Session 39: Refugees in Al'Rhud Report
General Summary
Introduction
After days of fighting against injuries, infections, cramped spaces, overwhelmed Life Support systems, and very low morale, the crew of the Iridium Dawn has born the weight of having saved 50 desparate refugees from the Orbital Spire District of Nibian 3 just prior to its collapse into the newly formed Black Hole where the mining planet Nibian 6 used to be. Though their journey has taken them far from their initial orders from the current Scavvish leader Lady Ash to observe the weapons test, capture it if possible, and return the information to her, their harrowing adventure has taken them far into the stars and further towards the edge of civilization.
The ship's Zip Drive begins to warm up the ship once more, the overworked and overheated cooling rods within it barely keeping together with the efforts of the mechanical prodigy Jay, it becomes apparent that the engine will soon punch them back from this odd interdimensional white-space back into the universe itself. The remaining 36 survivors gather in the Cargo Hold and Hanger Bay in an attempt to brace themselves from the jostling of the dimensional shift. Show Image
As the ship nears its exit from Zip-Space, each of you find the pressing concerns facing you still weighing on your mind. Your food supplies are dwindling quickly, even with the 14 dead Refugees and 2 days of half-rations. You managed to keep 17 Medicine, 7 Radiation Medicine, and 2 more bags of Coffee in the ship despite having felt the assurances that you wouldn't have to restock on such items for a long time yet. Finally, you each feel the sheer heat eminating through the ship and know the difficulty facing you on limping forward with an overheated, overworked Zip Drive that only barely didn't blow up during your last, harrowing jump away from a Black Hole (and the 3 jumps within the system that wouldn't have normally handled more than 1).
However pressing those practical needs are, the questions not directly related to your survival still remain ever-present. What you can do to hold Krasia to account for the truth that only you truly witnessed...their ability to create black holes and destroy systems filled with millions of humans, seemingly at will. How were they able to fill a ship with multiple bombs made from more Utopia than an entire planet would contain? Is there truly an alien fleet coming to destroy humanity, as they claim, or are their intentions even more sinister? Of course, some of you have more personal thoughts and needs as well...how is your family surviving right? Will you ever find your way home again? Will your homeland survive what strife is coming for it? Should you focus on your own survival, potentially even prosperity, or should you fight back?With all that in mind, what do we find each of you doing to prepare for whatever may come ahead?
Introduction
The Iridium Dawn emerges into the Al'Rhud System's Edge, the light from the distant orange sun just faintly gracing the sleek ship's black hull. You see the map of the nearby system flash on your ship's screens and datapads. On initial glance, the System is officially registered under the control of the Bounty Hunter's Guild and only contains 2 planets in the Habitable Zone. Before we run the usual Scan that has become routine when entering a System, I will ask: While your jump wake might call some attention to your entry into the system, it would only do so to entities actively monitoring the Edge of the system which tends to be less common. That in mind, are you attempting to enter Stealthily (Passive Scanning) or Actively Scan and risk broadcasting your prescense?
Gameplay
Just as the Crew was about to depart Z-Space, Tumerian and Ronin opted to broadcast a meditation called the "Prayer of Serenity from Battle of Honadad" and "Children of the Flowering" meditation. Kushiel, in Rose, took great offense to being locked away, seeing Versia in its state, and then seeing such a simple meditation messed up. She burst into Tumerian's room, interrupted the broadcast, and confronted Li and Ronin.
They quickly locked the door and turned it around on Kushiel. They forced him to admit to several things, including who he was, why he created Versia (a place of Ultimate law), and his thoughts on the other Hosts. Continued mockery led to Kushiel drawing 2 hardlight scythes. Li dropped the lights, grew his shadow wings & shield, and they fought for a moment as Ronin watched. One of the blunt strikes to the head led to Kushiel's influence being weakened. Rose was able to push to the surface after months, rushed forward to try and hug Li, and missed. Ronin stepped forward and choked her out to unconsciousness. They carried her to the Brig.
Meanwhile, they exited Z-Space and sat out in the Edge as Burt changed the ident chip with assistance as the ship tried to stay stealthed. Burt prepped a package of the information they gathered to send to Lady Ash as well. Jay, finding herself without action, tried to seduce a married man in front of his wife and kid (failing). Rose and Chiara went to talk with Rose and had a conversation in the Brig at long last.
As they began entering the system, they received a message from Halba Defensive Platform. It was a man's voice and audio only. He said: "This is the Bounty Hunter Guild's Halba Defensive Platform to the Celestial Traveler, which first registered as KPO Vanguard. You have exactly 10 minutes to turn around and jump back up your Accolade's ass. However, we'd prefer you don't. It's been too long since your buddies swung by and we'd love the target practice. So again, please be here in 11 minutes. I don't want my guns getting rusty. Message Ends."
They ended up negotiating with the Halba Defensive Platform and convincing them to let them pass to get food or water. The platform agreed but said they’d blow them out of the sky if a ship left, they powered up weapons, or powered up shields.
They also, after mentioning Nibian 3, sent the news report that the Krasian frigate had in its logs 6 days before (the same day the Nibian system attack, proof that it was already planned). It was aboard the ship but hadn’t been broadcasted yet, only scavenged from the wrecked derelict KPO frigate. They figured out that Krasia had planned to frame it on FreeST and claimed that there was an involved customized ship.
The ship began heading towards Al'Rhudi and the waterworld below. As they entered the Interior of the System, Rose and Li both had the following experiences:
- Li, you feel something exceptionally odd beginning to drip down the center of your back. It feels like you just had a cold, salty cup of water thrown against the center of your back between your shoulderblades.
- Rose, you suddenly start smelling an odd tinge of Brine and Salt. It smells almost like your clothes have just been covered in salt and soaked.
