Travellers Aid Society Lounge [In-Game Player Chat]

[Thumper]

Ty responding to Ted,

Wanna work on that overnight or tomorrow? If overnight, I’ll go. Can you take lead on that? If tomorrow, I’ll be busy.

[Gorethirster]

Ted responds to Ty, but pitches his response to the whole table. No point stepping on toes if someone else wants to play boss.
"I'm happy to take the lead. I'd love to meet the people who don't care for the regime. I think we'll have a lot in common. Anyone else up for it? I'm thinking tonight. I'm not going to be sleeping anyway, and these sorts avoid the light like roaches."

[AleBelly]

Piotr finishes his light meal, taken with a glass of fancy beer. "Ty, I'll head over with you to the starport. If we can find out more about the timing of the Perfect Stranger's whereabouts, we should be able to chart a reasonable course of travel. You know, figure out where to start investigating..."

[subaltari]

Sitting to Piotr's left, Gabe has been enjoying an excellent meal of Bosk grazer steak, blue tubers, and green legumes in a spicy sauce. He ordered no alcohol, but was delighted to find the clubroom serves a sweet milky beverage called horchata. He's mostly been quiet thus far, but there is one topic he knows a little about, having dipped his toe briefly into 'merc work' before this job came along.

"Repat Bonds... dose're meant to help the living more than the dead, yeah?" Gabe sets his fork down as he picks out his words. "You know: if your company's on the losing side, you get safe passage out. Hopefully before getting laser holes in ya. Right, so in murder cases ain't there a thing called chain of evidence? It just seems to me whoever killed those two, wanted dat chain to get really loong. Like, from wherever it happened to where we are cou' be dozens of parsecs..."

When Ted makes his pitch, the younger man turns to him. "You wanna find the people that don't like da big Jefe, you gonna need someone to watch your back. I'm in... but when we're done, let's see if we can find a bar still open."

[Thumper]

Ty
He nods at Ted’s and Gabe’s comments.

Ok, so sounds to me like our game plan is first, if anybody wants to, shop for any high tech stuff we want after dinner; then go out and enjoy ourselves in the dive bars while getting to know the real Amodiage; then sift the government sources at opening hours tomorrow?

I might suggest that it’s possible the Starport has ship transit records, immigration/emigration records on the crew, and cadaver shipping records.

Do we all want to start there in the morning then split as needed to investigate the morgue or library?

Does that make sense?

Sound ‘bout right? Miss anything?

[Gorethirster]

Ted nods.

"Sounds like a plan. Before we disperse, one last question: obviously nobody took this job to get shot. But, given that we've already got two dead crew with laser burns, we should probably talk about worst case scenarios. If we have to go heavy, how are we going to gear up? Who's going to call shots? I'll be honest with you, I'm good with a knife but not much more than passingly familiar with a gun. And I wouldn't have the first clue about how to storm a building. So, just in case that happens, we should probably figure out who'll be in charge. And, while we're at it, set up some signals in case we're split up and things start happening fast. I'm thinking a phrase for "I'm about to be kidnapped/murdered, help NOW" and "I'm about to be kidnapped/murdered, DON'T COME" seem like good general purpose things to have. Any other ideas are welcome too, of course."

At this point Ted looks expectantly at Gabe, Piotr, and Aziz.

[TheMyth]

"Crumpet," Becky says out of the blue.

"If any one of you speaks the word 'crumpet', then I'd know something was amiss."

[Thumper]

Ty:
So, you want "Crumpet" for "something bad and rush to help?"

[subaltari]

Gabe agrees.

"Yeah, and then 'Tortilla' means 'it's totally frakked, get your ass out of there.'

"As for gear... da Generalissimo don't like his beloved people to be armed, and us neither. How bad you gents and dame wanna get around that, y'know, just for the sake of protection?"

[AleBelly]

Ted nods.

"Sounds like a plan. Before we disperse, one last question: obviously nobody took this job to get shot. But, given that we've already got two dead crew with laser burns, we should probably talk about worst case scenarios. If we have to go heavy, how are we going to gear up? Who's going to call shots? I'll be honest with you, I'm good with a knife but not much more than passingly familiar with a gun. And I wouldn't have the first clue about how to storm a building. So, just in case that happens, we should probably figure out who'll be in charge. And, while we're at it, set up some signals in case we're split up and things start happening fast. I'm thinking a phrase for "I'm about to be kidnapped/murdered, help NOW" and "I'm about to be kidnapped/murdered, DON'T COME" seem like good general purpose things to have. Any other ideas are welcome too, of course."

At this point Ted looks expectantly at Gabe, Piotr, and Aziz.

"I spent my time on ships...we did not often need to avail clandestine communication. Gabe or Aziz have the subject matter expertise we need. Gentlemen, have you any guidance for us?"

[Thumper]

Ty:
Well, I’m going to get to the beach before long. It’s rare but not unheard of for fish to flip onto the surfboard and die. I like to prepared so as not to waste the bounty, so I think I’m going to need to buy a fishing knife tonight…ya know…for gutting, scaling, and filleting. Maybe tonight will uncover another opportunity as well.

[subaltari]

Before answering Ty, Gabe glances about the dining room briefly, as if looking for hidden cameras or microphones. Not that he would have any idea whether the locals could bug a TAS facility, nor would he be able to spot a bug of TL12 manufacture...

"Fishing knives, kitchen knives, pocket knives, beer bottles, get a heavy torch; yah dat is one option. The other is your boy Ted here, if he can make contact with the undergroun', the next step from there is a black market guy, mebbe even someone with access to guns and armour. Ablat suits pr'tect against lasers, and they're cheap most places... but the market would set the price, and they might want our favors instead of our money." The goateed young man frowns as he realises what he just said.

"Did someone say shoppin for high tech? Ev'ry one of us should have personal comms, and make sure they are compatible, so's we can all talk about 'crumpets' and 'tortillas' at a distance." Gabe pulls a book-sized device out of his pocket and lays it next to his plate (Medium Range Communicator, TL10). "This baby uses microwave. Whatever ya get, make sure it don't work with satellites, 'cuz the regime prob'ly runs all the satellites."

[Eris]

Jako says, "I can usually hit what I aim at with a pistol, but I'd rather it not come to that. We're a long way from home and there's not backup for us out here at all, as far as I can tell. I think caution is going to be the keyword."

"I've got a comm and a hand computer." Jako brings both up to the table next to his plate, "I've got weapons in that sealed container, but I'm not taking them out on this world...if I can possibility avoid it."

Jako smiles, "And yeah, I'm okay with Crumpet and Tortilla as code words."

OOC: How much access to Star chart data do we have? Can I call up Traveller Map and look at what it says about Amondiage and be relatively confident it's accurate and have Jako do the same with the local network?

[Spearmint]

Colonel Aziz 'Easy' Schmidt

Not sure I can add anything not already covered.

Schmidt will use his computer to do the few searches he suggested earlier and chill over the evening soirée in the TAS.

Perhaps information we gather tonight will help focus plans tomorrow.

[Thumper]

Ty:
Ya man, I brought my Medium Range comm with me, too.

Not sure where and when we go next when we leave Amondiage, so I intend to purchase things while here. A TL12 Vacc Suit first then get reimbursed. Then buy some higher TL cold weather clothing and some night vision goggles. That way I can refill my card’s allowance as the calendar month rolls over …if we’re somewhere that interfaces with Amondiage banking.

For other weapons while here, I was thinking of trying to find some non-lethals… stun stick or Tazer. If we get sideways with the locals, those would probs ly be more forgiveable.

[Hvalreki]

Easy and Thumper's net searches don't turn up anything current on the Perfect Stranger. They do come across a review in a Ships of the Islands post from some months ago:



Further searching shows a departure date for the Perfect Stranger that corresponds to roughly several weeks before the bodies of the two crewmen were shipped back to Imperial space from Amondiage. Whatever happened to the crew likely befell them not long after departing Amondiage Unfortunately flight plans are purged from the public database after 180 days.

They do finally locate the nearest Hortalez et Cie office some 16 parsecs (52.19 light years) distant from Amondiage in the Zuflucht system. Other than access to the line of credit they realize they won't be able to contact them from here anytime soon. Communication would be months out and just as long to get a reply. The Travellers are on their own.

An overhead monitor in the TAS bar shows the local newscrawl. They soon realize there isn't much actual "news" being reported at all.

No muggings, no brawls, nothing. The stories all seem to be either puff pieces about the Generalissimo and his dynasty or vague threats about the "intolerable provocations" and Amondiage ships "aggressively deployed" to stations they already pass through.

In short, the local media is a mouthpiece of the administration and probably not a great source of actual intelligence or information.



Sadly for Ty the nearest surf is 2,000 km from here, if they wish Air/Rafts are available for rent. Lastly, while there are plenty of places in the city to by equipment (and just about anything else), there is no sign of anywhere selling weapons.

[Thumper]

Ty chuckles upon seeing the Perfect Stranger's review. He shows the rest of the crew.

Makes perfect sense! Terrific negative adverts. Let me just make another negative review of rude crew and food that sent me to the medic!! ...there. And…just to keep up the charade, a 4-star review from a freight agent. Done.

Unless there are other things to discuss, I'd like to hit the stores, bring stuff back here, then hit the dive bars!!

Upon seeing the range to the nearest reliable surf: Bogus, man! Jacko, we gotta go 2,000km. Without a speeder or a few days off... Sucks. Who builds a capital city that far from the water?

[Eris]

Ty chuckles upon seeing the Perfect Stranger's review. He shows the rest of the crew.

Makes perfect sense! Terrific negative adverts. Let me just make another negative review of rude stewards, rusty deck floors, and food that sent me to the medic!! ...there. Done.

Unless there are other things to discuss, I'd like to hit the stores, bring stuff back here, then hit the dive bars!!

Upon seeing the range to the nearest reliable surf: Bogus, man! Jacko, we gotta go 2,000km. Without a speeder or a few days off... Sucks. Who builds a capital city that far from the water?

"Folks that don't surf, Ty" Jako says, "I'd bet that Generalisimo has never seen a board much less ridden one."

"Frankly, folks, I'm for an early night of it. That long as a popcicle does bad things to my system that a night or real sleep might just fix. Tomorrow I want to buy a vacc suit with the card and then, I want to hit this town's best library and look at some archives. See if Perfect Stranger comes up more than that one time."

[Thumper]

Ty:

Hey guys, and Becky. Am I seeing this right? Last record on the public site shows the Perfect Stranger departed here a few weeks before the 2 crew’s remains were shipped from Amondiage. Either the deceased crewmembers never left Amondiage with the ship, or they died and were sent back within a jump or two. Check me on that.

The Stranger only is Jump 1 capable. Even if bodies came back on a ship with longer legs, the Stranger didn’t go far before they died…if they indeed left with the ship.

Is it possible surviving crewmembers sent the bodies back here? We need to see that flight plan and crew manifest. And emigration record.

[TheMyth]

"Which is why tracing the bodies is a priority. And so is checking on the other crew members. If we can find them, or their trails, we might find the ship," Becky says.