The time has come to mention the background of the story. Early winter 87
(I think it was) three upstart traveller campaigns had failed for one reason
or another (one mine, two others) and the movie 'Aliens' had just come to
the local theatre, which apparently is on the absolute end of a distribution
circle.
So we went to see it and afterwards someone commented: "We could do that
in Traveller." and after a short discussion it was decided that I'd do something
'Alienesque' to start off a campaign with. Having a nasty streak as a Ref and
knowing that everyone in the group had seen the film and was expecting a
single reenactment, I played some pranks on them. The first appears in this
episode, where one character encounter a harmless herbivore that just happens
to look like a facehugger. I've seldom seen a player being more terrified than
his character, but this was one of those rare moments:)
BTW, Zod's episodes with the watch, the SMG and the turret actually happened
that way, unbelivably but true. The SMG became an institution in the game
before the sad demise of Zod in the slavehold of an Shionthian galleon.
===============================================================================
Written and Directed by: Bertil K K Jonell
Corrected by: Olof Dahlberg, Tomas Eriksson and Reine Hansson
Starring: Olof Dahlberg, Tomas Eriksson, Fredrik D J Granholm, Mikael Rubin and
Henrik Sjo"strand.
Rating: R
Ships and Vehicles provided by the IISS, PseudoMonadium(tm) by the LSP,
Weapons by Interstellarms, Naval Bases by the IN and weird alien
animals by the Regni Zoo, Regina.
Voyage of the "Gamla Bettan" part Three
Something in the Engine Room is Drooling:
Time: 071-1112 1000 hours Imperial Standard Time
Location: Pixie/Regina/Spinward Marches
The Gamla Bettan and Crew:
Gamla Bettan (Old Betty in the language of some ethnic worlds of the
Imperium. Swordworlders might understand it too) is a tech 11 Scoutship about
35 years old. She is of a variant class and is shorter and thicker than the
standard Type S, but has the same performance. Gamla Bettan lacks armament.
Preben Moeller, Scout, 26 years old. Smart but with great lapses in
education and behaviour in a civilized environment. Trained as pilot and
navigator. Born in the absolutely worst slum district of Efate. Ran Xboats
between Regina and Rhylanor for 8 years.
Werner Schmallhaussen, Major in the Roupian State Security, 26 years old.
Very good with all kinds of slugthrowers. Werner has been trained in
various military areas, including infantry tactics, using a SMG, and as a
corpsman. Born on Roup and currently on extended AWOL.
James P Troop, ForceCommander in the Imperial Marine Corps, 34 years old.
Strong, smart and agile, but with a behaviour and language fitting a Sergeant
Major. Born in the Shionthy belt, and managed to get out. Trained to lead
marines in combat, but little else useful.
Zod Miandwhypt, Master Chief Petty Officer in the Imperial Navy, 30 years
old. Good shot and quite smart, but prone to act first and think later. Zod
were chief NCO of the gunnery section of the 'Monsoon', a 'Wind' class Strike
Carrier in the Imperial 213th Fleet. Born on Knorbes and got to Regina as a
stowaway.
(Baron) Roshel von Tjaikovskij, Lieutenant Commander and Chief Engineer
onboard the 'Monsoon', 30 years old. Roshel began his career as a fighter
pilot but later got a transfer to the engineering-branch. He is usually happy
when he has a set of drives to take care of and a fighter to fly.
"And it's got to show local time on Regina, Capitol, Vland, Terra and
Zhodane!" Zod told the clerk.
"Zhodane? Why Zhodane?" the clerk asked suspiciously.
"Because everybody says 'Attack at dawn!', And if I'm gonna attack the
Zho's at dawn, I must know when they think dawn is! It's common logic!"
The clerk looked confused "Hmm, That *sounds* logical... But I'm sorry, We
have no watches that have Zhodane time preset. But we have, of course, several
models that can have many customized local times. Here for example," he took
up an expensive-looking watch from the counter, "is Ling Standard's
'TransImperial-5B' model. It's got IST and Capitol time preset and can have up
to 20 local times programmed into it. It is equipped for the LST-signals on
most average stellar and above worlds.
"What's that?"
"LST means 'Local Standard Time' and the LST signals are transmitted on a
standard channel throughout the Imperium. They will give the watch information
about the correct local time on the world in question. Additionally the
TransImperial-5B is made from LSP's secret-formula 'PseudoMonadium(tm)' alloy
and can for an unlimited duration withstand all atmospheres that a human will
survive in. It comes with a data crystal that lists more than 1000 major worlds
and their local time data."
"What about Zhodane?"
"Let me check, yes Zhodane is among those worlds that..."
"It's settled then." Zod interrupted him, "I'll take it!"
"That will be 1500 credits, thank you."
"One point five kays?! But if it got all those timezones.."
When he had bought the watch, Zod went looking for the others. He found
Preben and Troop at the Interstellarms weapons centre were the clerk were
demonstrating a Gauss rifle for Troop. The shop was the consummate dream for
everyone with an interest in weapons. Every wall were lined with transparent
cases filled with weapons of every conceivable configuration, and several
holoviewers played demo-tapes where people dressed in camouflage armours
demonstrated the weapons in operation.
"This is the Interstellarms M25 Defender, the absolutely latest in high-
penetration electric slug-throwers. In addition to all the standard features
it has a laser-point sight with either visible or infrared light," she pointed
the rifle towards a full-figure target in the back of the shop and a tiny red
dot became visible over the heart of the target, "that almost guarantees a hit
versus targets at less than twenty meters. It accepts both the MilSpec 40round
mag and a special 100round mag made especially for the M25. It also
incorporates a unique 'booster' powerunit that will increase the lethal energy
of the rounds by twentyfive percent. It lasts for one 100 rounds magazine
before recharging. Now, moving down to the grenade-launcher..."
"Is it legal here?" Preben asked tiredly.
"Excuse me?" the clerk had been so caught up in the demonstration that she
almost missed the question.
"I asked if it is legal here on Pixie."
"Eh, no, it's not legal here, but that isn't a problem. We deliver it door-
to-door to your ship or sent it to an address of your choice in the subsector."
"Is it legal on any worlds in the Marches?"
"Yes, absolutely, absolutely!" she began typing on a terminal."There is
about fifty worlds in the Spinward Marches where it is legal."
"Anyone in this subsector?"
"Yes, Dentus and Efate. Sorry, Efate's under martial law now."
"Who cares if it is legal, Preben?" complained Troop.
"What good is a weapon if it will lie in the ship's locker all the time? I
say that we buy things that we can use: SMG's, Assault-rifles, Pistols,
Shotguns and a laser or two. And we better forget about all the expensive
stuff before we have got all other supplies."
"Expensive? The gauss rifle is expensive?" Troop turned to the clerk "How
much is it?"
"3500, excluding ammunition."
"I think you are right, Preben...How about you Zod?"
"I want an SMG. Just a standard SMG with a silencer, " Zod said
"I think that this is the weapon for you then: The Interstellarms M19E, "
Zod interrupted her "and I want an bayonet on it, and a flamehider, and an
electronic sight and a goldplaque with my name on it."
"I think that we can fix everything except the bayonet... An SMG is too
short to put a bayonet on." she answered hesitantly.
"Put the bayonet on the silencer, that will make it long enough! How soon
can you have it ready and how much will it cost?"
"It will be ready tomorrow, and it will cost, lets see, one M19E at 750..."
"You'll have to get that SMG of your's later Zod. We have to get moving
this evening!" Preben declared.
"We can rush the job if you want to," the clerk hurriedly said, "but that
will, of course, cost more."
Zod sighed "Do it, I'll pay!" as Preben gave the clerk a list with all that
they wanted and number of the ship to which it should be delivered.
"The admiral will see you now." the marine guard told Werner and Roshel who
were waiting in the outer office of admiral Annelina Lashiir, commander of the
Pixie Naval Base.
When he entered the office, Werner noted that the guards that had escorted
them here from the office of the chief of domestic affairs stayed behind in
the outer office.
The admiral's office was large and airy. The entire wall behind the admiral
seemed to open up towards Pixies airless surface and Eldritch starport. Werner
couldn't see any trace of a window, so he assumed that it was a hologram,
even though he discovered that he could pick out 'Gamla Bettan' among all the
ships in the port. The other walls were covered with various projections of
maps and diagrams, the majority of which blanked out as the admiral pressed a
button when they came in.
The admiral was in her fifties and her hair was beginning to turn grey, but
as a former Major himself, Werner recognized the hard look in her eyes and
guessed that she had been base commander during the fifth frontier war. The
war in which the Zhodani 1st fleet had stood at Efate and the Vargrs had held
the trailward part of the subsector as far as Beck's World. And Pixie had been
right in the middle of it.
Admiral Lashiir greeted them as they sat down in from of the large plasteel
desk, and expressed her amazement to see Lieutenant Commander von Tjaikovskij
so soon after he had mustered out.
"Do you regret breaking the family tradition already?" she asked jokingly.
"To put it totally frankly, Admiral, I honestly don't know yet." Roshel
answered, once more doubting that he had done the right thing.
"I was quite surprised when you left the navy, and even more so when
security told me that you and another person were walking around the base and
asking sensitive questions today!"
"Well now, we weren't exactly walking around, as you so bluntly put it,
Admiral. We were only making a slight query about the whereabouts of a certain
person, when those marines barged in and took us here."
"And why, if I may ask, did you make this 'slight query'?"
Roshel though furiously for two seconds, then he passed the hot potato on to
Werner." I think that this gentleman, Major Schmallhaussen of the Roupian State
Security may answer that question more completely and clearly than I am able
to."
Werner had been feeling less than well all morning after getting the
stomach-pumping in the medibooth, and having visibly suspicious admirals
glaring at him and demanding answers didn't exactly make him feel better. "We
are contracted to find a person."
"So your interest in the matter is the money, but what is the interest of
the person that pays you?"
"Ok, lets be frank with each other. There is no need to beat around the
bush," And as the horrified von Tjaikovskij looked at Werner, "There is a person
named Kiiara Travernier that probably is a Lieutenant in the Imperial Marines.
Now, suddenly, she has disappeared from every database as if she never existed.
We were trying to get some information from your chief of domestic affairs that
would lead us to her."
"And I say the same as Commander Underhill said to you before, Any person
with the name Kiiara Travernier, or matching the finger, retinal or
gene patterns that you showed to him has never existed in the IMC, or the IN
either for that matter, we have never heard about her and we have no idea
where she is now."
"If no connections exists between Kiiara Travernier and the Imperial Marine
Corps, then why did four armed marine guards take us here? Surely an Admiral
must have much more important things to do than repeat what her subordinates
already have told us..."
"I cannot answer that question." the admiral answered sternly, "And I must
ask: Who is your employer and what is your employer's purpose with seeking this
Travernier?"
"If 'this Travernier' don't have any connection with the marines, why do
you ask?"
Roshel groaned softly "Now you've done it!"
"Do you realize that you can be held here on the base until you provide the
answers?"
"I am afraid that I cannot disclose the name of our employer, but I think
that I can give you the big picture. We have been hired by a lawyer, "
"Werner! I got the distinct impression that we weren't supposed to tell
anyone about it!" Roshel hissed.
"Don't worry, This don't count! As I said, We have been hired by a lawyer to
find Kiiara Travernier. The reason behind it is that the mother of Kiiara
Travernier recently died, and her father is currently hospitalized for a
chronic malady that requires quite expensive treatment. A court of law on Regina
has frozen the family assets since it cannot be determined if Kiiara is alive
or dead, and the money for the treatment is rapidly running out..."
It was a long time before Admiral Lashiir spoke again. She stared intensely
on something on a screen in the desk, then she turned the chair around and
looked out over the pads and drydocks on the surface for several minutes, and
then she began to write something on a piece of official navy stationary.
"I am really sorry, but there is nothing I can do. Even I don't know
exactly what is going on." She gave the paper to Werner. "Give this paper to
the representative of the Imperium on the world where this Travernier's father
is hospitalized. It is an order that says that his illness is caused of wounds
received while on active duty in the navy. That will make him eligible for the
veterans medicare program. Since the marines attached to the base is under my
jurisdiction I can do this. Regarding this Kiiara Travernier, I can only repeat
that the IMC have never heard of her..." she hesitated and added "But tell her
father that whatever it was, it was for The Imperium!"
"What was that about family tradition you talked about?" Werner asked von
Tjaikovskij on the way back to the starport.
"Oh that, Well you know, I'm not really a baron, contrary to what most
people claim. It is my brother who is the holder of the patent of nobility.
And throughout the history of the von Tjaikovskij family it has been assumed
that the children that didn't get the patent signed up in the Imperial Navy.
There they have worked hard, fought for the glory of Emperor and Empire, done
well, climbed in the ranks quickly and been decorated...posthumously..."
"Uh oh!"
"I am the second von Tjaikovskij that have survived to muster out."
"Who were the other one?"
"We don't talk about him in the family! He got a dishonourable discharge
for reasons that I don't want to elaborate on."
"So, what are you going to do now, after you have survived the navy?"
"I don't know. Family tradition don't give me any clues!"
"So she admitted underhand that this Tracy, sorry, Kiiara had been in the
marines?" asked Preben as they got back.
"Yes, definitely. But it appears to be some major hush-hush going on that
even the admiral isn't in on. I got the impression that hadn't I been a major
and hadn't Roshel been a noble, and a lieutenant commander in the navy, and
recently mustered out from this base, and hadn't we had a good story with
human interest, she would never had let slip so much as she did."
"Yes, where did you learn to modify the truth to so good an effect?" Roshel
asked him.
"State Security. Remember? One get quite a good knowledge about human
nature there, and old warriors tend to become sentimental. But if she, who
knew you, Roshel, didn't tell us more than this, I suspect that it will be a
real pain to get any more information."
"There is a possibility." Troop had been looking at the holo of the
lieutenants, "If this holo was taken here at Pixie, somebody must know who the
other persons on it is. And they are bound to know who Kiiara is, and some one
might be inclined to talk. Zod, do you think that you could try to find out
the names of the other persons on the holo?"
"I can try. But I won't guarantee anything." Zod didn't sound too hopeful.
"I have been talking to tower. There's a vacant launch-window coming up in
six hours. I'd like to be able to use it, because after that the schedule is
full for several hours more. So I suggest that everybody that have to buy
equipment do so now." Preben continued "I'm going to the port authority to
file a flightplan and sign us up for the window."
"Flightplan where?" asked Troop "I don't remember discussing where we are
going now!"
Werner spoke up "I suggest Boughene. Sohn said that he would stay there for
a week on his way back to Regina and that Chubhelm type lives there. And he's
the only lead that we have now."
"Boughene is my choice also. It has a scout base where we can get refined
for free." answered Preben. "Do you mind staying onboard, Troop? Someone has to
be here to receive the supplies when they arrive."
"Nope, that's OK with me."
"Hold the fort marine, Don't let any Zho's aboard!" Zod told him and were
rewarded with a thrown cup that clattered against the bulkhead behind him.
Two hours later everything had been delivered to the 'Gamla Bettan' and
Troop was beginning to feel bored. He began to play with the ships sensors and
spent some time looking at the heavy traffic above Eldrich Starport. When he
got bored with that too, he went aft to the freezer to get a beer.
Even though the ship was empty except for him, it was not quiet. The air-
purifiers hissed as they pumped the newly scrubbed and oxygenized air into all
parts of the ship. The hull snapped and creaked slightly as the changing
sunlight upon it created thermal tensions in it. From the commo panel on the
bridge, there came occasional bursts of static and voices as it caught bits
and pieces of conversations, some held hours ago in completely different parts
of the Pixie system. The cooling system of the ships main computer hummed
slightly and penetrating it all were the deep, almost infrasonic, rumble from
a powerplant on sustenance-level.
Troop didn't hear any of this as he opened the freezer and discovered that
there were no beer in it. He had been on ships for so many years that he was
used to all the sounds a ship can make. So when he realized that he actually
heard something it caught his attention.
At first he wasn't sure of what exactly it was or where it came from. But
after a few minutes he had pinpointed it to an internal communications console.
>From this console there came a faint scraping and creaking sound. When he saw
that the console had a line open to the engine room, he began to feel uneasy.
And when he discovered that the visual link to the engineroom also were open,
even though the screen was pitch black the uneasiness turned to worry.
A quick check on the appropriate panel told him that somehow, both the
primary and secondary illumination was broken, and the scraping noise from the
engineroom just went on.
Troop began to weigh the alternatives. Something was definitely going on in
the engineroom, and that was the second most vulnerable place on the ship,
after the main computer. If he investigated immediately he would be alone. If
he waited for Preben and the others it might be too late. Being the marine
that he were, and being in the mood to kick some ass because of the lack of
beer, he decided to act.
The effects of laser or automatic weapons in the engineroom of a ship is
severe so Troop went to his cabin to fetch his service magnum. He put on a
flak jacket and a pair of light intensifying goggles and loaded the revolver
with 'shipboard' ammunition. Ammunition specially designed to inflict high
damage, but not penetrate far.
Behind the valve to the engineroom darkness reigned. Darkness pierced by
occasional statuslights that caused the goggles to locally overload and show
the lights as luminous rings on the green-black picture. In the middle of the
engineroom the jumpdrive lurked outlined in the slight glow from reflected
lights, tangled in heavy powerfeeds, fuelpipes and databuses. To both sides
Troop could perceive the twin manueverdrive transformers that took their power
from the fusionplant downstairs and fed it to the thrusterplates aft.
Troop silently entered, gun held ready, and closed the valve behind him. He
pressed the lightswitch, but the panels in the roof remained dark. The
scratching noise had stopped when he entered and only the normal noises were
heard in the engineroom.
A movement over the jumpdrive caught his eye and he responded with two
slugs from his magnum. The reports were reflected in the metal walls and
deafened him, but he saw the shower of sparks as his shots tore lose one of
the lighting panels.
"Oh Shit!" he exclaimed when he thought of what Preben would say about the
damage, *any* damage to his precious ship, and noticed that he couldn't hear
his own voice. He didn't hear the impact of six legs upon the floor plating
either, or that they, and their owner, began to run towards him.
Troop turned to look at the rest of the room and when he saw something move
he fired again. The shot hit the creature and it was thrown into a corner. It
tried to move, but Troop followed up with the rest of the rounds in the
revolver.
"Aside from the wiring to the lightingpanels, it hadn't chewed on anything
else." Zod explained to Doctor Ushkarun, Surgeon on the Pixie Naval Base,
formerly on the 'Monsoon' and hobby xenobiologist since many years.
Doctor Ushkarun prodded the lose collection of spidery legs and pieces of
carapace with a metal rod.
"Let me guess, Your friend's ship is not a trader of any sort, is it?"
"Yeah, How did you know?"
"Because if it had been trader, he would have recognized a handspider."
"A what?"
"Handspider, They are really quite harmless but they have a few quirks that
have made them infamous among merchants. They eat almost anything, but they
are particular to electrical insulation. If they are scared they tend to grab
hold of something and not let go. If they don't want to let go you'll have to
cut them apart to get them away from whatever they have attached themselves to.
Since they can stand vacuum for some time, probably a month or so, this have
lead to their rapid spreading throughout the subsector."
"How come?"
"They grab hold to landing gears or other parts of ships with all six legs
and tail and get a free passage to a new world. I even got some here," Doctor
Ushkarun took a big cage and put it on his desk.
The cage held three handspiders, and Zod saw that the name was appropriate,
since they looked like skeletal hands with foot long fingers as legs, and a
long segmented tail as the arm. Doctor Ushkarun rattled the cage and the
spiders within scrambled around like mad "I was trying to find a fast method
of getting rid of them from navy ships, but they seem to be hard against
anything."
"Where do they come from?"
"Nobody knows for sure, or nobody cares. There exists thousands of species
in the Imperium that is spread over several worlds but nobody knows where they
originated. Those handspiders seems to be a quite new addition to the group of
animals that live on and around spaceships and spaceports, but I guess
that they will prosper."
Zod got an idea "Say doc, you don't need all those handspiders you have
there, do you?"
===============================================================================
- - -bertil-
- - --
"Some people almost never think. They just reshuffle their prejudices."