but was nearly overtaken when they began to scale the walls. A fierce hand-to-hand battle saw most of the slaves die, with a lone swordsman single-handedly protecting the revetments until he fell unconscious from his wounds. When all seemed lost, Dax led a fierce counter-attack with his grenade launcher, and pushed the attackers off the walls.

In the last wave the Sun King arrived in full battle dress with his elite bodyguard. Blain and Halleck proceeded to blow him in half in the span of six seconds. At this point the Firehorn was beginning its descent from orbit under heavy fire. It was in this moment that the crew received help from the unlikeliest source: Governor Kevo Bandolin.

War:

A massive Sin Battle Force descented upon Gub, intent on purging it from the galaxy. The crew was quickly evacuated and began to advise and assist a recently rebuilt Kevo from his control ship. The Gubrox fleet was smashed at the cost of the HSS Firehorn. Several ships did escape, but Kevo chose to prioritize his forces on the planetary campaign rather than attempt to pursue. His new chemical weapons battalion decimated Gubrox ground forces, paving the way for a lightning campaign. Within two weeks, the planet was fully under the control of the Sin military.

Peace:

The crew returned to Zenna with the delegation. With the money made from the mission, Halleck purchased a lakeside cabin and invited the crew there for the weekend. They spend a peaceful Friday drinking on the lake. As the night died down, Halic stood and announced his retirement to the crew. He solemnly gave Dax the keys to the ship. They then proceeded to a Zenna University frat party, where they got more drunk and flirted with barely-legal girls.

When they returned from the party, they found that someone had broken into the cabin. Peering inside, they found Halic's brother wounded on the floor. He revealed that the police were trying to kill him, possibly because of his desire to release the details of the Gub mission to the public. Zenna police arrived soon after, but without a warrant they were quickly sent away by Halleck. The crew boarded Providence with Halic's brother and fled to Sin.

Ghost:

Soon after coming back to Sin, the crew was gifted with a mysterious crate in the middle of the night. They opened it to find their confiscated heavy equipment. Dr. Harrison happily reunited with his PGMP, and the whole crew retrieved their Battle Dress. A note inside the container directed them to meet their benefactor in a remote part of space. After collecting dues from their now-functional weapon facility, the crew set off for their rendezvous.

At the meet-up point the crew found a small scout ship. It docked, and the crew was reunited with none other than the late Captain Meade. He explained that he had to fake his death to go under the radar, and explained a complex plot set in motion by President Hey. The battle over Sin that Thatcher had predicted would come to pass; Hey had similar visions of the Haldrax's return.

Hey saw this as an opportunity to unite and defeat all of his rivals in one battle: the Altrani, Gubrox, and the Haldrax. The fallout on Sin would complete his War on Crime, bringing a final stability to Heyson. To ensure that this happened, Hey covertly injected both the Altrani and the Gubrox leadership with nano-bots. He would lead them all to battle on Sin, creating a make-shift trap for the impending Haldrax. After they were worn down he would send in the Heyson fleet, led by a newly built capital ship (the HSS Dragon).

Treason:

After digesting the President's intricate plot, the crew set about to create a plan to once again overthrow their corrupt government. After some hesitation, the crew dared to jump to Altrani space and inform them of the plot. Altrani warships closed around them instantly, but the crew was saved by one of the Altrani captains. He was none other than Q, the Altrani warrior that Dax had saved eight years ago.

Q convinced the Altrani high command to meet with the crew. In that subsequent meeting, the crew used concealed EMP grenades to free the Altrani officers from their nano-bots. Finally awake, the officers were horrified to find that they had caused another Human-Altrani war. The crew explained President Hey's plot, and the Altrani agreed to work with the Sin fleet to defend the planet from the Haldrax.

The Final Battle:

The Altrani fleet arrived shortly before the Haldrax. Working together they built a strong defensive line that held firm against the Haldrax onslaught. Providence, although a small ship compared to the capital warships on both sides, was able to help by shooting down attack fighters. After a hard day of fighting the humans and the Altrani emerged victorious.

The crew then convinced both fleets to jump to Zenna and overthrow the government, and they set off on a massive surprise attack. Zenna was quickly surrounded and subdued with only token resistance. The crew stormed the capital building and arrested President Hey. With that, the First Heyson Republic fell to the same men that had fought to create it. With the Altrani pacified and the Haldrax and Gubrox neutralized, a new wave of peace descended upon the Everfire sub-sector.

The Parting of Ways:

After overthrowing the government once again, and seeing a new wave of peace sweeping across Heyson, the crew finally went their separate ways. Their final stories follow:

Halic Stil retired to his lakeside cabin, finally at peace. Most of his fortune went home to Rok, where it fed his family and supported his brother's recovery. He lived a quiet life until his death less than a decade later.

Dax Griffin helped prop up a new intelligence agency, with the recent political turbulence allowing him unprecedented oversight into government affairs. He de facto managed the establishment of the Heyson Second Republic. Some years later he discovered anagathic drugs, and was able to perpetuate his lifespan indefinitely. He rules Heyson to this day from the shadows, the master of the galaxy's most intricate spy and surveillance network.

Blain Harrison became a renowned professor of primatology at Zenna University. He studied numerous xeno-primates from across the Everfire sub-sector, with his loyal blue friend at his side. He maintained a rigorous workout routine throughout his 60s and 70s, against the advice of his doctors. Blain was found dead in his home gym, crushed by a bench press.

Zex Vespers continued to practice medicine on Zenna. With his new wealth and influence Zex was finally able to edge out his rival Dr. Mercy and become the top doctor on Zenna. When his father-in-law died Vespers inherited the Mugs, which he secretly ran for the remainder of his life.

Kevo Bandolin consolidated his power on Sin and set about to rebuild the depleted military. He successfully occupied Gub and the surrounding planets, creating a swath of colonies known today as "the Sin Sector." Sin effectively became a state within a state under Kevo, flexing unprecedented power and dominating interplanetary affairs. Kevo ruled Sin for over a hundred years, his brain kept alive by his mech suit long after the body had withered away. When Kevo died, his many children peacefully divided government positions, land, and wealth among themselves.

Providence is the personal property of Dax Griffin, and has not been seen by the public in decades. It has faded into Heyson legend, an adventure story told to children before bed. Most dismiss the old stories as rumors; swashbuckling fantasies imagined by the elderly men whose grandfathers fought in the Great Revolutions. The scoff at tales of fierce battles and dark intrigue, of vicious aliens and close calls in the black of space.

Imagine, all that from a stolen pirate ship!

Session 3.4: Get the Hell Away From Sin

Favorite Out-of-Game Quote: "I blow up one bad guy and everyone turns against me." "Now you know how America feels."

Date: 13JUN3800-05JUL3800

Location: Sin -> Zenna -> Gub

The session began with Halleck waking up on the Providence to find a cryptic letter delivered overnight. The letter warned of a shadowy threat approaching, finishing with a declaration that no one can be trusted. The letter was simply signed "a friend". Halleck went out into the ship's mess to discover another letter, this one left by Thatcher. Apparently Thatcher felt that the crew was going in too deep and that it would be best if he departed. However, he wanted to warn the crew that he had been having horrific visions at night about a space battle over Sin. The vision featured humans, Altrani, and Haldrax all clashing together in orbit.

The rest of the crew gathers in the ship's common area to contemplate the letters. While they are there, they hear screams coming from outside. Dax utters his third "God Damnit!" for the day and the crew rushes outside. They see mobs gathered under several Bandolin Blimps, which were broadcasting a breaking news report. The agricultural world of Plenty had fallen in an Altrani raid. War seems inevitable. With this in mind, the crew decides to head to Zenna to expand their crime syndicate. Dax begins formulating a plan to get the Dog arrested and take over the Mugs.

In jump space, the ship encounters a small craft manned by the tree people of Timber. Recognizing Dax (King WhoaNow), the tree people tell the crew that they have been gifted with technology from another space-faring race. Dax correctly concludes that it is the Altrani looking for allies, and informs the tree people that he sent them. The Tree ship hooks on to Providence and they jump together to Zenna.

On Zenna they receive a notification that the president is looking to meet with them. Before the meeting Dax begins to reconnoiter the Dog's mansion in the hopes of gathering incriminating information. He shoots bugs at the facility's combat drones, effectively gaining an inside view of the mansion. Meanwhile, Blain goes to the Xeno-Primatology Center at the University of Zenna. He learns that Blue Monkey poaching has been orchestrated by a Gubrox spiritual leader. Supposedly the crew of the Providence was due to get a diplomatic mission to Gubrox space. Blain was asked to keep his eyes open for the shaman and dispose of him if possible.

The crew went to go meet with President Hey. He appeared haggard, the weight of responsibility taking a heavy toll on his body. He informs the crew that an ambassador from the Gubrox recently sent a message to Zenna. Supposedly the Gubrox want to hold a peace summit on their planet. They ask that one small ship bring the delegation. Hey wants the crew of the Providence to provide security for this delegation. The pay would be 12 million credits per person. The crew quickly accepts. The next day they meet the delegation. The three ambassadors hailed from Rok, Michallo, and Sin. Rok's delegate was none other than Halleck's brother Leto.

After a week of preparation, the crew departs for Gub. They are accompanied by the Heyson Cruiser HSS Firehorn. The ship would stay one day away from the planet and come into orbit only if a rescue attempt was needed. The crew enters the orbit of Gub, passing countless tons of space trash and light ships. They see a massive ship comprised of several smaller ships strung together, but it lets them pass.

On the surface, they are greeted by the ambassador. He directs them into a bus to go to the King's palace. Gubtown is a sprawling megacity of squalor, but every building sports either a red, blue, or yellow banner. The bus ride his wild, but after a few hours of navigating the poverty-stricken streets of Gubtown they arrive at a large red castle. Inside they meet Nailchewer, the Blood King. He heartily greets the delegation and bids them to sleep in his quarters. As night is falling, they all go to do that. The session ends with the Crew sleeping in shifts as the Gubrox king gets busy with a human slave girl.

Session 3.3: Prologue to Paul: Monkey on a Mission

Favorite In-Game Quote: Halleck: "Everyone free tonight?" Dax: "Sure, I'll cancel with your mother."

Date: 11JUN3800-12JUN3800

Location: Planet Sin

While Governor Bandolin recovers in the hospital, the rest of the crew meet with the Heyson representative (Mr. Rufus) to tip him off about the Silver Army weapons factory. Halleck, Dax, and Blain offer to assist Mr. Rufus' raiding team. They meet that night at one of the Sin Starport Police precincts to go over the battle plan. Unlike the crew, the Heyson police do not know the exact building that the factory is in, and plan to isolate the neighborhood and continue to raid buildings until they hit their target. The crew then loads into armored police vehicles with Mr. Rufus and his twelve-man strike team and speeds off to the area of operations.

The first two buildings of the raid are cleared with no sign of the Silver Army. Upon approaching the back of the third building, the crew notices a garage door. They breach the door using Dax's gravity hammer and push into a minor gang's chop shop. Most of the thugs rush to the back door to escape, but a few draw weapons. Dax uses his grenade launcher to blow up one of the cars, killing two thugs and injuring six. Halleck calls for a surrender of the remaining thugs, and they comply.

While the Heyson police rush in to arrest/treat the wounded hooligans, Halleck sneaks out to the fourth building (the one known to hold the factory) and finds a locked door at the bottom of the stairwell. He uses his stealth technology to wait on the wall. Soon after this, the Heyson police (along with Dax and Blain) rush in. As he kicks open the locked door, the breach man is pelted by an anti-personnel mine. He crumples back and the rest of the team storms in. They find a series of gauss-weapon assembly lines being worked by nineteen people, ranging from elderly to infants. As they push in, they are ambushed by six Silver Army thugs rapid-firing gauss rifles. Two officers are killed in the ensuing firefight. Halleck leaves the building and goes back in to avoid suspicion from the overwatch teams, arriving just in time to add his marksmanship to the fight. The battle ends as Blain cuts the last thug in half with his axe. Dax rushes the wounded door-breecher to the Providence for medical treatment. He makes a full recovery, and promises to have Dax's back in the future if he ever needs help.

During the chaos of arresting the workers, Halleck goes around to the wounded thugs and quietly executes them. Two sobbing children observed his actions before he activated his stealth suit. Although Halleck suggests that the raid end here, Mr. Rufus orders a search of the rest of the buildings in the neighborhood. Inside one they find the robot chicken fighting ring, with six Silver Army thugs placing bets. They round up these men and take them to the station. The crew later sends Thatcher to bribe the thugs into silence by promising Baron Boy membership.

Due to the casualties sustained in the raid, Mr. Rufus plans to head back to Zenna on 18JUN3800. Learning this, the crew gives the plasma weapons factory the green light to start production. Profits will begin to accumulate on 01JUL3800. At this point the crew started dividing their attention into personal affairs.

Blain was given a delivery by a man with a robot companion who claimed to be his nephew. Dismissing him (and not providing a tip) Blain went inside the ship with his package. Before he opened it, his alien monkey Paul sniffed the container and frantically fled. Opening the box, Blain was horrified to discover severed alien monkey paws similar to Paul's. A note at the bottom challenged him to stop the slaughter by going to the Heyson Xeno-Primatology society in Zenna. Wrapped up with gang activity, Blain sent a message to Zenna indicating that he was interested, and would join them as soon as possible. He briefly considered boosting Paul's intelligence with implants and sending him on the mission in his stead.

Dax wanted to learn more about the Baron Boys. He went to a local bar posing as a potential buyer. Two Baron Boys men approached him, suspicious of his interest. Luckily, Dax was able to woo them with a promise to let them try his grav-belt if they hooked him up with a plasma-weapons sale. As they left, Dax shot bugs onto them, which he remotely spread to their lieutenants. From his bugs Dax learned that the plasma weapons shipments were going to a planet called Porphura, to the stellar north of Heyson.

Halleck went to visit Kevo in the hospital. He told Kevo that he believed that his current path would lead to death and destruction. Kevo told him that he believed that breaking away from the Republic would lead to the betterment of Sin. Recruitment for his army would get people off the streets and give them pride in their country. Seeing that Kevo truly cared about reviving the soul of his planet, Halleck agreed to an easy peace.

Session 3.2: Prologue to Meca-Hitler

Favorite In-Game Quote: "We'll genetically modify OUR OWN robot chickens!"

Date (Heyson Standard): 06JUN3800-10JUN3800

Location: Planet Providencia (Sin)

The adventure began with the crew of the Providence hosting a dinner party for their two partnership gangs, the Baron Boys and the Brass Boys (now renamed the Brass Brewers to differentiate from their partners). The dinner was held at Governor Bandalin's estate, and featured good foot, a cigar room with complimentary smoking jackets and fedoras, and a robotic rapper named Two-Volts. The dinner went pleasantly enough, with the three parties making small talk and spreading gossip. Topics discussed were the rising number of Altrani (space elf) raids on Heyson ships, hiring lion-men mercenaries, and how to properly say grace to Ooba-Mai.

During the dinner, Kevo received a visit from a Heyson representative. The man had been providing Providencia with badly-needed medical supplies, and wanted to speak with Kevo about the rising concern of illicit firearm manufacturing and exportation on Sin. He declared that the planet was under federal investigation to "help" the governor rid himself of the crime "problem". After he left the crew gathered with Red Hawk and the Count to discuss ways to get the representative out of the picture. In the end, a plan was hatched in which the representative would be led to a smaller gang. After busting it, he would believe the crime problem to be solved and depart.

The gang they selected was known as the Silver Army. The Baron Boys kept decent tags on the gangs activities; they knew that a shipment of weapons would leave the starport in six days. The crew went to work pinpointing the location of the Silver Army factory. They found a residential neighborhood near the starport with three strange energy spikes. Thatcher used his psionic abilities to scout out the buildings. One was a chop-shop for a very small local gang. Another was a robot chicken ring, which the crew later visited. The third energy spike came from the Silver Army's underground weapons factory. The crew decided to tell the representative about the factory (and the delivery) on 10JUN3800.

Robot chickens and their betters:

Hallic (Kernal Sanders)
Vespers (Dr. Cox)
Harrison (Rooster McBooster)
Game Master (Clux)

After three brutal rounds of fighting, Rooster McBooster stood above all others. Mainly because he was the only one still able to stand. Highlights included Rooster McBooster ripping Dr. Cox in half, Clux blinded Kernal Sanders, and Clux being crippled in the last round by Rooster McBooster. Future robot chicken fights will involve more strategy and weapons.

While the rest of the crew were out gambling, Kevo organized a political rally with his military. On 09JUN3800 his army marched through the streets of the Providencia starport. During the parade a mob of protesters in white appeared. When they started throwing tomatos at Kevo, he sent his police force to suppress the mob. The altercation got violent, with five protesters being killed and twenty-two people wounded, including seven officers. After that was resolved, Kevo began his speech.

Speech:

The day of criminal rabble, and outside political influences poisoning our society is coming to a close.

What millions of Sin’s citizens even outside our political ranks see as the most impressive display of power.

When our party, of only a few men voiced two principles. First, it wanted to be a true ideology conditioned movement. Second it wanted therefore to be the sole power of the people of Sin.

Because of the people of Sin, the best of our race, in proud self confidence, have courageously and boldly claimed leadership of the Party and the nation. 

The people of Sin are now happy in the knowledge that the constantly changing leadership has now been replaced with a fixed pole. A force which considers itself the best representative of the best blood. Knowing this, the nation of Sin has elevated itself to keep this leadership, and never relinquish it again. 

It will always be the only part of the nation which will consist of active fighters, and more will be asked. For them the pledge “I believe” is not enough. Instead, they pledge “I will fight”

The party for all time will come to represent the elite political relationship of the people of sin. 

It will be unchangeable in its doctrine, hard as steel in its organization, supple and adaptable in its entirety. However, it will be a Holy Order!

In our past our enemies prosecuted us, and have removed undesirable elements from our Party focus. 

Today, me must remove undesirable elements which have been proven bad. 

What is bad has no place among us!!

It is our wish this state and Reich will endure for a millennia to come 

We are happy in this knowledge, that fortune belongs to us completely!

While older ones among us may possibly waver, the youth is committed to us body and soul. 

Only when the party, is in cooperation with everyone, makes it the highest embodiment of our ideals, in thought, and spirit, will the party be an indestructible pillar of the people of Sin, and Our Reich. 

Then eventually, the magnificent, glorious army of those proud old warriors of our nation will be joined by the political leadership of the party, and carry on their shoulder the Sin State, The Sin Reich!!

Dr. Vespers watched the violent suppression of protesters (and the speech that followed) from afar. He decided that enough was enough. As Hallic tried to brainstorm with him possible ways to stop Kevo, Dr. Vespers calmly pulled out a small remote and hit the trigger. Just as Kevo finished his speech, his stomach exploded. The bomb that Dr. Vespers put into him eight years ago finally found a purpose. Amazingly, Kevo survived the horrendous injury and was quickly evacuated to a hospital. There, he began plotting to fortify and renew his planet into a powerful and militarized society.

The session ended as the crew was about to tip off the Heyson representative.

Session 3.1: To Nerve Gas, Or Not To Nerve Gas

Quick note on Session 2.3: The final game of Traveller Season 2, Session 2.3 was where we realized that there was a limit to how many people could effectivly play Traveller at one time. Long story short the crew explored an unknown planet on the western frontier nicknamed "Timber". There were green aliens with acorn currency. Dax became their king. That's about it.

Favorite in-game quote (Dax to Kevo): "You've gotten to torture two other people. It's time to give someone else a turn!"

Date (Heyson Standard): 02JUN3800.

Location: Planet Providencia (Sin), Star Port District.

The night begins in a flashy nightclub. It's Election Day on Providencia and Bandolin Blimps float all above the city. Kevo Bandalin was reelected in a landslide victory. The crew of the Providence meet on Providencia to congratulate him. While Kevo, Dax, Thatcher and Blain socialize at the bar, Halic Still decides to go for a walk. Strolling past the throngs of Kevo supporters celebrating on the street, he noticed a man in an opposition candidate's t-shirt (Rob Honis) being taunted by the crowd. As the man attempted to cross the road, a car tried to run him over. Halic kills the driver and gets the man to safety.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew continue to socialize in the bar. Kevo is handed many drinks by supporters eager to congratulate him. As he raises one of his glasses, he notices that someone dropped a brass-cased bullet in his drink. He hands the drink to one of his men to investigate and decides to head home early.

The crew meets outside the club and walk together back to the starport. As they approach they see the various ships resting on the landing pads: the humble but deadly Providence, two scout ships being refueled, and two police cruisers protecting a transport coming in. As the crew rides the elevator up to the landing pads, Halic (nervous about the police proximity) readied his rifle. Midway through their ascent, a huge explosion rocked the starport. The elevator opened up into a battlezone. The police cruisers had been blown up, and men with sub-machine guns poured out of the scout ships to attack the surviving officers. The transport attempted to flee, but was crippled by an EMP missile as a corsair descended from the sky.

Within seconds, the crew of the Providence snapped into action. Halic and Blain began sniping off criminals as they rushed the police. Dax flew up to the corsair and hacked his way inside, while Thatcher used his psionic powers to scout the bridge. Kevo rushed to the Providence and mounted the top turret, aiming his fire at the newly-arrived corsair. Well-placed shots hit the ship's main fuel tank and forced it to crash-land on the pad. Dax used a hologram to keep the men from rushing out on to the pad.

The criminals already on the pad attempted to flee in their scout ships. Halic placed a tracer on one, while Dax hacked his way onto the other and forced it to land. Kevo rushed towards the criminal's corsair as three men with SMGs barreled out. Two were awestruck at the governor's presence, but their leader was eager to pump Kevo full of lead. The last-minute arrival and sacrifice of one of his bodyguards saved Kevo from serious injury. Halic killed the murderous criminal with his rifle, prompting the other two men to flee. Thatcher froze one with a cryo-grenade, while Kevo's second bodyguard tackled the other.

Dax infiltrated the crashed corsair, killed their Mohawk-sporting leader, and took the remaining three survivors prisoner. Kevo killed the frozen criminal with his flechette pistol and took the rest for interrogation. The first man (after gruesome torture) revealed that they were members of the Brass Boys gang, an off-shoot of the Baron Boys (Providencia's largest and only state-sponsored gang) hoping to make money off of selling stolen medical shipments. The money would be used to create an illegal plasma weapons facility. He told Kevo that they had a well-defended base in a mountain outside of the city. Kevo repaid the man by letting Dr. Vespers harvest his organs. While this is going on, the rest of the crew had a long discussion about possibly using their money to invest in the starship construction industry.

Kevo began torturing the second man with the rest of the crew. Thatcher disagreed with his methods and killed the man, claiming that he was "spoiled". Dax and Thatcher took the third man. To their immense fortune, the man (Jamie Lul) was both a crybaby and the son of one of the gang's leaders (Jack Lul aka Red Hawk). At this point the crew began to internalize their gathered information and work out a corse of action. Kevo, hoping to keep order on his planet, wanted to wipe out the base with nerve gas. Other members of the crew wanted to take over the Brass Boys and use their assets to start their own gang empire. After much deliberation, the crew decided to propose a partnership with the Brass Boys on the condition that it's current leader (Hurricane) was replaced by the more reasonable Red Hawk. They traveled to the mountain and suggested this to Red Hawk, who eagerly accepted. They planned to sell the corsair (repaired by Blain and Dax) and use the money to create the new factory.

Kevo pushed for the crew to bring the Baron Boys into the partnership as transporters/dealers (partially to avoid their retribution). They met a representative of the gang (the Count) in orbit and hashed out the beginning of a deal. A dinner was planned at Kevo's estate to finalize the agreement.

Session 2.2: The Heist That Never Was

Favorite In-Game Quote: Tie Between "Let the interns do it" and "At least wash it first."

The crew had just succeeded in their capture of Dr. Dolbert. While they were resting at the Zenna City Starport, Dr. Vespers returned to the Providence toting a new intern: Joey. He is a young med-school graduate looking for a good mentor. Dr. Vespers is the best around. Dax decides to get an intern of his own and recruits a homeless man named Kim out of an alleyway.

Halic, after reviewing interplanetary trading data, concludes that the best way for the crew to make money (illegally) is to steal radioactives. Most radioactives are enriched and consumed in the Iron Triangle. After a pit stop on the Micallo black market for Dr. Harrison's new AT weapon, Providence sets out to their heist target. In jump space they encounter a trade ship carrying wheeled cars. Abandoning all plans of complex nuclear heist, the crew formulates a new plan to steal the trader. Using a false emergency signal, the crew lures a medic aboard. While the trader crew is distracted, Dax sneaks aboard, hacks the ship, and knocks them all out.

Upon arriving in the Iron Triangle, the trader ship is stripped of its markings and cereal numbers. The shuttle that comes with the ship is stored in Providence's hanger. The crew is put in cryo-stasis and later used as cadavers to train Joey. The ships travel to Zenna, where Dr. Vespers contacts his father-in-law to find a buyer. The Dog is pretty pissed that his "son" is running around with his old gang instead of providing for Mrs. Vespers. Eventually, Vespers convinces Dog to give him the name of a fence on Providencia.

The meeting with the fence takes place at the Tery and Teri Bar. The fence is a gruff old man named Joel. After some resistance Joel buys the ship for 65 million credits. While the transaction takes place, the crew watches the 8 PM pirate broadcast of "The Red Ring of Blood." Masked men in red robes pit faceless fighters together in battles to the death. The end goal is to reach 100 kills and earn the rank of Centurion. At that point, the fighter enters into "the Legion." Losers are unmasked and executed. Each fighter has an ID number and a blood count for how many kills he has. Killing another fighter steals his blood count. During the fights the arena can throw in unpredictable variables like rabid alien monsters.

With all of their newly found cash, the crew invests in some upgrades for their ship. Providence is outfitted with brand new lasers for future killing and better armor to avoid being killed. They name their new shuttle the Messiah and upgrade it with heavy lasers. The modifications will take at least two weeks, so the crew sets out for some fun on the town. They fall into three groups:

Group one consists of Halic. He goes off on his own until noon the next morning. When he comes back he complains about shrapnel wounds from a long time ago to Dr. Vespers and gets the old injury repaired.

Group two consists of Dax and Harrison. They wake up in a serial killer's apartment surrounded by cop corpses. They had spent the night helping this madman kill police officers on patrol. The body count was around 12 officers. Later the intern gets drunk, rents an apartment next door, and inadvertently gets the man arrested.

Group three consists of Vespers and Kim. They wake up wearing blue combat armor with only certain parts of their gear. They are in prep tubes about to be launched into the Red Ring of Blood. Vespers has his syringe gun, an EMP grenade, a hatchet and a guass pistol. Kim has two revolvers. Their enemy is the red team: a muscly man with a guass rifle and a thin man with a chainsword and pistol. At the start of the battle, Thin Red uses active camo and disappears while Big Red puts a nasty shot in Vespers. Thinking quickly, Vespers tosses the EMP grenade and disables all of the red team's gear. In desperation, the red team charges the blue team: Big Red brings Kim to the ground and Thin Red bumps into Vespers. Soon afterwards the arena twist kicks in and the ground shakes violently. While red team is detracted, Vespers and Kim cripple them with their pistols. They proceed to unmask and execute the two defeated fighters. Their night in the arena brings their blood count all the way up to 56.

The next day, Dax sneaks into the Red Ring of Blood and sets the broadcasts to always play "Let's Get It On" when a fight begins.

Tigris Data Logs

...

Download Complete

Ship Specifications: 

Type: Scout-Ship, Model C

Crew: 4

Commissioning Date: 11/7/3761

Owner: Tengo Lon

Total Jumps: 115

Crew Specifications:

Tengo Lon: Captain. Born 1/3/3725. Homeworld: Micallo.

Fred Rugle: Ship's Doctor. Born 2/12/3750. Homeworld: Cos.

Reggie Stake: Engineering. Born 5/19/3742. Homeworld: Zenna.

Paul Meade: Defense: Born 3/28/3749. Homeworld: Stak.

Star Log: 

Altrani Empire

Altron: First Order.

Prot: Second Order.

Dubia: Third Order.

Camca: Fourth Order.

Lon: Fifth Order.

Ret: Sixth Order.

Ascelonian Fiefs

Simbai: Pride.

Lea: Test of Wings.

Roz'lema: Test of Hoof.

T'ka: Test of Foot.

Mii: Test of Knots.

Dwergr Confederation

Sventle: Fire.

Heimhearth: Earth.

Thorza: Water.

Odlelay: Air.

Thumga: Mud.

NAR

Roosevelt: Freedom.

Independent Planets

Div: God in a million forms. 

Tess: Gadgets from God.

Freddo: Retreat. 

Caldo: Binary.

Verde: Endless Night.

Silic: City of Diamonds.

Timber: City of Wood.

Trash: City of Treasures.

Truna: Always a job, only cost is dignity. 

...

Log End

Session 2.1: The Reunion

Favorite In-Game Quote: You made fun of Clifford for being a cow, and now you ARE a cow!

In the eight years since the fall of the Heyson Confederacy, the crew of the Providence have gone their separate ways. To their surprise, the outlaw Halic Still returns from the Heyson underworld gather together the old team. He leads them to a hospital on Zenna, where their old friend Captain Meade is dying of brain cancer. His old friend Clifford, last of the Red Dogs, maintains a constant vigil over his old mentor.

Meade is confused, saying many things that make little sense. He alludes to an old trip he took to a planet called Truna, where his injured friend Tengo was healed by a strange alien, who also gave him back his youth. Halic, the oldest member of the crew, resists the temptation to follow this lead, claiming that all men have their time. Dax, however, sees merit in seeking out Meade's old companion for the purpose of learning about new alien worlds. When prompted about Tengo's location, Meade gives a cryptic answer: "Tengo on the Tigris." Using his computer skills, Dax finds an old scout ship in the Zenna Aerospace Museum known as the Tigris. The crew heads to the museum, and gain admittance with Kiki's eight-year old museum pass.

Dax asks an old curator for info on the Tigris. While she is looking it up, he hacks into the museum database and steals all files related to the Tigris. He learns that it was a four-man vessel that was donated to the museum over 30 years ago by Meade. The crew notes indicate that Meade voyaged westward (in the relative space sense) with Tengo Lon, Fred Rugle, and Reggie Stake. Along with this information is a massive cache of stellar coordinates, revealing over two dozen new worlds beyond Heyson. The full details of this information will be posted in a later entry. 

With a full name to work with, Dax pinpoints Tengo Lon's location to a mining company on the recovering planet of Micallo. After Kevo and Dr. Harrision taunt Clifford for his weight (Harrison with more encouragement), the crew sets off. In jump space, the crew finds an abandoned moleman digging vehicle. Dax brings it onto the ship.

When they arrive on Micallo, the crew sees that progress on the rebuilding city is slow. They hop in a truck and head out to Tengo's mine. When they arrive, they find a mob of miners at the mouth of the cave being consoled by a nervous foreman. He explains to the crew that feral gubrox, leftovers from the invasion, have settled in the cave and trapped some miners inside. One of those miners is Tengo Lon. Halic strikes a deal with the foreman to be paid by the number of gubrox slain. Using his psionic abilities, Thatcher the Badger locates Tengo deep within the mine. With his powers the crew could avoid all confrontation with the gubrox. However, after many years apart they are all eager for a fight, and jump on a small gubrox camp in a side passage. The battle is brief, but the noise from Dax's new grenade launcher attracts the attention of the entire mine.

The crew sets up firing positions inside the small side passage. Hordes of gubrox pour through the gap. The battle is fierce, but the superior weapons and skill of the crew saves the day. Incendiary grenades and sharpshooting create a heap of corpses. As the crew begins to lower their weapons, a massive drilling vehicle bursts out of the side wall. Kevo and Kiki are nearly shredded by the behemoth's massive drill. Thinking quickly, Dax pulls out his metal-eating "flamethrower." His weapon peels back the hull of the captured drilling machine. Careful sharpshooting kills the gubrox crew, and Dax pulls the partially-dissolved hatch open to shut off the drill.

The drill left a massive tunnel in its wake, which allows Tengo and the other miners to escape. The crew is paid for their efforts, and even manage to sell their newly found moleman drilling machine for a nice price. They share a food-truck meal with Tengo, who is reluctant to give up any information about the planetary database the crew has found. Halic offers to give Tengo a ride to see Meade before he dies, which Tengo accepts.

Back on Zenna, the crew finds that Meade has already passed away. Tengo takes this news apathetically, thanking the crew and informing them that he can find his own way back to Micallo. While this is going on Dax surfs the web for news. He finds out that a bio-terrorist and illegal gene-splicer known as Dr. Dolbert is at large with a hefty bounty on his head. Dax cross-analyses audio recordings of the outlaw with stray communication signals on Zenna. He pinpoints the man's location to the Zenna Zoo. The crew sets off for a day with the animals.

Dax, Halic, and Kevo infiltrate the zoo with their stealth technology. Kiki and Dr. Harrison visit the zoo in disguise. The stealth team sneaks into the zookeeper headquarters and travels down to the bottom floor. There, they find patients whose DNA had been supplemented with that of animals. In a back room, they find Dr. Dolbert. He is insane, thinking that Ooba-mai speaks to him when he is alone. He reveals that he intends to mix all species together into one mega-species worthy of Ooba-mai's praise. The stealth team use his insanity to lure him to their car outside the zoo.

Meanwhile, the Kiki and Dr. Harrison visit the zoo's newest exhibit: the Giant. They find a massive humanoid alien in the cage. Dr. Harrison takes pity on the beast and sneaks in to give it food. Unfortunately, the Giant is too fond of him, and captures Dr. Harrison in his strong grip. Efforts of the zookeepers to sedate the beast only enrage him, and it takes several shots to knock him out. Dr. Harrison tries to escape by walking out calmly, but is tackled by the Zoo staff.

The crew minus Dr. Harrison turn in the mad scientist for their bounty. They inform the police of the lab below the zoo, and a PMC is hired to flush them out. Dax joins in. The raid is set for that night. Unfortunately, by the time they get to the zoo, Dr. Harrison has been hideously transformed into a cow-man. The Zenna hospital is unable to help him, but Dax collected enough data from the zoo to attempt his own surgery (for a heavy fee). The procedure has mixed results: his facial features and appendages are repaired, but Dax is unable to remove the (functioning) utter. Kevo taunts Dr. Harrison, guns are pulled, and Kiki brings peace with a stun grenade.

After Zenna: The Last Eight Years

3792- The Battle of Zenna. Lurton falls to the Haldrax, who retreat back into the void of space. With the help of the Providence, Andrew Hey overthrows the Kanger government and establishes the Heyson Republic. He is quickly elected President of Heyson.

3793- The Cleansing. Sin is purged of its criminal warlords, and renamed Providencia in honor of the hero ship of the rebellion. President Hey declares a war on gangs, and puts the idle Heyson Military in the streets. Old gangs fall, but progress is slow and bloody.

3794- Disarmament. President Hey and his government pour trillions of credits into the War on Crime. Hey backs a law that bans the possession of battle-dress and electric combat armor, as well as heavy weapons like man-portable artillery. The military spends the year rounding up almost all high-tech battle armor in Heyson space. In response to the crackdown, whole worlds riot. They call President Hey a tyrant and plan to replace him in the next election.

3795- Reform. With elections scheduled in one year, Hey needed to turn his image around. To calm the fears of tyranny in the public, Hey drafts the Demilitarization Act of 3795. The Army and the Navy are heavily reduced. Battle Dress is retired, and combat armor is reserved for special forces units. The excess money goes towards the restructuring of the education and health care systems. While this is going on, the government quietly retreats from the War on Crime.

3796- Elections. Hey wins by a narrow margin. His policies continue. Colonists are sent to Micallo to rebuild.

3797- Economic Slide. New gangs surface. Old companies fall, and new ones rise. Most worlds fully recover within two years.

3798- Gubrox Incursion. Providencia his hit by a full-scale Gubrox invasion. The Heyson military is completely unprepared for battle against such a numerous foe, and it takes months to push the Gubrox off the planet and out of the orbit of Providencia. Conservative citizens blame the recent demilitarization acts for the fiasco. The humiliation discredits the federal military, and many planets resort to hiring Private Military Companies for protection.

3799- Future Frontier. With elections a year away and Hey gunning for a third term, government funds are poured into new scientific fields. Androids become cheaper and more available to the general public. Gene-splicing gives rise to fabulous new medicines, but also disturbing and illegal bodily alterations. The old and defunded scout program is replaced by the Cosmic Exploration Service (CES) and given the goal of contacting new alien allies.

3800- Now. Last month Heyson and Altrani ambassadors met in a peace summit. Trade and defensive treaties are discussed, but tensions from the last war still remain. Meanwhile, strange radio signals are being received from every corner of Heyson's stellar boarders. Federal elections are 10 months away. Hey wants a third term, but is being challenged by a young Kanger. As all of this is going on, an old crew reunites in a Zenna hospital to say goodbye to a dying friend...

Final Summer Sessions

In the chaos of preparing to leave for my freshman year of college, I neglected to update the blog with the last few sessions of the summer. Sorry about that. This is a summery of events that occurred after session 6. My memory is foggy so as a result they may not be in chronological order.

Escape from the Crystal Mountain: Dunlap was an evil assassin and master of disguise. He was hunting Halic Still for a mysterious and massive bounty. The crew shot him with many bullets after he monologued for too long. Then they ran from an evil crystal giant. Once on their ship, they blasted him apart. The dust that he left behind was used to coat their ship with armor.

Street Racing: Kevo Bandalin bought a tricked-out car and took it to the streets of Sin. When he lost, he pulled a gun on the thugs that bested him. They responded by pulling out their own guns. In a panic, Kay throws one of Kiki's bombs under a nearby car and takes off running. Unfortunately, he knows little about bombs, and pulls the trigger too quickly. The resulting explosion tares him apart and scares away the gang.

Dax's Own Odyssey: Dax goes to Micallo to seek revenge against his rival, Garry Morrison. He scares the dude to near death, and is compensated with an intelligence boost and a gravity hammer.

Drug Growth on Chem: The crew fits out Providence to go undersea for some drug ingredients. While Dr. Harrison harvests the goods in a reef, he is met by a large sea creature. Dr. Vespers shoots the beast apart, then fears legal consequences.

Fall of Micallo: A huge Gubrox warship raids the mining planet of Micallo. The crew helps the military bring down the ship, and saves a mother and her young daughter in the process. The dying warship plunges straight towards Micallo city. After a fierce debate, the crew rushes to the surface to save Captain Meade, who was busy recruiting in the city. With him they also save Clifford and a mysterious young man with grey hair. As they pull out for a hasty atmospheric jump, the little girl glows green. The ship takes on this glow, and suddenly teleports into the orbit of Zenna. The girl is reduced to ashes. Kevo and Dax drop her mother off on Zenna with alcohol and a handgun.

Looting of Micallo: Dax thaws out an Altrani slave in stasis, who in return promises Dax his life. His name is Quel'thalar, but he offered to shorten it to Quel. Dax further shortens it to "Q." Dr. Harrison finds a blue monkey alien. The crew finds the wreckage of a Flash Cola ship, with coordinates leading back to a factory on Zenna.

Investigation of Flash Cola: Kevo and Kiki go into the factory on  the pretense of government inspectors. They go for a tour along with a group of Elementary school students. Kevo sneaks away from the tour and is captured. Kiki takes the kids hostage and demands cakes and other crazy things from the factory security. The rest of the crew sneaks into the factory from the back and find an evil nanobot laboratory underneath, as well as several captives. Kevo is interrogated via torture. The crew's new Asian friend riles up some of the captives and sends them into a frontal assault on the factory. During the confusion, everyone escapes.

Backup for Uncle Bartholomew: Uncle Bart went broke when a space gang stole his new matter disintegrator weapon. Except they didn't, its all a trap set up by Barry to capture Halic and the Providence. The crew triumphs, but sacrifices their new Asian friend to escape Barry's fortress of death. Kevo finds a pocket nuke and rejoices.

Battle for Zenna: Lurton has fallen to the mysterious crystalline aliens, the Haldrax. Fortunately the alien fleet was crippled in the battle, but due to the loss of the capital the Kanger government had to be relocated to Zenna. The mysterious man rescued by the crew contacts the Providence for one final mission. He reveals himself to be the rebellion leader Andrew Hey, ancestor of Alexander Hey, who dismantled the Old Dominion and whose son established the Heyson Confederacy. Providence's mysterious green inner structure is revealed to be a large-scale psiplate construct. It allows a psion to sacrifice all of his life energy to teleport anywhere instantly, and can create a travel bubble large enough to transport a fleet. Hey wants to use this to strike into the already-crippled Heyson Fleet, and is willing to sacrifice his life to do so. Fortunately for him, Providence is carrying another Psion, Thatcher the Badger. The two use their energy to take the rebel fleet straight over Zenna. The battle initially goes well, until the government reveals their secret weapon: the nanobots in the Flash Cola turn all civilians on the ground into bloodthirsty zombies. The crew tracks the nanobot signals to a main tower, and Kevo uses his pocket nuke to blow it up.

Immediate Aftermath: The crew of Providence go their separate ways. Thatcher retires on Cos, hoping to recharge his spent psionic power. Dax becomes a bounty hunter with his Altrani servant. Dr. Vespers hooks up with a hot and mysteriously wealthy young girl, and soon afterwards sets up a very nice medical facility. Dr. Harrison becomes a respected scientist with his monkey assistant. Kevo returns to Sin and is elected governor. Kiki goes off with Halic to find new kinds of explosives. Halic Still stays on the Providence, with the simple drive to keep on flying.

Edit: Somewhere along the way the crew got a robot butler. And Kevo had sex with a gubrox.

Session 6: No One Expected Jet's Head to Explode

Best In-Game Quote: When someone says that people called him mad, that right there is a red flag.

The crew had a month to kill before the expedition. They decided to spend their first few days indulging themselves. As they prepare to set out, they are met by Thatcher the Badger, ready to rejoin the crew. With their numbers grown, the crew sets out for fun. Searching for a fight club on Sin, they discover an underground Shock Hobo Fighting Federation. Jet steps up to challenge the various heavyweight hobos. Eventually the crew starts fighting each other, and afterwards stumble into bars. This is what follows-

Kay saves the life of a Heyson agent. He doesn't know how or why.

Kevo once again saves Uncle Bartholomew's life. He is now his uncle's double favorite nephew.

Jet wakes up overdosed on drugs. After he promised never to take drugs again.

Dr. Vespers wakes up in Providence's cargo bay with a fancy sports hover-car.

Kiki wakes up in a tour bus. A rock band thanks her for helping them with groupies and gives her an autographed guitar.

Halic spent the night fighting people in the streets and ended up in jail. Unfortunately, he's on Sin, meaning that he needs to bribe the police to go free. Originally the "bail" was set at 120,000, but Halic was rude to the crooked cop and the price got raised to 150,000. Halic curses the man, gets his gear, camps outside until the cop leaves, and discreetly shoots him dead.

The crew trains for a few weeks before going to Zenna to get Dax. Dax was successful in getting back what his rival stole from him: an expensive mind-enhancing chip and an old gun. The crew quickly turn the ship around and head back to Sin for the professor.

On the third day in jump space, the crew wakes up with mild headaches. After a quick medical scan they disregard the headaches and continue on as normal. They all go to sleep that night as usual, but mysteriously wake up on the ship's bridge. All of their computer systems are down,  and the crew are all in their sleeping clothes. Arming up in the ships lockers, they proceed towards their rooms. This is what they find-

Halic: The ghost of Barbosa, whose ship he stole.

Kiki: A member of her rival gang, the Acids.

Jet: His sister zombified.

Kevo: A giant panda (a reference to an ODnD dungeon).

Thatcher: His deceased friend Saxon, a martial artist who eschewed technology in favor of his own body.

Kay: A bug-like alien (a reference to SC2).

Dr. Vespers: His insane rival, Dr. Mercy (complete with a poison-dart gun).

In addition, the crew finds their own physical selves sleeping in their beds. All attempts to wake themselves up fail.

After defeating their nightmares, the crew goes down to the cargo bay. Fighting past a demonic Gabriel, they see a miniature storm brewing over the Prophet.They do a breach into the passenger section and encounter passive reflections of all the people that they recently killed. Breaching into the cockpit, they find a young woman in combat armor sleeping in the pilot's chair. She has a metal band around her head. When Thatcher touches his mysterious black amulet to the band, the illusion shatters and the crew wakes up in their beds.

Kay spearheads the rush to the Prophet. When he opens the cockpit door, he is blasted back by a wave of psionic energy. The woman is fully awake and wielding deadly mental powers. Jet deals massive damage to her, but she is able to use a mixture of regenerative and shielding powers to stay alive. Jet believes that the situation has become hopeless and seals himself in the cockpit with the woman. Taking out a simple spoon, he scoops out his camera eye. Suddenly, a massive explosion engulfs the cockpit.

Apparently Jet had a "nanobomb" inside his head. The crew doesn't know much except that for some reason he was being monitored through the eye and the bomb was put there to prevent Jet from resisting. The blast kills both Jet and the woman. The rest of the jump is uneventful, and when the ship lands on Sin, Halic uses Jet's blood to paint a small memorial on the hull of the ship.

The crew gathers the professor and Dunlap (whose success on Sin rewarded him with battle dress and a 50-cal. rifle). As they leave Sin, they find a drifting escape pod. Inside is Dr. Harrison, a buff scientist who has been cryo-frozen for nearly 500 years. He decides to stay with the crew. Their jump to the mysterious planet is uneventful. When they get into normal space, the crew encounters a small Gubrox ship. Expert shooting from Kevo and Halic brings the ship down.

The professor guides the crew to the excavation location. To get there, they need to navigate through a tunnel system inside of a large mountain. While inside they encounter dangerous predators. They resemble killer whales in size and appearance, but have four strong legs and skin made to mimic the surface of the cave. Using their Armored Fighting Vehicle (known as Jericho), the crew gets plows through the monsters and discovers a crystalline wall surrounded by a cluster of buildings. To their disappointment, the crew finds that the buildings are actually just a human mining camp that was abandoned a few years ago.

The professor completely ignores the buildings. He begins digging in the dirt, excavating some sort of round crystal symbol a few feet in diameter. The symbol looks like a crescent moon. Unfortunately, the professor's mental health starts to deteriorate rapidly. He speaks in confusing and paranoid sentences, much to the annoyance of Halic. He briefly threatens the crew and then proceeds to dig small random holes around the symbol.

At the same time, Kay finally decodes an encrypted transmission that he found a few days ago. It is a warrant for the arrest of the professor, who killed a colleague at Zenna University. When prompted about the message the professor goes totally nuts, screaming at everybody. Suddenly, a gunshot goes off. The professor's chest explodes instantly. The crew turns around to see that Dunlap took the matter into his own hands and shot the maniac.

We cut off right after this happened.

Session 5: No One is Surprised to be Ambushed by a Space-Lion

In-Session Quote: "Ya know, I think that Nazi zombies kinda sullied the name of the Nazis."

At the conclusion of the last session, Dax goes off on a solo mission to take out his rival, Garry Morrison. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew regroup with the Red Dogs, who have set up a training camp outside of Micallo City. Their hunt for information was unsuccessful, but they promise to provide aid whenever their services are needed.

With a ship full of drugs, the crew heads to planet Sin. In jump-space, they encounter a bizarre pirate ship (an actual sailing ship). After a quick expedition the crew adds to their inventory several antique weapons, clothes, and tools. They plan to find a good museum to sell it all to.

The crew faces a second and more dangerous encounter later in jump-space. Kevo awakes one night to find the battle-drone Gabriel wandering into the cargo bay. Kevo hears a sharp noise; Beep. Beep. Beep... When Kevo goes to inspect the him, a bomb strapped to Gabriel explodes, destroying his gun. Kevo quickly wakes the crew, and a manhunt is orchestrated room by room. While they are inspecting the low-birth (cryo) room, they are blasted with a powerful grenade. Kevo runs outside to face the grenadier, and it attacked from above.

An invisible force crushes down on Kevo. The crew watch in horror as massive claw marks appear on his chest armor. Jet swings his massive energy blade above Kevo, revealing a fearsome figure in black and blue battle dress. He fights with glowing energy claws and wears a lion-like mask. In epic close-quarters combat, the crew work to pierce the stranger's armor (Kiki's plasma rifle does the best). When Jet is knocked unconscious, Halic herds the crew back into the low-birth room and seals the door. Moments later-

Beep. Beep. Beep... The crew huddles in the corner as an energy blast obliterates the door. Luckily, the blast also damaged the stranger. His mast falls away to reveal an actual lion's face! An expert shot by Halic brings down the man-beast. Kiki proceeds to behead the creature. Then, the armor glows bright blue.

Beep. Beep. Beep... The crew flees the ensuing blast, which melts the low-birth room and destroys all traces of the lion-man. A quick evaluation of the ship ensures that no more predators are hunting the crew. Halic hypothesizes that the stranger came aboard from the pirate ship. The fact that he was a lion-man doesn't seem to phase the crew.

Finally, the crew reaches Sin. They sell the drugs for 200.000 and buy more seeds. Kevo takes advantage of Sin's liberal markets and buys materials to create suitcase and gas bombs with Kiki. The crew attends a convention hosted by the followers of Ooba-Mai. The contents of that convention will be posted at a later date, but long story short Kevo is tranquilized, Halic gets wasted, and Jet befriends a priest named Father Julian.

The next day, Kevo is contacted by his wealthy Uncle Bartholomew. Bartholomew tasks the crew to deliver combat drugs to war-torn planet Don. The crew accepts when promised a lucrative reward. Kevo also places an order for nerve gas from Bartholomew's scientists. On their way to jump space, they encounter a strange man named Dunlap in an escape pod. He claims to be an expert sniper and requests only minimal pay. The crew allows him to stay for now.

The jump is uneventful. When they reach the planet's outer space, they are harassed by a ship belonging to Don's rival planet, Ton. Kevo  suggests that they bribe the ship to get an escort. The crew accepts, and they head closer to the planet. One massive lie later gives them an even better escort directly to orbit (Ton currently controls the orbit around Don). The crew lands to find a heavily-damaged starport. Soldiers help unload the drugs. While this is happening, the station is subject to a bombing run by fighters.

Providence has the only functioning guns in the area. Kevo jumps into the top turret and blasts away at the fighters. When the ship is fully unloaded (and the crew fully paid) Providence shoots up into the air. When they reach their old escort in orbit, they are prompted as to whether or not the President safely made it to the ground. They successfully go along with the lie and escape the deadly war zone.

The crew returns triumphantly to Uncle Bartholomew. They are now significantly richer and finally respected by the rich tycoon. Kevo buys two massive kegs of nerve gas from the Bartholomew. They disguise the old low-birth room as a pantry and hide the kegs behind the wall.

Back on Sin, they repair their ship. While that is going on a strange old man known as Professor Humphrey approaches them with a dangerous expedition to Gubrox space. Apparently, his old university colleagues declared him to be mad and the Scouts were too frightened by the threat of the Gubrox to take up his work. The crew accepts his mission in the hopes of finding riches (or at least a contact through which to sell their pirate swag). The expedition is scheduled to depart in one month. Dunlap leaves the ship to make some money on Sin, promising to return for the expedition. The crew plans to get Dax back before departing.

Also, my players wanted the link to this-
http://www.travellersrd.com/content/official/mongoose_traveller_srd/mercenary_srd/mercenary_srd_1-2_index.html

Open-Source material that they can use in my game if they wish. As long as they let me know ahead of time.

Session 4: Marines and Molemen

Favorite In-Game Quote:
"Do I hear anything while I'm in the ambulance?"
Dice roll. "BUT I'M A VETERINARIAN!"

The session begins with the Providence heading to Zenna to sell the crystals. They make five million credits off the deal, and promptly go on a shopping spree. The crew spends a week getting various implants and other future swag. After a gambling adventure goes bad, Kay stabs into a pair of conjoined twins. They are split into two separate people and vow revenge on the violent Asian.

A conflict erupts between Halic and Jet that results in gunfire. Dr. Vespers stops the fight with cryo-grenades, and the crew holds a therapy session for the two combatants. The situation is further complicated when priests of Ooba-mai show up looking for converts. Eventually Halic and Jet reach an uneasy peace, and the ship heads out for planet Senra, where they hope to rescue a Micallo official's wife.

When they arrive in Senra space, they are hailed by a signal probe that marks Senra as restricted Heyson military space. Unfortunately, they forgot to fill up their fuel tank before departing Zenna. They are forced to head into restricted space. Orbiting the planet they find a large warship in the process of bombarding the planet with nuclear missiles. After some quick introductions, the crew is informed that they will be able to get fuel and the wife if they help take the capital.

Suddenly they are hailed by a resistance fleet hiding out in Senra space. The fleet is lead by the Planetary Defense Force Commander. He petitions Providence for its assistance in taking down the warship. After some deliberation, the crew sides with the rebels.

The battle begins in a flash of laser fire. Providence's lasers bounce off of the warship's armored hull. After one useless volley, the Providence crew decides to attempt a boarding action. Skilled piloting by Kiki locks the ships together. The rebel fleet focuses their fire on the opposite side of the ship .

The boarding party consists of Halic, Jet, Dax, Kevo, the battle-bot Gabriel, and the medic-bot Raphael. In a long corridor, they meet three marines in battle dress (power armor). The battle is long but eventually the party takes down the three marines. Meanwhile Providence is targeted by fast-intercept fighters in addition to nearby turrets.

After hearing several massive explosions, the boarding party calls for evac. Providence retreats, taking heavy fire from the warship. Fortunately, the rebels were able to take out the warship's maneuver drive and fuel tank, sending the ship spiraling into the planet. Once the battle is over, the PDF Commander escorts the crew down to the starport.

On the way, the crew spots the massive capital building, with what looks to be a large battle raging within it's courtyard. Halic, Dax, and Kevo jet-pack down. They see that marines in drop pods have taken over the capital building. The PDF forces cower in fear under the wreckage of broken tanks. Halic lands on the courtyard's central statue and draws most of the enemy fire. Dax lifts a marine high into the air, drops him, and then curb-stomps his leg in twain. Kevo takes a critical shot in the gut. Luckily, his suit is able to keep him alive long enough for the PDF forces to evacuate him.

Meanwhile, Kay, Jet, and Dr. Vespers ride with the PDF Commander in his grav-carrier (a hover gunship). Dr. Vespers sports new battle dress (looted from the boarding attempt). With the g-carrier's fusion gun, Dr. Vespers guns down several marines. Unfortunately, Jet is shot point-blank from a machine gun and takes critical wounds in his upper body. After two tries, Dr. Vespers is able to get his heart pumping again. Dr. Vespers heads back to the ship with Jet and Kevo for emergency surgery.

Kay takes over the fusion gun, taking out the last of the outdoor marine forces. Halic pursues one survivor into the capital, with the rest of the crew on his tail. He finds three marines attempting to bash down a door in a waiting room. In the ensuing battle the marines' leader is killed and the two survivors surrender.

Halic opens the door to find the governor in his office, surrounded by cowering aids and a fat man with a beard. The fat man identifies himself as Mr. Whittmore, a broadcaster wanted by the Heyson government for exposing a conspiracy on the occupied Altrani planets. Halic and Dax recover the wife, who was working as a secretary to the governor.

The crew spends a week on Senra, repairing, refueling, and rearming. During that time they are approached by a starport mechanic, who informs them of something odd about their ship. Apparently there is some sort of extra layer of metal around the structure. The metal is a dark green color and bears scratchy runes. The crew doesn't recognize the strange material.

As a reward for their part in the Battle for Senra, the crew is gifted with an Armored Fighting Vehicle, courtesy of the PDF. They name it Jericho.

On the way back to Micallo, the crew encounters a bizarre cylindrical ship. Messages from the ship appear to be in some sort of Morse Code. When they dock with the ship, they find that it is filled with dirt. As they begin excavating, the crew encounter strange mole-like aliens half the height of men. The creatures lack eyes and attempt to communicate with the crew by tapping code with their long nails. Dax hates them right off the bat and attempt to throw one out the airlock. The rest of the crew defend the mole-aliens and depart from the ship. As the mole ship departs safely from jump-space, the crew gets a final signal: "Dumbasses." Dax gloats for the rest of the trip.

On Micallo the crew reunite the long-distance couple. As promised, the official reveals Corvak's file. The are owned by a larger company and have only ever registered one ship: Blue Iron. The parent company is revealed to be the Flash Cola Company, makers of Heyson's most popular non-alcoholic beverage. The crew plans to go after Dax's rival Garry Morrison in the next game.

Jet sells his awesome combat photos for 20,000 credits.

Session 3: Tricks, Traps, and a Broken Camera

Favorite In-Game Quote: I think that thug is playing League of Legends.

Favorite In-Game Joke:
This is highway robbery!
You have four million credits.
No! I only have three million!

In the previous session the players agreed to clear out an asteroid mine for the Corvak Mining Company. Apparently, the mine was taken over by thugs. The players head to Micallo to meet up with the other hired mercenary group, the Red Dogs. Their leader Captain Meade gives the crew the specs of the mission and even trades over a man from his team: K'Shaw McMellon.

Horrible strife erupts during the journey to the mine when Jet's camera and pictures are destroyed. He vows to kill everyone aboard the ship. Gabriel is put outside Kevo's room, since Jet knows that he destroyed the pictures.

After a jump journey the crew arrives in the asteroid field. The mine is actually two separate buildings that meet up inside the asteroid. Providence takes one building, the Red Dogs the other. On the upper level of the building the crew finds no sign of life. In fact, they don't find any sign of use; the facility looks brand new. The crew eventually finds the lift and heads down into the mine.

In the mine the players find a half-mad mercenary from the old group that failed to clear the mine. He claims that this place is more of a training camp than a mine. Suddenly, a gunshot cuts through the darkness and kills him. At the same time, the lift is de-powered. The crew is attacked by ten wild men in black leather. These men are under the influence of combat drugs and wield terrifying chain-axes. The crew manages to fight off the initial attack, and proceed further into the mine.

After overcoming explosive mines, a heavy machine gun turret, and an ambush, the crew meets back up with the Red Dogs, who have taken significant losses. Luckily, Dr. Vespers is able to save the fattest of the group, Clifford. Pushing forward, the crew finds the control room for the mine. A huge man flanked by two alien canines and two more goons stares at a computer. After some quick gun action, the crew takes out the hostiles. They find the controls to the lift and a message from a mysterious employer. Identified only as  R, he wanted the gang to hone their skills on the mercenaries and then report back to a factory with more "subjects".

Disappointed that they are getting no pay and eager for revenge, the crew heads back to Micallo. Their request for information on Korvak is denied by the government. Luckily, one of the officials will give them information if they find out where his missing wife is. She should have moved to Micallo from Senra a month ago.

As the crew prepares to leave, Kevo heads out for a shopping trip. He meets with a shady man in an alleyway to see about buying illegal goods. The man turns out to be a mugger and nearly robs Kevo of his entire fortune. Luckily, Kevo always packs his massive gauss rifle. The police arrest him moments later for shooting a man in an alleyway with a high-powered rifle. A quick bribe earns Kevo his freedom.

On his way back to the ship Kevo encounters a fat old priest who claims to know Halic. Kevo guides the man onto Providence. In the commons area of the ship, the crew assemble to meet this mysterious man. The encounter turns violent when the man shoots a stun dart at Halic. His armor protecting him, Halic leaps forward and delivers a hard kick to the priest. The priest's form shimmers, revealing a man in full body armor.

An intense battle follows. Bullets ping off of the man's advanced suit. The stranger jumps to the ceiling with a jet pack and released deadly TDX grenades. Kiki is thrown within an inch of death. Dax jet-packs up to the ceiling and Dr. Vespers wall-climbs with mag-boots. After a fierce struggle, Dax and Dr. Vespers begins to push the stranger out of Providence. The stranger is so confident in his armor that he detonates the grenades on his belt, knocking out Dr. Vespers.

Meanwhile, Halic and Kay head out to the Prophet. After more wrestling the stranger and Dax end up outside of the ship. Halic flies the Prophet overhead and Kay liquefies the stranger with the plasma cannon, also known as the Hand of the Prophet.

The police arrive soon after, and inform Halic that they'll look into this attack. The Red Dogs plan to stay on Micallo to get more information on Korvak. Providence departs to find the official's wife and sell the expensive crystals that they got from their last adventure.

A list was made of things that Kevo is never allowed to do.
1. Buy a pocket nuke.
2. Go out alone on a planet ever.
3. Annoy Jet.
4. Perform surgery.
5. Interrogate prisoners.
6. Talk to anyone of authority.
7. Produce drugs- Only sell them (maybe).
8. Unauthorized commerce.
9. Allow anyone else onto the ship.
10. Carry more than 50k credits at one time.

He insists that the crew will need a pocket nuke at some point in the future.

Systems Check

This is the first RPG system that my gaming group has used that doesn't rely on the d20. As far as I can tell,  everyone has transitioned well. Combat is fast, explosive, and doesn't require a grid. This system is easy to play.

Something to note: when I say that the system is easy to play, I mean that the basic mechanics are not hard to grasp. My group got going with the system after only a few hours. Is the system easy to play CORRECTLY? Hell no.

It took me three characters before I actually rolled up a guy correctly. My first two attempts I thought were successes until I found a hidden rule that states when you roll X, you then roll on table Y and then proceed to Z. I am still clarifying rules, and I've run two six-hour sessions and flipped through the rule book for ten days. Would you believe that the book is about a centimeter thick?

Rules that we missed/misinterpreted/madeupstuffupfor in our first two sessions-

1. The d66. This is for tables used by the DM. Roll one for a number in the 10s place, the other for the number in the 1s place. Found in one sentence on the third page of the introduction.

2. Jumps. Already discussed this in the blog's introduction. Not changing now.

3. Gun ranges. Apparently you have a penalty for shooting a hunting rifle at an alien standing a foot away from you.

4. "Effect of the roll". If you roll higher than what was required, you get benefits. Probably would have helped the aliens trying to claw their way into Dax's armor.

5. Ship damage. Actually handled in a way similar to Warhammer 40k. Previously I was just rolling a bunch of damage and saying that something broke off.

6. Benefit rolls. It's not totally clear what your choices are when you roll "armor" or "weapon". We set a tech level cap of 12.

7. Manufacturing and selling drugs in space. There weren't actually rules for this, but their should have been. If there are illicit drugs on the random cargo table, there needs to be rules for getting more drugs.  

8. Maintenance and fuel. My group thought that owning a spaceship wouldn't cost anything. They were wrong.

9. Grenades. What happens when you miss? I'm using the scatter die from Warhammer 40k.

10. Camo cloaks. Doesn't automatically turn you invisible. You actually have to roll the dice.

11. Auto fire. Auto 4 doesn't actually give you four shots.

12. Burst fire. I don't think the players even know that this exists.

13. Jump distances. Back to how bad I messed up jumping. The ship actually needs to move away from the sun of a system for over a day before it can safely jump.

14. Death. It's the future. They have defibrillators. If only we could figure out how to use them.

15. Currency. I know how much a pistol costs, but how much for a stick of gum? And by the way, why is power armor like 20 times more expensive than a nuclear briefcase?

Now, is this system fun? Yes! With a good group it can be a blast. Can it run smoothly? Yes! We were going smooth in our first session. Can it be run as intended? Yes!... With lots of effort. Is that required? No! The beauty of this system is that once you get going, you can do pretty much anything. Its not hard to improvise a game. With a halfway-decent DM, you can have all sorts of cool space adventures.

One of my favorite features of the system is that it has something for everybody. There are rules for doctors, explosives experts, engineers, thieves, computer-geeks, and much more. We have a photographer in our group. That was a career path. Unlike DnD (which I love by the way) where you are stuck in certain niches, this system lets you create a truly unique character.

If your gaming group is looking for a sci-fi RPG system, buy Traveller from Mongoose Publishing. It is balanced, it works will all levels of RPG experience, and it is super fun. I am looking forward to more games this summer!

Session 2: Gang Wars and Space Raptors

Favorite Pregame Quote: Let's hope that Dr. Vespers won't have to perform surgery on us.

At the conclusion of the last game the crew were on planet Zenna, turning in the criminal Zach Kurtz. After this is done, they do some modifications to Providence. One of the low-berth rooms is converted into a sick bay. A portion of the cargo bay is devoted to a hydroponics-based drug grower. A combat drone is purchased, designated Gabriel, and painted white with flaming guns.

Thatcher leaves Providence to deal with some personal matters. To help keep the drug operation going, he leaves Halic with his young distant cousin, Kay. Thatcher hopes that Halic will "show Kay the ropes". Kay was in the support division of the Heyson Marine Corps.

The crew then gets down to business. Halic suggests that they start selling drugs on planets with higher law levels and a lower supply of drugs. They hit the poorer district below the starport to see who's dealing the drugs on this planet. As it turns out, most organized crime on Zenna is run by the Mugs, a mega-gang led by a man known only as "Dog". The crew visits a drug dealer for the Mugs, which concludes with Halic ordering the dealer to let the gang know about his crew. The dealer agrees, but informs Halic that he probably won't get too much out of the gang with his current resources.

As the crew is returning to their ship, they notice a big man in dark clothing tailing them. They chase him into an alleyway and promptly knock him out. When they turn around, five gang members appear and fire on them. The crew wins the firefight and escapes before the police arrive. Before they leave, Dax kidnaps the pursuer and Halic writes a warning in a gang member's corpse with his knife.

After a few days, the gang member regains consciousness. After a scan of his body, the crew finds that he had a tracking bug on him. At the same time, the ship next to them on the starport is impounded for containing a catch of drugs. With these factors in mind, the crew decides to depart from the main starport. After the questioning of the prisoner goes poorly, Dr. Vespers kills him and preserves his organs.

The drug dealer had told them previously that they might have better luck selling more powerful drugs. He recommended "Ice", and intervenious mixture created with materials from planet Kem. The crew decide to take a trip to Chem and find out about this new drug.

In jump space, they discover a derelict science ship, the HSS Lai. On board, the crew find the murdered corpses of several scientists. The killers were massive jungle lizards that are still roaming the ship. In the archive room, they learn that the ship was on an expedition to 9114C, a jungle moon past the Asteroid Wall. The chief scientist did not respect the environment, and that cost him his own life as well as the lives of his crew.

The crew defeat the aliens on the main level with relative ease, including the mother. They also make off with a mover-mech, an MRI machine, and some rare crystals. Going to the cargo bay they find that the plants in the cargo bay have burst out of their containers and rooted their way up into the ship. Jet takes a picture. As his flash goes off, 14 of the alien creatures rise up and charge at the crew.

The crew retreats up the ladder to the main level. Halic and Dax cover their retreat. An epic zero-g battle with guns and explosives followed. Despite the efforts of the crew, the aliens pushed upward. Three aliens jump upon Halic and tear open his throat with their massive claws. Halic bleeds out. Dax pushes his body up to Dr. Vespers and holds off the aliens with his impenetrable combat armor. After more fighting, the aliens are defeated.

EDIT: Dax's character asked me to record the fact that he was injured in this session. Although the aliens could not penetrate his armor, he was banged up pretty badly by misfires and stray grenades from the crew.

Dr. Vespers immediately gives Halic a drug to slow his body's functions. Taking him back to sick bay, Vespers repairs Halic's throat using parts from the captured gang member. Vespers then wakes up Halic using a body-accelerating drug.

Eventually the crew reaches Kem. Jet fails to find buyers for his pictures. Dax tries unsuccessfully to sell the crystals, but learns that computer companies on Zenna would pay big money. During his quest, Dax fights off robbers with Dr. Vespers. His actions catch the attention of a nerdy businessman. The man contacts the crew and informs them that he represents the Korvac Mining Company. Their mine on the Asteroid Wall has been taken over by thugs. Since the last mercenary team was unsuccessful, Korvac is hiring two this time. The crew agrees to be one of the teams, and they head to Micallo to meet up with the "Red Dogs".

Due to a natural 20 role on a d20, one of those Red Dogs will be named Clifford.

Session 1: Heart of Darkness

Favorite Pregame Quote: In this game, if you go up against people with a lower technology level, you pretty much win automatically.

The campaign begins in a bar on a small metalworking planet. Bar flies drown themselves in cheap beer. On the television reporters discuss the disappearance of Zach Kurtz, a gang lord who stole several canisters of neuroplague. Halic Still, ex-agent of the Heyson government, is searching for a new crew. Halic recently stole a ship from a rival agent. Dubbed Providence, the ship is an old corsair model ship perfect for smuggling and adventuring.  These are the people that he found to man the ship-

Kevo Bandalin- Spoiled noble with a criminal record and a nice shuttle.

Jet Walters- Young photographer with a tragic past. Has a vintage camera.

Zex Vespers- Demented medical doctor.

"Kiki"- Explosives expert and pilot.

Dax Griffon- Once a member of both the Navy and the Merchant Marine, Dax was bankrupted by a fellow mariner. Great with turrets.

Dax's brother Hutch approaches Halic with a proposition. Hutch fought in the 2nd Altrani War a few years ago, and was left unemployed at the war's end. He tells Halic about an abandoned gubrox slave ship that crash-landed on a feral planet 10 months ago. He offers to lead them to it if he and his brother get a cut. Halic agrees, but distrusts the young veteran.

After a week of travelling through jump space, Providence reaches the orbit of a mysterious red planet. Quickly finding the crash site, the crew lands in a dense jungle with red foliage. The gubrox ship is mostly in pieces, with the exception of the front section. The crew heads their first. Pushing their way past the green-skinned gubrox corpses and mysterious crystalline corpses, they reach a door that still has power. When Halic opens the door, and a blast of cold air meets him. It seems that the bridge of the ship went into an emergency cryo-freeze during the crash. A massive gubrox corpse lies in the middle of the room. Scattered around are the corpses of several humans who perished in the crash. Suddenly, one of the human forms begins to stir. He is a tough-looking man with a revolver on his hip and a strange cylinder on his back.

Thatcher "the Badger", bad ass smuggler, wakes up after 10 months to find all of his companions dead. Barely batting an eye, he decides to join up with this new crew. When questioned about the cylinder, he replies that it was a plasma cannon wielded by the gubrox captain. He wants to get it fixed. With that, the crew sets off in search of the cargo bay.

Stuff that they find:
1. An ATV (that only Halic knows about).
2. Spare parts.
3. Spare electronics.
4. Spices.
5. A cheap drug known as "Buzz"
6. Gasoline

The crew split in two, one half guarding the loot, and the other half returning to the ship. On the way back they spot a humanoid creature in the bushes. The creature fires a red arrow at the party, which lands at Hutch's feet. A moment later, the arrow explodes, killing Hutch. The crew panics and rushes back to the ship. They discover four similar aliens near Providence. In the ensuing firefight three aliens are killed and one runs away. The party then discovers that some high-tech device has grounded their ship. They need to code to unlock the thrusters.

Using their shuttle, the crew reunites and pursues the surviving alien. Halic snipes the creature in the leg just as a similar creature runs up and attacks it. Disposing of the new creature, Halic brings the injured alien aboard. After a long interrogation, the crew gathers that these aliens are under the orders of some supreme god. The captive's tribe (the Ectgami) is at war with another tribe (the Afgami). The Afgami tribal chief has just been captured, and at sundown the supreme one will judge him for his supposed crimes against the Ectgami. The players release the alien with a small camera on his head.

The players watch as the ceremony begins. A bright light shines out of a make-shift temple, and a human in long robes steps forward. The crew recognizes him as Zach Kurtz, the renegade criminal who has been missing for several months. As the ceremony starts, the opposing tribe attacks. Seeing their advantage, the crew swoops down and decimate the Ectgami. A well-placed cryo-grenade by Thatcher freezes Kurtz in his tracks. During the battle, an Ectgami archer destroys the shuttle's left wing with a red arrow.

When the Ectgami are defeated, the chief of the Afgami thanks the crew for their timely arrival. He explains that Kurtz was after his black heart amulet, which gives the holder psychic visions of the future. Kurtz wanted to use it for evil. He goes on to say that the amulet has troubled him for decades. Thatcher offers to take it off of his hands, and the chief accepts his proposal.

Exploring the temple, the crew finds Kurtz's Pinnace. The crew decides to use the new vehicle in place of their damaged shuttle. They get the code to release Providence and depart from the feral planet. They head to planet Sin, the crime-center of Heyson. Thatcher has a plan to modify the Buzz he found. He dehydrates the plant, dubbing his new creation K-Buzz. The crew then contacts a few friends-

End-Game Actions:
1. Sell the shuttle for 5 million. As a part of the deal, Thatcher gets his plasma cannon attatched to the pinnace (now dubbed The Prophet).
2. Sell the K-Buzz. They got 250,000 for their supply. Their success inspires them to buy Buzz seeds and start a hydroponics lab on the ship.
3.  Kevo contacts his rich uncle Bartholomew. Bartholomew owns one of Sin's moons, and has turned the land into a drug plantation. Kevo hoped that his uncle would give him land to use to grow Buzz, but Bartholomew wouldn't offer anything without the promise of a generous cut. The crew leaves disappointed.
4. Private dealings. All of the players were running in and out of the room making backdoor deals. We'll see how that turns out.
5. The ship travels to planet Zenna to turn in Kurtz.

The Everfire Subsector

Year: 3792 AD

Location: 4th Quadrant, Scutum-Centaurus Arm, Luridus Segment, Everfire Sub Sector

Around 2400, humans discover the ability to travel through space using wormholes. Hundreds of ships set out to discover the galaxy. Eventually, colonist ships set out as well. One of these colonist groups was the Everfire Expedition, sent to explore and colonize the Luridus Segment, famous for its massive clusters of stars. Around 2600 ships settled in the planets surrounding the massive "Starstorm"; a collection of thousands of stars trapped together in an endless typhoon. The first planet to be colonized was dubbed Lurton. Over the next 500 years the colonization of the worlds was led by the Everfire Dominion, the official government of the sub sector.

Around 3100, disaster struck. Mysterious cosmic storms divided the galaxy. Wormholes still worked within the sub sector, but were unable to punch through to the rest of the galaxy. Everfire was effectively cut off from Earth. Chaos followed. Planets panicked and rioted. Suicidal attempts were made to break through the storms. Everfire was consumed in the flames of fear. To regain power, the Dominion government declared marshal law over the planets. Terror was replaced by tyranny.

Entering into the chaos were the Altrani. A proud race with ancient traditions, the Altrani inhabited an area of space adjacent to the Dominion. The two races were able to coexist for a few decades, but eventually disputes over boarder planets led to a massive war. For 25 years Everfire ran red with the blood of lost men. The war ended, not with peace, but with another war: a massive invasion of the sub sector by a violent and brutish race, the Gubrox. The humans and the Altrani were forced to put their battle on hold and join forces against the new threat. When the war ended, both forces were too depleted to turn upon the other.

In 3350 a rebellion against the Dominion began under the direction of Alexander Hey. Hey led a massive fleet to challenge the Dominion's hold of the sub sector. In the final battle of Lurton the rebels were victorious, but Hey was killed. His son founded what is now known as the Heyson Confederacy. Future leaders were unable to match the leadership of the Hey family, and the government's capacity to function suffered. The weakness of the government was fully exposed in 3600 when several planets seceded from the Confederacy, dubbing themselves "planet-states".

It was this weakness that the Kanger family jumped upon. Rich, charismatic, and respected, the Kanger family began to win high-ranking elected offices. In a few short years they controlled the office of the President. They turned the Confederacy into an illiberal democracy. On the surface, the people elected their officials, but in reality the money of the Kangers decided who would take office.

In 3770 the Second Altrani War began. It lasted 20 years, and cost a great deal of resources and men. Many soldiers were forced out of service after the war, causing rampant unemployment and a rise in mercenary and criminal activities.

The year is 3792. John Kanger was just elected for his fourth term as President of Heyson. Tensions rise as the outer planets begin to grow restless under Confederate control. Lawlessness and corruption are widespread. And on a small metalworking planet, a salty ex-scout sits in a bar, trying to scrounge together a crew for his "new" ship...