Date of letter: wk 22, 1105
We restocked a few Drinax weeks ago, and tried to see if anyone might have legitimate work for a ship or crew, but the court and officers corps are on either end timid or hostile. The only sorts of gifts that would smooth out the ruffled noble feathers is a ship of the same class which is... unlikely to be found.
I confess, I did not think about it until later, but we should have traveled down to the surface and talked with the wastelanders below. At least made contact and traded details. When we are next in-system I will be sure we take the effort to make those contacts.
We left the world pursuing some leads we heard of a raider who tore through the industrial infrastructure of Clarke and Torpal. The raids were of an industrial nature, and the locals of the sector talk of pirates, but that doesn't quite seem to be the motive, because what was carried off?
It took of several weeks, but we caught up with a derelict vessel, the surviving crew of which pointed us to Theev, and a bridge over a fuel dump floating at a list of empty coordinates. I advised this danger was not worth pursuing, but the rest of the crew insisted they would be fine dying in deep space, so we proceeded.
To my great relief the fuel dump did exist, a few fuel transports hauled out and left to drift the twilight. We conducted refueling operations, capping off our fuel, and continued on.
Theev itself is… about what I expected from the rumors. We stay largely in the adjacency to the port, as the riff raff that collects around the edges is nothing we want to tangle with immediately.
Date of letter: wk 23, 1105
More than a week was required to get any decent leads on the industrial raiders, and their leaders. We found ourselves dealing with first one than another and another pirate until we found the man responsible... who was also off world at the time being. We will soon be departing in hopes we can grab the man we need. We also have a prisoner, who we will be trading freedom for the data evidence needed for the bounty.
We have also picked up some pirate men in our wanderings down here for additional crew. A pirate merchant, and a knight and armor cavalry man. (Jester & Sebastian). I wonder as to how the knight found himself out here. But he sure will be useful.
Date of letter: wk 24, 1105
We’ve returned to Theev and have traded men and equipment for the needed proof of the raidings. We will soon be mounting up to return to Torpol.
Our newest prisoner, one Erik Redbane, has alleged that the Theev pirate lord Admiral Derokin, is a former Imperial loyalist, and is passing information back to the imperial navy. I suspect there may be some truth to it. And I suspect the derelicts floating in deep space (2117) may be servicing Imperial operations in addition to pirate. Hard to say. I wouldn’t want to linger to confirm.
Date of letter:wk 28, 1105
We returned to Torpol and were received well when we informed who and what we had brought to ransom. We remained in port and had maintenance paid for the month, among other payments. During this time I also arranged for some repairs to the bridge.
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This was part 2 of the generally scripted adventure. We got a decently large haul, maybe sweetened relations with Drinax and adjacent worlds some... but not by a ton. And the pay for the bounties... good enough. Enough to keep running and do some minor repairs.
The party was favorable to some ideas I most certainly was not. For example: jumping into a deep space hex on the allegation from a pirate that there IS a fuel dump? Eh... I disagree mightily, because he's just one guy. This is really dangerous, to take his word on. If we had jumped, and there wasn't anything there? End of our adventures with these characters. Not unless someone by happenstance, jumped into the same hex as us, and with fuel we could take at gunpoint.
Unfortunately, this was the only meaningful rumor we had for a while, and sunk cost fallacy was working hard on our finances. Rumors overall have been hard to come by, and so the sector seems barren of profitable adventures an armed vessel can take advantage of.
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