The Letters of Jack Carter: Part 3

Characters

Major Jack Carter (M): Human, 38, former Imperium Army--Support. Captain of ship and navigator.
Elani Dancet (F): Human, 26, Former Drinax Diplomat. Our talker and turret gunner.
Cpt. Y Sebastion (M): Human, 30, unknown nationality, former Army--Cavalry. Mechanical engineer.
"Jester" (M): Human, 38, Pirate merchant. Gunman, marine, and freight agent.

Date of letter:wk 32, 1105

We’ve decided to strike out to Tech-World, and see what rumors of work there might be out that way. We found our way into a minor contract with a research post, and some minor money was made. Unfortunately one of the men in our crew also thought it a great idea to steal this company’s air/raft. He will need to be watched in the future to prevent further thefts from our clients. We now have two of the blasted things in the hold, one almost new.

Rumors of a downed imperial treasure ship in a nearby system have my attention. We will be heading out soon to follow up as to what truth there is on Arunisiir.

Date of letter: wk 37, 1105

My hopes for seizing the cargo of the treasure freighter were dashed soon after we entered orbit. An escort awaited in orbit, guarding the treasure, and in the downport they had a large number of marines on watch around the port.

We had little time in truth to execute a raid on the ship, as within the week a second flotilla arrived with the repair parts. If we had more time, perhaps we could have met with the power brokers of the world, and come to some agreement to seize the vessel and its cargo, but it wasn’t to be.

We extracted a fee for the administration, took a small cut, and left.

My love, I can sense your reproach, and mirth at our misfortune. You yourself know of the bare practicalities of politics and statecraft.

Date of letter:wk 38, 1105

After our last adventure my dear, I have something to report that you may be able to maneuver for advantage of. A local baroness on Cordon, named Lux, made an agreement with us to stir up unrest between two of her rivals, or even try and kill them outright. Her rivals are also barons, named Ferron and Halley. On balance is the prospect of lands and estates and local influence in the system. An opportunity we cannot miss.

However, our contacting man had managed to persuade the baroness for an advance of credits. He is becoming a problem.

The constraints this baroness placed on us are simple: don't bring down any long term trade consequences, from being designated Amber or Red zone. I don't predict this getting too far out of control, as neither baron appears to have surface-to-orbit capabilities, and the downport is under a trust administered by a third party elsewhere on the world.

The match the baroness had in mind involved the assassination of a particularly repulsive mid-level bureaucrat of Halley. We were provided an expected route of a trip this man was to take, and The locals in the contested zone we visited, were oft' persecuted and extorted, and so the thinking was sound enough, they just needed someone to take the first step to instigate violence.

Talking with the locals themselves, they seemed more interested in keeping a careful watch of their beers than taking matters into their own hands. Unfortunate, but the sentiment is real enough.

It isn't entirely clear to me if we managed to kill the bureaucrat, but we made enough of a statement that retaliation was required by the parties involved. It is to be remarked though, that Halley's forces leaped into the area remarkably quickly. And our planning was lacking in plotting the retreat from the township itself.

In either case, we managed to return to baroness Lux, who in the few days since the sides actually began firing on each other she wanted to try and strike immediate peace! I do not understand what sort of play she is going for. Far too early for the munitions to be expended, and for either faction to be vulnerable. And that's if they're recklessly aggressive.

This is a problem for Dancet though. And a problem we are pressing off for a few weeks, as we were successful in arguing some time for the fighting to brew.

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I had nothing to do with the first adventure, and the second... we seemed to legitimately arrive too late to deal with the heavy escort, the reinforcements, or make any sort of contacts that would be required to try and seize it by force. There were some ... sub opportunities, but I had severe doubts past the point the reinforcements arrived in system, similarly loaded up. If we had done what I suggested and attempted a semi-suicidal attack on the guarding vessel, we might have been able to strip it of protection or maneuver it in some other way, but it seems we genuinely didn't have the time.

Or perhaps Dancet's feminine wiles (the player is a guy) could have been employed to entice a downport official to give us access to the records, get someone to talk about what actually the problem was, or... something.

I don't know what sort of operational assumptions the GM is using as to how the Imperium's merchant marines and navy would handle this situation. I know how I would, for sure, and seemed time to throw it in.

There is some apparent confusion about how much influence the Imperium has over this sector and at Cordon generally.

Cordon is a fairly well developed world with a lot of developed independent stars around it, and is a pass through for some greater trade routes. But, most critically, they don't own fealty to Imperium in any way. The why doesn't matter. They just have a good thing going and don't want to let that go, for a local political scuffle.

Further, the structure of the game and advanced technology means most worlds are fundamentally on their own and don't retaliate like how we expect modern states to, for similar acts of aggression, unless a pretense of war is wanted. Some things will be let go, because that's just the nature of delayed communication. Major disruptions is what might result in investigation.

Also, Jester was wearing full battle armor, and that made our escape extra difficult, because anyone wearing battle armor out on the street is going to draw eyes and attention. This is a habit of him, and escapes notice for a few sessions.