Play Report: The Return of the Star Walker

The Star Walker limped out of jump space in an unknown system far to the galactic South of Holtzmann's Corridor. Fortunately for them, the system was inhabited. They found out the locals called their world Saorsumma. In the undefined subsector it is in hex 0303.

On Saorsumma, Mac and Carter, along with the crew & passengers, were taken into captivity by the local government. Saorsumma it seems has starships, but they have lost the knowledge of how to construct or repair them. Jump drives are now to them a Black Box technology. The locals were excited to say the least to get their hands on another functioning J-drive. They wanted to know how to get more. Mac and Carter wanted to get back home.

After a few weeks in (relatively comfortable) captivity, a few of the Walker's passengers made a break for it with some local separatists. They disappeared into the world's back country. Maybe some day we'll play out what became of them.

Mac and Carter came up with a plan. The locals weren't thrilled but it sounded like the best option. They have waited four months for the local shipyard to finish the “refit” of their ship the Star Walker. (and we've waited three months to play out the next part of this adventure) I took what the players wanted and checked in Trillion Credit Squadron. By the book, it would take sixteen weeks to complete.

Their plan was crazy, but it just might work. The shipyard cut the ship about in half, removing all of its cargo space and closing up the hull. Now massing only 200 tons, the Type-C jump drive should now be capable of Jump-3 instead of Jump-1. 

The Saorsummans determined that there was a route by which the ship could jump back into Corridor space. The Star Walker, now jokingly re-named the Star Limper, prepared to return to space.

First leg, from Saorsumma to an unexplored system denoted 0608. they knew there was a planet there and a gas giant, but that was all. This first leg would be the only one which used refined fuel. After that, it was wilderness refueling all the way home, which is what caused the misjump in the first place.

Second leg, from 0608 to the charted but uninhabited system marked on Imperial star charts as TV-311 (see the map). Again, a planet and a gas giant, but no other data was available.

Third leg, from TV-311 to Pampati or Faldor. From there they could possibly get alternate transport back to Holtzmann, but no repairs to the Star Walker.

Saorsumma insisted that they take along a representative/diplomat who plans to negotiate with Corridor governments for access to new jump technology, and to instructors for their engineering schools.

At each leg of the trip, checks were made for drive failure, misjump and malfunction (see JTAS #15, Starship Malfunctions). The last I thought a reasonable inclusion since the ship had been so extensively modified. 

The ship carried a 20-ton launch to serve as a fueling vessel. The Star Walker could no longer land on planets with atmosphere, it's streamlining was ruined by the cut-down/refit.

First leg went pretty smooth. The unexplored system revealed a gas giant, and one planet X-473000-0. The atmosphere was tainted with high levels of chlorine, so there was no question of spending time on the surface. The launch was run down and up bringing fuel to the ship.

I used the rule in the air/raft skill description to check for mishaps while shuttling fuel to the ship. Mac and Hebimori, one of the NPCs, could operate Ships Boats, and took turns. The engineer from Dekalb suffered a mishap and had to dump a load of fuel to make it back to the ship. This cost them time, but that was all.

Second leg went less smoothly. There was no drive failure, and the misjump check was safe, but two malfunctions were detected – the maneuver drive and the computer!

After two days spent tracking down the problems and making repairs, the ship was considered safe to jump away.

System TV-311 had been scouted by somebody at some point, so it was on Imperial star charts. An uninviting world of earth size but crushing atmosphere density. Also the air is full of methane, which is a big hazard. There was a gas giant present, but the crew chose to head for the planet.

While maneuvering to the planet to get fuel, the Star Walker's sensors picked up something odd. A ship was sitting in orbit around the planet, but running no drives or sensors. Only a faint and probably automated distress signal was coming through.

The ship was large, much larger than their own, even before the 'modification'. They hailed the strange ship but there was no reply or even a sensor sweep in return. The players decided against investigating the ship as they lacked the resources and were more concerned about getting home.

They ran into additional trouble when several successive throws for the launch all failed. I called that a drive malfunction, and it took the crew three days to diagnose and fix the problem. Each day spent was more food consumed, and more worry about the air recycling system breaking down as well.

Then it happened.

The Star Walker misjumped for the second time.

• Number of dice to throw: 2
• Dice throw for distance misjumped: 5
• Direction of misjump (1 being galactic North): 1
• Duration of misjump: 4 weeks.

The crew found some Fast Drug in the medical supplies, and everyone either went into Low Berth again, or lay on their bunk with the world whizzing past them at 60:1 perceived rate.

Where did they come out? Look at the map. As Carter observed, they had mis-jumped home. 

They emerged in the Worosha system. Not quite back home to Holtzmann, but an Imperial Client State. The local Navy and Starport Authority shepherded the ship into orbit and transferred the crew & passengers to a planet-side hospital. The SPA condemned the Star Walker as a hazard and sent word to its owner on Holtzmann. 

One final thing happened to make this adventure memorable. One of the players, playing Javier the ship's engineer, discovered an interesting fact about one of the passengers. Yi Li had won a sweepstakes on Chapolco, and booked aboard the Star Walker to take a vacation with 1,000,000 credits in gold in his stateroom. Javier decided to relieve the passenger of his money.

We rolled for surprise, and Javier did not get it. Yi Li was aware of his intention to attack, and the Reaction roll (at -2) was a 3, reduced to 2: immediate attack. So Javier and Li threw down in the Star Walker's corridors.

Hilarity ensued.

This image vastly overestimates the prowess of the combatants.

Neither one had any brawling skill or weapons, but Javier had Mesh armor and a STR of 11, giving him a +1. Three rounds of melee later, Li failed his Morale check after taking three relatively light hits from Javier. He fled and called the cops.

Javier then failed the Legal Encounter roll to avoid the Law, and was arrested for assault, malicious wounding and attempted grand larceny. The law hauled him away.

Mac and Carter, with their NPC crew, were shuttled home to Holtzmann. They arrived back home on Week 52 of SA 929. There they will stay, in time jail, until the rest of the active PCs catch up to them.

The other passengers had arrangements to get them home too. 

Boxing image: pixabay