Andrew calls you into his office and closes the door. With him is a Terran Rear Admiral, commander of Terran exploratory forces on Chyrsolite. They wait for you to be seated, then it is he who speaks.

"When you came through Vilani space, one of the vessels that came through at a similar time was the Jaques Cartier. She is an 800 dTon exploratory vessel with a complement of about 70, 16 laboratories and a Survey unit to enable remote survey on new systems, as you have. She had a small hanger bay and was armed, but with no armour she would be vulnerable to any warship. However, with a thrust of just 1.21G and a giant spherical shape, she is vulnerable to landing on a planet with high gravity and being unable to get off again.

The Jaques Cartier was commissioned to find a route into Vilani space other than the Saris-Yenisai bridge, and to locate and fully survey rich colony worlds that could be used to service that route. They are sponsored by the Terran Military, but there are many in the Civilian government who would be strongly opposed, so the mission is kept quiet.

They last departed Sionnach for a system known only as 0532 in the Thalassa system on the 15th June 2170. It is now the 4th of August 2171, so it has been over a year since we have heard from them, and we are becoming concerned. We asked a month ago for Andrew to spare an exploratory vessel capable of finding them. Hopefully, they will be fine, in which case you should just get copies of their work and return to us. Otherwise, we really need to know what is happening with them."

Duke tapped the ash off the end of his cigar then bit down as he put it back into his mouth. He enjoyed the taste, and could focus on that instead of his natural aversion to military authority. He kept a glaring eye on the admiral from under his hat as he listened.

"You got a spec for the ship that I can go over? Might be that they have something about them that we can track

In reply to Raymond 'Duke' Vurhund (msg # 2):

"Just the usual stuff about the class, unfortunately."

Zheng He Survey, 320 M Solars, 800 dTons, 31 yd dia sphere
A substantial survey vessel.

(1.9G/Move:300, dDR:10, dHP:45, dTons of Cargo Space: 160.5),
Weapons: 10 Missile Launchers (2 in each turret), 3 Pulse Lasers and 2 Sandcasters,
120 dTon Hanger bay

Is there any way to try and come up with a way of tracking some engine signature. Maybe a scanning device for trace elements in the exhaust of the ship? Or the equivolent of energy if it uses that?


Is it viable at all?

My question is, why go toward 0532 if you are looking to connect Terran space with points in the Gemini or Cappella areas? Or did I misunderstand the Mission?

In reply to Raymond 'Duke' Vurhund (msg # 4):

Engines can be tracked for perhaps a few days at most. More likely, after a year, will be to look for signs of an encampment.

The mission is to connect back with Vilani space on the far side of the Empire, opening a potential back door, so to speak, in the Thalassa system or beyond. Likely they will have passed along the gap beyond Thalassa looking for another bridge if all went well.

OK, misunderstood then...Oh and I do want to keep three recon missiles as well a s a full load of regular missiles, we'll put the recon missiles in Duke's shop, off to one side.

In reply to Cyril Zotmund (msg # 7):

Understood. That will be fine. Anything else, or do you move off, to Chyrsolite?

Duke? Kat?

Aye Cap, we can keep the recon missiles in my shop. I'll see what I Can do about making them better too.

I'll grab a few spare parts too to so we can convert some of the regular ones if need be. But there's nothing else I need to pickup, i'm ready to go when you are he replied.

In reply to Raymond 'Duke' Vurhund (msg # 10):

Ok, Route?

Suggested route

1237 -> 1136 -> Tunguska -> Chrysolite if you want to visit security head office for any updates. This is optional, you can go from Tunguska straight to Thalassa -> Sionnach. Then where?

The security office is a must. The route is fine, we will do some inquiries in Sionnach. Then likely on to 0532, which is where they were thought to have gone.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:23, Mon 15 Oct 2018.

In reply to Cyril Zotmund (msg # 12):

It will take approximately 8 weeks to get to 0532.

On the way, you stop off at Chrysolyte, a leg that takes 30 days alone. Sabre rattling by various Vilani nobles has been continuing, and some are calling for a final solution to the Terran problem, as some have always done, but the current regional governor is building a smaller fleet of capable ships following the death of a certain admiral a few years ago. They quote a number of Nobles names, but none of them mean much to you. Essentially, relations have become worse, slowly, with accusations of piracy leveled at many Terrans, and counter claims falling on deaf ears.

0532 is a surveyed binary system with 2 gas giants and 2 planetary belts. The most habitable one has a very thin atmosphere.