One last chance for planning... via comms or in person... before departure in the morning, though you can also do that once you rendezvous at Palindrome.

This would be a good time and place to finalize crew assignments, crew responsibilities, and crew berths.

At precisely 0900 hours, Captain McFarlane receives a request for a comm interview from a TAS Dispatch reporter.

"Greetings and good morning, Captain McFarlane," the reporter begins. "My name is Zella Trevayne, a reporter for the TAS Dispatch here on Theev."

"I trust I haven't awoken you too early, but since you are scheduled to depart in an hour, this is probably my last chance to grab an interview."

"We here at TAS try to stay on top of the players and the shakers and the movers on and around Theev... solely for the protection of our members, of course. That's not to say they can't benefit from the information we provide."

"My sources indicate that you might soon become one of those people."

"So, despite any rumors flying around--aren't there always in a starport?--which we won't acknowledge lest we feed a fire that isn't even there, I was hoping to get your opinion on the barbaric practice on Clarke of carbonizing criminals?"

"Naturally we've heard of those terrible raids on Clarke and Torpol even way out here on Theev. Such a tragedy! Do you think the punishment fits the crime?"

"I don't know, never been carbonized. Perhaps it fits the crime, maybe not. Maybe they won't carbonize."

OOC:

     That's "Captain-the-Baron" McFarlane to you, ya Gossip Mongering Bee-Yotch!

---

     Okay, first of all--we now know Redthane is in the Pallindrome system, and that he's on 1 of the Icy Moons to be found there.  I assume we know which moon, but could I get a verification on that?
     Similarly, if we do know which Moon, do we know where on that moon he is hiding?  Is he just parked in a crater, or deep in a cave, or out in an ice field--or is he just waiting up in orbit around that moon?

     We need to formulate plans based on whether it'll be a Space Battle, or if we're going down to dig him out of a hidey-hole.

     Theodore--Space Battles are your wheelhouse.  Varca isn't really planning or expecting any Boarding Actions.  As far as Varca is concerned, just go ahead and blast away at Redthane's ship with the Particle Cannon until everyone aboard that ship is dead & glowing-in-the-dark!  The Clarke-ites are just gonna coat the body with carbonite, so who cares?
     But that's your call, Theo.  Blast 'em outta the sky, or corner 'em and Board....

     Now, if Redthane is down on the moon, we can either launch everything we have at him and blast him outta whatever hidey-hole he's got, or we can go down there, in person, and dig him out.  Varca is hoping this will not be the case, as digging Redthane out of wherever he's hiding his ship will be hard & bloody (not that space combat can't be bloody, it's just that more often than not it's just "Ka-BOOM! Everybody dead...")

     So, do we know exactly where Redthane is?  Do we need to plan on searching for him at Pallindrome, before we can fight him?  Do we wanna just charge in, guns blazing, or do we wanna try and draw him out, maybe let down his guard?

The coordinates of Silverhand's command code was simply not long enough to give a more precise location than the specific ice moon itself, which is named Coolblue. About half the size of Earth's moon, there's still a lot of territory that'll need to be searched to find Redthane's ship. Ice moons are notorious for cracks and crevasses and chasms where a ship can be hidden.

While there's probably no longer any reason to keep it secret, it never hurts to present a bit of uncertainty into the mix, which is why the Mercifuge lifts off from Theev 20 minutes ahead of Vultan bound for Palindrome. Vultan's flight plan has it heading for Vume.

Once Mercifuge has jumped, Vultan files a change of flight to Palindrome.

And now both ships are in J-space for a week, incommunicado with each other.

Other than getting in each other's way, the week passes uneventfully.

The two ships exit J-space within 10 minutes of each other, and less than 1,000 miles apart. You are on the far side of Palindrome--opposite the Coolblue ice moon.

Zhouth had made his way onto the bridge for their exit from jump space, where he remained carefully out of the way of the controls and the people working them, seemingly mostly for the benefit of being able to view their arrival though the main display. Nevertheless, in the wake of their without-incident arrival, he quickly brought up a question.

"So, what's the plan here? Use the Vultan's super-sensors to find him from further away than he can see?" Zhouth held up his hand before his face, thumb and index finger formed into an impromptu lens while the other three wiggled. Then he let his hand fall as he shrugged noncommittally. "I suppose that we could try bluffing with the Mercifuge, but without Silverhand to make it sound plausible and use whatever pass phrases they'd set up, I doubt that will work very well."

“Did we have any recordings of her?” Ghent suddenly chimed in, wondering what else they could do. “Alternative would be for her ship to fake a comms breakdown, explaining the radio silence. Did we ever agree on attacking the ship, to help with the ruse?”

"I heard a lot of ideas get thrown out to see what sticks," Donio offers, "but so far, we're just scouting the terrain, so to speak."

"We've been operating on minimal intel, and even I know that's not good. For all we knew, there could have been an ambush lying in wait, particularly if we'd headed straight for the moon. We couldn't have jumped in close enough anyway."

"Will our sensors ferret out Redthane's ship? Eventually. We've got an operational search time of about 5 weeks before we need to refuel on Palindrome."

"So far, so good. No proximity alarms. We're not exactly on the main route from Vume."

"We should be getting the comm protocols from Palindrome in a few minutes. What's our response going to be? Might I suggest 'watchin' the stars'? Pretty much means what we're doing isn't any of their business, but it's nothing illegal."

"Set the sensors to maximum sensitivity, we need to find Redthane."

"Really, Teddy?" Aaron says. "You think we fly around half blind most of the time?"

"Unless damaged, the sensors are always operating at max."

"So, have you and Ingrid set a date? Or discussed where you want to get married? Or who's going to perform the ceremony?"

"Or am I not in the loop again and this was all just a performance for the Admiral's benefit?"

"No date set, you aren' out of the loop. She just started moving into my stateroom."

"Get under Mercifuges image so Redthane just sees one ship make sure we're running silent. Varca, Make sure that 'broken' comms we have is ready with Silver's snippets, try to draw him outto us. We'd never find him if he tried to hide."

     Varca is at his usual ship-board station--manning the portside Electronic Warfare Suite--when the Captain issues this order,

     "All Passive receivers are active and registering optimal." Varca responds to Cap'n Teddy,

     "All stealth systems are operating at full capacity--well, as full a capacity as we can maintain.  Systems show we are maintaining a signal suppression value of eighty percent--we are emitting no signals that can be detected--and the holographic hull...what there is of it...is presenting a flat-black exterior.  The tight-beam laser comm is syncing up with Mercifuge ... now!. Confirming secure laser-com link to Mercifuge."

     "At this distance, all anyone on or near to that moon should see out here is Mercifuge--assuming that they, too, are using passive sensors.  We're nothing but a blank spot in space, Captain."

You've still got Palindrome and around a dozen ice moons between you and where Janal Torsk is thought to be.

Laser comm is synced between the two ships. Vultan is running silent, which means passive sensors only.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:20, Mon 13 Mar 2023.

Kira has spent the time in J-space getting familiar with the ship and the crew. They seem to be an agreeable lot, with friendly snipes and camaraderie. She can mainly be found on the bridge, taking a shift as pilot and learning the quirks of the Vultan.

"What do we know about Redthane's ship?" she asks.

“Was hoping you’d have heard something more than us,” Ghent confided to Kira as he kept the helm on a steady pace with the ship in front of them, though he tried to recollect any spacefarer notices about the ship he might have read. “Personally, I’d pick a spot at the poles, which would allow me to intercept radio signals, and giving me a chance to hide behind the moon if I needed to run, or attack,  but that’s just me putting myself into his shoes…”

Though he only surpassed the tallest marine by a mere inch, Ghent weighed a galling ten kilos more than the other did at the very least. His bulk flowed from his legs to his torso, around his shoulders to arms that rippled, and finally ending at a full strong neck in an uninterrupted, unemphatic unity of strength. He might even seem crude surrounded by soft nobles; but while he did look imposing, there was a softness in him. His smile came easily, and his stare was friendly, intelligent and welcoming.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:15, Mon 13 Mar 2023.

"We could also say that we're prospecting, or heading somewhere to do a bit of that, right?" Zhouth stabbed a finger into the air in the direction of the Mercifuge. "It's a salvage vessel, so not quite the rock-and-stone style of prospecting, but it's the same basic idea!" He broke into a grin. "We might even get a side job for it once Redthane is dealt with!"

Rayjay was indeed quite the feather weight, but with his daily calisthenics he was hopefully improving his reedy form into something more befitting a man of action, instead of just the dapper dandy he portrayed at every opportunity.

"Indeed, a flexible doss'e'A of commercial interests is always a sure bet." Rayjay chuckled only half-jokingly.

Kira was mostly a free-lancer, avoiding getting too deep into the cesspit of Theev pirates until she had a better understanding of the factions and the pros and cons of joining up with each. That was also a long term plan.

Still, to that end she paid a bit more attention to gossip, rumors, bar talk and scuttlebutt than most, trying to fathom out the underlying truth behind them.

One thing did stand out--she didn't think he stole something from the Admiral... at least not in the usual sense. It wasn't that he was above that sort of thing--it just wasn't his style.

Steal the Admiral's woman... that she could see. Maybe even his prize Snickerdoodle dog... if he won it in a poker game or something.

No, it just didn't sit right with her. There was clearly more to it.


Ghent came at it from a different perspective. The Janal Torsk/Mercifuge/Misery's Company triad of ships was a dubious unit at best, but it was a (minor) faction. The alliance between the Admiral and Redthane lasted only as long as the two sides agreed that it did.

That made two significant points: something had caused that fracture and it had been abrupt enough that the other two hadn't had a chance or say in it.

Taking into account Silverhand's loyalty covered the  Mercifuge, and, sadly, Misery's Company had such a bad rep that no other pirate wanted it. However, it was still a SHIP. It had served its purpose on the raid on Torpol quite well.


At least on that account Kira and Ghent were in agreement--Redthane was daring, bold and ruthless... and a reasonable leader.

How he found himself between a rock and a hard place was still a mystery.

Ingrid entered the bridge wearing an apron over her swing dress and, incongruously, her toolbelt. "Looks like the drives are doing well, which is remarkable given everything. Oh, and I made cookies. Do you want me to go have a look at the sensors?"

Neither Krrsh nor the Mercifuge crew know anything more about Redthane's ship than is common knowledge. It's a 200-ton Far Trader, jump-2 capable, with two twin pulse laser turrets.

However, Captain Grunge does ask if that starboard sensor bundle ever got replaced. It took peripheral damage on a raid they'd conducted on Arunisiir. It produced an intermittent blind spot. No one can say that it was.

This prompts Lu to mention that Silverhand had managed to tweak the Mercifuge's lasers to overcharge them--they'll do one extra point of damage for three rounds.