Traveller: DA1 Annic Nova concludes

This was a great adventure, easily modified for our T1ed Campaign: 

"Enthusiastically Recommended!"

**SPOILER ALERT**

read no further if you plan to use or play this adventure!

Everything had gone well, the PCs taking intelligent precautions operating on a strange - alien - ship [helped by both gaming and real-life experience!] and avoided any injuries or mishaps.  Overall, an interesting exploration of an alien artifact.  

This made the adventure very "Original Star Trek" in feel, and I think we all enjoyed that it wasn't just a "kill everything in the dungeon and steal their gold" type of adventure.

They enjoyed unraveling the ship's mysteries, which were still somewhat raveled actually, and I enjoyed watching them work it out.  It's an impressive group.

The closest they had come to real trouble at this point was when they finally got a serious clue as to what had happened to the crew - and even then they did everything necessary to minimize the risks of sickness.

As of the last session's end, it seemed that that the adventure was winding down - the only significant decision left was how to get "Annic Nova" back to the Home Office of Black-Wagner Interstellar, LPC in Kidashi. This alone provoked quite some discussion of salvage laws, mission requirements, risk assessment, etc. 

In the end, the group put a crew of six on board, one for every person present at the session, and prepared for departure, loading up supplies and coordinating with the BWI ship that brought them out, the free trader Eclipse. Remaining on board Eclipse was Nehvar [a PC whose player wasn't present] and two BWI NPCs Mark Hitchik and Tully Pettigrooh, to Jump the Free Trader home. This would involve separating as the Eclipse doesn't have a multi-Jump capability.

But, I couldn't leave it there, because I have a plot twist in mind, which will lead to an adventure link, interesting puzzles, and allow me to use some fun miniatures! 

So, as the group settled on their plan to crew Annic Nova and jump back to Kidashi in two jumps via Eneldun using Annic Nova's unusual Jump Drive setup...

...puzzling things started to happen in the badly overgrown hydroponic gardens.  Things, well, "Beings" that had been long-dormant began to awaken.

Below, the hydroponic garden is at the #32 reference, map center.

CAST

Oran [Grey D] - former marine LTC, NPC, Alex

Glitch [Red E] - retired Navy Pilot, Tony F.

Doc [Red K] - Army PA, handy w'SMG, Greg

Stinks [Red C] - Army scout, Steve

Phil [Red D]- big goon, John

Oran Beil and Phil have been trying to salvage anything edible or valuable from the hydroponic garden, both fitting this in around other tasks. it's hard to keep track of much progress in the business of departure, but during the first jump to Eneldun Oran especially is able to tackle it with a bit more intent.

On J+2 [8 days from boarding the ship and starting all systems again], Oran shifts back to a part of the garden where he hasn't worked in a few days. It's odd...he's almost certain that some of the plants have, well, moved.  Or at least moved much farther than they should since he last weeded the area towards the bow.  But, it's hard to say; Phil is also working in the garden, and maybe he just cleared some growth and shifted things.  Maybe...

Oran shares his concerns with Phil and the others on a routine wrap-up of the day.  No one is very concerned, however, so Oran forgets about it.

On J+4, Oran enters the area and begins working at the stern end.  As he's moving around, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye, and feels a light impact on his sleeve - dangling from the cloth is a long thorn from one of the larger plants towards the bow.  Oran is puzzled, as he didn't feel his sleeve catch on anything as he went by.  He starts back to the bow, looking at a few of the larger, thornier plants and confirms that the thorns match.

   "Hey Phil!"

   "Yeah?"

   "You aren't going to believe this, but I think one of the plants just shot a thorn into my sleeve."

   "You sure about that?"

   "Well, I saw the motion out of the corner of my eye, and here it is."

   "I'll be right there."

   "It's one of the big spiky ones towards the bow...ARGH! SONUFABITCH!  It just threw one at me again, and it hit my arm!"

   "We're on our way," says Doc, who's with Stinks in the quarters area.  They grab the elevator, jamming into it together. Phil has to wait a round.

   "I'm coming down from the pinnace" says Glitch.

   "Take that you cunning conifer!" shouts Oran. "Lopped a chunk off" he adds.

   "Just sit tight, we're almost there," says Stinks.

Doc and Stinks storm up the gangway, just as they hear Oran go down with a grunt into his comm bead. As they enter the hydroponic garden from the bow, they see Oran laying with his cutlass nearby, one plant badly chopped near the base between them and him.  The plant eerily moves its branches to "face" them...But Doc doesn't waste any time.  His SMG is ready, and the low velocity hull-preserving rounds are still powerful enough to "trim the verge" here...Pib-pib-pib-pib-pib....

   "Two down, shifting left" reports Doc, making way for Stinks who's behind him.

   "Heyah!" shots Stinks, his blade flashing in the overhead lights.

   "Behind you!" shouts Phil" entering the gangway. 

   "Eat plastic!" says Doc, squeezing off another burst.

   "Heee-yaaah!" says Stinks, getting a solid hit in and taking down another of the thorny bushes. A couple of the plants are down and barely moving at this point.

"Friendly entering!" Shouts Glitch, stepping thru the hatch.  Unfortunately, his shotgun's line of fire has friends in it.

Glitch shifts and is able to fire.  Big Phil comes in swinging, and except for a few light puncture wounds from the faster [relatively] plants, the action is soon over.

 Oran is taken to the makeshift sick bay that doc has made in a cabin. Doc is treating him, and he soon recovers from unconsciousness, but he seems a bit droopy for just a couple of puncture wounds...Doc investigates.

With assistance from other crew members, and some good clean science, Doc determines that the plant material matches the dust recovered from the stateroom with the badly decomposed bodies in it. 
  "The good news," he informs the rest of the crew, is that I've got the source of the sickness that likely took down the crew.  The bad news...I don't feel so good either." I advise everyone to say away from sick bay and observe contamination precautions until I get this figured out a bit better.

On J+7, Annic Nova enters the Enuldun system.  Doesn't take them long to determine that:

- with a highly unusual alien vessel,

- that has a possibly undiscovered virus aboard,

- and a salvage mission to conclude,

they don't want to stick around.  They Jump almost immediately to Kidashi, where they radio in the special imperial code sequence that sets their skillful reception in motion.

Doc and Oran quickly recover except for a bit of fatigue that seems to linger. BWI and the Imperial authorities lock down the airborne virus, saving samples for further research.  When Oran and Doc, and the rest of the crew [as well as Eclipse] are cleared from quarantine a few weeks later, they are summoned to Sam Troih's spacious office.

There, many of their questions are answered.

1) Annic Nova, with its unusual Jump Drive and solar powered energy system brings in a value over 200 MCred [1 MCred = 1,ooo,ooo Credits] credits. This results in 2.2 Million Credits going to the Team.

2) Additional salvage items include 50 kilos of tobacco, expensive liquors, six exotic rings with precious stones, 3 small-adult-sized space suits with an unusual oxygen regen system built into the fabric, and assorted artifacts of socio-cultural-ecological significance. Value to the Team = 163,000 Credits.

3) Total value to the Team, just for the Salvage = 2.363 MCred, or 262,555.55 Cred per Team member.  This is above the month's salary for the time it took for the salvage and return.

Jerek, the Team's engineer and computer genius, has been able to decipher enough of the computer systems to submit the following report:

   1. Annic Nova, more properly titled "4-00-00-1-9 |  00-02-4" a deep-space merchant vessel, has interesting abilities. It can make two jumps sequentially with its Drives, then maneuver under power from a pinnace to a convenient point near a sun to recharge - this can take a few weeks depending on the selected orbit and power of the sun.

   2. The ship can be pre-programmed to jump and re-charge, almost like a bus, along an interstellar route. This in fact is what the ship has been doing since first sighted in the Regina subsector of the Spinward Marches. The odd thing is that many of the places the ship has been are, well, not likely sources of trade; only a few have populations and goods that would be profitable, like Heya and Dentus.

   3. Jerek has not figured out how to extract the future plots from the ship's computer.

   4. The ship is ideal for anyone who wants to get places quickly then remain in system for a time, perhaps to study, trade or otherwise interact as the Stellar collector recharges the battery.  In effect, it is a sailing yacht, more than a trading vessel, and has been in space for likely over 100 years, guessing at the unread portions of the ship's log.

After this, the Team is released for some well-earned and much-desired leave on Kidashi.