Fal and the Clandestine Flight

No Hesitation

When you arrive back in the small mining town of New Lanvia, your smarfo buzzes and you see an email tagged as urgent from Professor Jeddon Vey, the guy who helped you get to Chellok. He asks you, Fal, to come talk to him alone as soon as you get back to the capital, Saebia City. Do you ignore this message and stay in New Lanvia or do you find transport back to Saebia City and meet up with Professor Vey?

"I meet up with him." Fal is not one to dillydally.

Back in Saebia City

The sugran cab driver complains about the new Delian security checkpoints the whole ride to the restaurant. He drops you off a few blocks from the Saebian Temple, where you are still rooming. You walk through the restaurant and the now familiar smell of boiling kaldis nuts reminds you how hungry you are after the long trip back to Saebia City. Professor Vey waves to you through the window; he's out on the patio. You look around and sit down. No one else is on the patio on this cold morning except the two of you. The patio is on the edge of the Medios river and on the opposite bank you can clearly see the towering courthouse. Vey seems skittish and sleepless with dark bags under his eyes. Is he still experiencing trouble adjusting to the 42-hour day/night cycle on Chellok? After such a long trip you eat your kaldis nut soup in silence while Vey sips on a cup of tea. Finally, the professor breaks the silence... with his high-pitched mouthy lisp...

The Professor's Pitch

"I need your help, Fal. I don't know why I'm asking you to do this... I barely know you. But, for some reason I feel like I can trust you to keep a secret. The two pilots who flew our ship, the Senu II, and two of my research colleagues recently went missing. If it was just the pilots, I might have thought they took up work elsewhere, but not Reka and Mizim. They were just as excited about our project as I am. They would never leave without discussing it. I waited a week, but no word from any of them. And then, I saw this notice in town."

Vey shows you his smarfo which has a job ad on it calling for scientists, technicians, engineers, and mechanics to work for an aeronautics company called Tuwala FS based in the neighboring nation of Gurrat. The ad promises high pay and great benefits.

"There's no way Reka and Mizim would fall for a gimmick like this. And I've heard of other scientists taking positions in Gurrat. There's even shortages of engineers here in Saebia City I've heard... I think my friends were taken, but I think I know where they are. I can't continue my research project until everyone is back. I want you to fly our dropship into Gurrat so I can sneak onto the Tuwala FS campus to find them. You'll have to pilot our dropship by yourself; I can read the instruments, but I can't co-pilot. And because of the Saebia-Delos defence alliance, security is tight. If the Gurratan military spots us on the way in, they could shoot us down... Not to mention getting caught while we're there on the ground. And then on the way back in, we may be shot down, interrogated, or detained indefinitely as spies. It's dangerous, but I would be forever in your debt. I can't promise much in financial pay, but I can return the favor somehow in some way. Will you help me?"

Without skipping a beat Fal answers, "I will help. You give me a time and a place, and I will be there."

Here We Go

"Again you? Where this time going?" Yesterday's sugran cab driver seems surprised and happy to see you again, only to start complaining about the Delian security measures like it's necessary to propel the car. You spend the ride staring out the window trying to make out the shapes of the buildings while blinking away the drowsiness of pre-dawn. The brakes bring the car to a slow stop, and the driver cranes his head half-way back. "Checking by Delos here ahead. I don't wasting time go through."

Professor Jeddon Vey lets out a toothy sigh, almost like a hiss. "Yes, yes. The checkpoints. That's fine. I'll smarfo you the fare. Fal, we're near enough the edge of town. Let's go." You and Vey step out into the cool air and grab the duffle bags of equipment from the trunk. The professor leads you down a couple of alleys which quickly give way to an open grassy field. The vibrant greens of early spring look blue-grey at this hour. The breeze you felt back when you left the Saebian Temple is now a chilly wind. Far out in the field you see the outline of a retro-fitted orbital clipper punctuated by its orange hazard LEDs.

The smells of baking bread and gentis tea fade as you follow Professor Vey through the grass away from Saebia City. The wetter your knees get from the dew, the more you wonder if agreeing to help him was a mistake... until you see the clipper up close. YNSP OC-078: Conviction. The ship's original designation is still visible through the slipshod spray paint. All the excitement and passion you felt on your first day of pilot academy back on Prakyun comes welling back as you run your fingers across the belly of the newly named, Crosspoint. This class of ship was standard in the training simulators, but what modifications did pilgrims make to turn this into an in-atmosphere shuttle? You can't wait to find out.

Back in the Saddle

The professor presses a few buttons on an outer panel and summons his proudest voice as he says his name into the voice identifier. The ramp hydraulics hiss, and the two of you squeeze your way up and into the cockpit. The layout looks familiar but the controls have been heavily modded for in-atmosphere flight using fusion engines.

Roll 3d6+2 vs your Piloting skill of 13 to see if you are able to take off without incident.

Show spoiler

PC rolled successfully.

Despite the changes to hardware and software, the locations of the controls and the launch sequence seem to be mostly unchanged from your training flights. You initiate the countdown sequence and hear the battery-powered motors whir up sending liquid Helium-3 down into the ignition chambers. The fuel lines pop and water condenses on the walls near them from the sudden drop in temperature.

30 seconds go by while you watch the engine pressure gauges... "REACTION VIABLE" flashes on the screen and you slam the IGNITION lever down. Professor Vey yelps in surprise next to you with the deafening crack of the fusion engines firing up. Within a few moments all key flight systems come to full power and you feel the bouancy of liftoff. You grip the controls a little tighter and prepare to fly.

After considering your options you choose the following flight plan: You fly east over the Saebian Alps into Kranath and approach Gurrat from the south. This route may provide greater protection from radar and patrols, but is riskier considering the challenges of flying at low altitudes over the mountain range.

Sea Legs

In the first two hours of the flight, your unfamiliarity with the modified controls and in-atmosphere fusion flight proves to be a little too much for your skill after being out of the pilot seat for so many weeks. You lose control twice during these first two hours and in order to avoid crashing, alter your original flight plan and gain altitude. Fortunately, you are still in friendly airspace. Once you get over the Saebian Alps, you start to feel at home again and are able to stick to the flight plan.

Once you enter Gurratan airspace, Professor Vey asks you to put the ship down a safe distance from the capital to avoid unnecessary attention. You are able to make it all the way to the outskirts of Lhu'ohk, the capital city of Gurrat, without any incident. As you approach the city you make a wide circle and make landing preparations.

As you are getting ready to land, the professor says, "Fal, thank you for doing this. You should stay with the ship. If I'm not back in 42 hours, fly back to Saebia City and inform the authorities."

Waiting Game

The crackle of the fusion engines gets louder as you begin to land and the vibrations echo off the ground. Despite being totally different from your training, the controls are familiar enough that you put the Crosspoint down safely and smoothly. You lean into the fuel lever with your weight and after a few more seconds the engine reaction burns up the remaining Helium-3 in the fuel lines and extinguishes itself with a final crack that rattles the entire ship.

Professor Vey gathers a few belongings from a locker and checks his backpack. "Fal, thank you for doing this." He looks you in the eye silently and then turns and unlocks the hatch door. The ramp hydraulics hiss, Vey's footsteps clank a few beats on the metal and then swish in the grass for a moment before all you hear is the wind against the hatch.

You spend the next 33 hours in silence alone in the Crosspoint. Night falls... and finally you see something. Three figures walking across the field towards the ship. As they approach the ship you can no longer see them from the cockpit window. As you debate what to do, your smarfo buzzes. It's the professor.

In the Deep End

"I'm sorry I got you into this, Fal... I can't go back to Saebia with you. I have to stay here in Gurrat with my colleagues. Would you open the door please? I have to give you something to take back." The professor's normally peppy voice is slow and defeated.

"You opening door now, pilgrim." A second, echoey voice follows the professor's.

You keep the door shut and prepare to ignite the engines for flight in order to leave and fly back to Saebia. As you walk through the ship making launch preparations you can still hear voices over your smarfo.

Dejected a moment earlier, the sounds of the ship cycling air for launch sends the professor into a hysteria. "Fal, please! Don't do this. Open the door! These men don't want to hurt you or me. You don't understand everything yet, so you have to trust me. This is the best way. They just want you to take my smarfo back. Please... I'm begging you."

"Fal, you are named, yes? Listen to professor. And everything easiest." The sugran's voice echoes through your smarfo again. "I am named Sebo of Lommar. I am sugran who done planning and attacking your High Priestess of Saebia. I do that. How you think? Can you fly your home safe? Can you escape my dornga? Can you hide from me? You here only because I allow. You opening door now. You taking smarfo of Professor Vey and returning Saebia. Easiest."

"Fal, do what he says. There's no getting me out of here now, but I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of this half-baked rescue. Please, just take the smarfo."

You pull your hand off the ignition lever and let out a sigh. "Fuck it... I'll open the hatch." You reluctantly and cautiously release the lock. The adrenaline coursing into your blood rubs out any remaining drowsiness; you stand alert as the ramp opens into the dark of night.

Unknown Quantity

"You are smart, pilgrim Fal." The voice from the smarfo speaker reverberates loud enough to be heard over the cycling fans venting, almost like the night itself is speaking. Sebo Lommar steps into the light of the ramp, his head almost reaching the bottom of the Crosspoint. He spreads his arms as he walks up the ramp, his reach extending the entire width.

"Professor say you are here two months only on Chellok. But you flying this... old boat in atmosphere very well. We track your flying, very good. I like it, pilgrim Fal. Maybe soon you working for me, like professor." At the bottom of the ramp you see the other massive sugran palming Jeddon Vey's head, the fingers curling down past his eyes. Professor Vey is wincing. Lommar steps inside the Crosspoint and towers over you. He looks down at you with a slight grin. You've never been this close to a sugran. His faded-green skin looks dry but smooth and is littered with black spots where the circulatory system comes to the surface to diffuse CO2.

For a moment you are dumbstruck, staring back at Sebo Lommar. The unnamed sugran rips the professor's smarfo out of his trembling hand and tosses it up to Lommar, who catches it with one hand and then offers it to you in the same seamless movement.

"You taking this to Saebia. When you enter their smarfo network, program will operating automatically. That is it. Goodbye now, pilgrim Fal." Lommar ducks his head and exits the Crosspoint before you look up from the professor's smarfo in your hands.

Flying back to Saebia seems like the only option. Roll 3d6+2 four times: once to take off cleanly, twice for the flight back to Saebia city (once per three-hour period), and once to land safely. The return flight is easier since you will not be flying close to terrain to avoid detection.

Show spoiler

PC continues to destroy all the rolls on this side-mission.

Like Riding a 515-ton Orbital Clipper

You power through the six-hour flight back. Flying the Crosspoint feels like second nature. When you finally put the ship down in the field outside Saebia City, you feel all the tension and stress release from your hands. Professor Vey's smarfo has a signal... did it already happen? Did it do what it was supposed to? What was it even supposed to do? You have questions but are too exhausted to try to figure out the answers now. Nama and Derax might have some insight. Despite your tendency to be a loner, you find your thoughts returning to your new friends. You can link up tomorrow. First, sleep. You walk back to an empty bunk, lay down and close your eyes.

THE END

Fal and the Clandestine Flight

was a side-mission for the player character Falidor Drahcrob in the Chellokan Eclipse campaign carried out via text/play-by-post, hence it is written in the second person.