LogStormlight-Jacko-4

Game log for the 2020/12/21 session of Impulse Drive: Stormlight, as taken by Jacko

The Stormlight drops out of drillspace and find a series of sensor drones in the system, actively scanning for 'intruders' into the system. The ship is pinged a few times and they send a revenue cutter out to search the Stormlight. The cutter was a frontline warship, round about 60 years ago, captained by someone named Kamal. Janus is happy to interact with the cutter crew and let them search the ship, even if they are being total asshats. The comm officer on the other end is real aggressive about things but they send a boarding party over with scanners and toolkits.

Janus lies that we're deadheading to find a bounty and to also pick up (legal) shipments to sell elsewhere outside of Poileps. Cassio and Arche, the two saps told to search the ship, seem to think the crew is real stupid to come to a warzone. Kyruss, however, seems to recognize Cassio from a bounty written in Ozlaf. Kyruss decides to hatch a plan and goes to the Stormlight's small brig and look suspicious. Sure enough, Arche comes to investigate what he's doing and Kyruss locks him in, drawing down immediately on Cassio. He announces the charges he has against him and advises him to come quietly.

Cassio seems to think the captain of the cutter will have his back but Kyruss doesn't think so. Janus goes to speak to the captain and explain the situation. The warning lights in the bridge go off as the cutter activates target lock. There's a threeway conversation between Janus, Kyruss and the captain that gets rather heated with talk of laser weapons and salvage teams.

Janus decides to speak to the manager and Karens her way to the Singing Palms office in system. She explains what's happening with legal bounty work and how the interdictor is interfering with it. Head office lays into Kamal but asserts that the Stormlight must be searched still. Janus is able to convince the captain of the cutter that they're wasting valuable time searching other ships and come to an accord. Arche is released back to the cutter, Cassio takes his place, and the cutter undocks.

The Stormlight heads planetside and the plan is to make it look like an engine is suffering trouble (ostensibly caused by the cutter) forcing an emergency landing nearer the miner's hidden holdout. Franco checks out the terrain and knows where the meet was supposed to be and is able to triangulate a few locations they may have retreated. He also knows that Mendi, a Ceinerth who are tentacled centipede people that adore mining and living underground, is their inside 'man'.

Janus plan need a little assistance and so Kyruss decides to help by putting some blast marks on the engine faring, but he somehow manages to shoot something critical with his shotgun and damages the ship. Some emergency flying skills on Janus' part get the Stormlight down but not as close as they would've liked to their original LZ. They're in one peice, more or less,

Ember is pretty upset about the rough landing and confronts the crew about it, soon focusing her anger on Kyruss. Drix tries to calm her even though Kyruss is only making things worse by speaking to the teen in a totally condescending manner. Ember decides, while Drix is mid-sentence, that talk is cheap and leaps at Kyruss. Ember destroys his shotgun with her bare hands before landing a flurry of blows, kicking him across the bridge and leaving him with some scarred up chitin.

Janus uses the itnercom to advise Franco there's a situation on the bridge. There's tlak about Ember being dangerous, unpredictable, and a need for her to be controlled. She raises Singing Palm control again and advises them that they'll be sending a shuttle to get repair supplies. Control is eager to send someone to the Stormlight under the guise of concern and so the crew decides to jump into action and get the contraband off the ship.

Kyruss does some quick scouting of the area and finds an abandoned mine tunnel that could work as a stash. The crew loads up the shuttle with the guns but it takes some time and they're worried the SAR team sent by Control will see the shuttle moving about. Drix, Ember and Franco take off in the shuttle as the first radar signature from the SAR team shuttle comes into range. Drix decides to take the shuttle farther out and so Franco pushes the shuttle to get it moving fast.

The SAR team asks where the Stormlight's shuttle went as they haven't seen them on sensors. Janus bluffs that the shuttle left some time ago and the SAR leader doesn't seem to be buying it. Even so, they ask about the condition of the ship and crew and soon move in to assist. Kyruss wonders if Janus needs a convincing injury and punches her in the head.

Franco tries to raise Mendi to get the deal sealed but the radio chatter is picked up. The SAR team begins to pursue but Drix is able to convince them that they're simply lost, not running guns. The SAR team gives them the correct heading to hit the settlement, over 600km away, and they turn the shuttle to take that route while looking for a useful opportunity. Franco is able to put the shuttle down near some rough terrain and the trio unload, and camouflage, the contraband before piling back into the shuttle and resuming course for the settlement at high speed.

The SAR team leader speaks with Janus and outlines the actions they'll take; treating the crew, fixing the engine, checking the nav system. They also check on Cassio and he's pretty busted up from the rough landing. Kyruss is happy to have the SAR team take Cassio for medical treatment but he handcuffs himself to the prisoner to go with.

The Stormlights shuttle gets to the Singing Palms main settlement and dicker about with getting the aprts needed for the ship. Cassio is brought to the med center and fixed up before being released to Kyruss' custody. They return to the Stormlight and then make their next move in finishing the arms deal. Janus has a clearing where, upon a call/response signal is made, contact should be established. They head there, sans weapons, and make contact with one filthy miner.

The man wants to know where the guns are and Janus has to explain to him that they're well hidden and they'll show him where it is. The miner is upset as this wasn't the terms of the deal, as he understood it. There's some discussion of how to do the handoff and it's agreed that one of the miners will accompany the Stormlight and bring them to a new handoff location.

The handoff is made after Mendi is shown the weapons and the hidden contraband is recovered. Most of the payment is in company scrip, however, which doesn't help out the Stormlight crew very much. It mostly just pays for the repair parts. They finish the deal and take off, heading for Tiberius once more.

Kyruss and Ember converse in the mess and seem to reach an accord, of sorts, while speaking about her powers and temperament. Drix and Kyruss work on their own projects and Franco confronts Janus about being more than a small time two-bit crook. They eventually land and get paid for the gun running before picking up a cargo load of goats. Maybe someone needs them somewhere?