046-1104 – Pryme Lowport
At the end of the previous session, the party had been recruited by Sal Dancett, as planned by Imperium Naval Intelligence. Dancett doesn’t know that the Travellers know who she works for, nor that they are INI agents.
“I’ve spoken to a contact of mine and the word is you lot are looking for a new hull and a reason to burn fuel. He tells me you just finished a heavy-lift job for the Navy and came out the other side with your teeth still in your heads—that’s the kind of grit my employer is looking for. We need a crew that isn’t afraid of a little ‘deniable’ work, specifically someone who can operate outside the usual Imperial shipping lanes without crying for a patrol escort the moment a sensor pings.
There’s a lady, Ada Wishart, who’s currently trying to put a dent in the Senlis Foederate over at Orsasch. My principal wants her looked after. If you can help Wishart stabilize her situation, it helps secure an ally on our coreward flank and proves to the Crown that you’re worth the heavy credits it takes to keep a ship like yours flying. This isn’t just a cargo run; it’s a chance to get in on the ground floor of something much bigger. Are you in, or are you just here to fly cattle from Sabruse to Ardasii until you die of boredom and old age?”
Since the Travellers showed interest, she continued:
“Wishart is hiring a team to steal a GeDeCo asset in the Albe system. If you pull that off, she’ll have more work for you in the Foederate. Each of the three jobs pays Cr100000 upon completion with a further Cr50000 bonus after all is said and done. The first job is a train heist. If you can handle that, you’re to meet her at Albe Highport. There, she’ll give you details on the job.
056-1104 – Albe Highport
The party agreed and soon departed for Albe, an inhospitable world with a population of some twenty billion souls, on the very edge of the Imperium. It is an Imperial client world: not fully in the Imperium but linked to it. Cadaverous ruins of eon-old megacities span the surface, bleached and half-buried beneath an evershifting sea of dust and salt. A trio of mountainous hive cities host the planet’s 20 billion sophonts, toiling in cramped corridors at the limits of capacity. Albe is a hightech world but a poor one. Infrastructure is impressive but dirty, functional and spartan.
The highport is just as dense, a megacity in its own right, although one sometimes catering to wealthy Imperials. Here, Ada awaits the Travellers.
“A formal introduction is in order. I am Lady Ada Wisheart, noble of Orsasch, a planet under the heel of the Foederate. I’m looking for a team I can trust with a matter of importance. What do you know of the Senlis Foederate? And what do you know of GeDeCo?”
After a brief discussion of each subject, Wishart handed the Travellers a dataslate containing details of the target.
“This is our objective. I want you to kidnap GeDeCo Director Skylark Tanlin. He’s responsible for the trade deal between GeDeCo and Senlis. If we’re going to do anything about it, we need him. Now, unless you feel like raiding a high-security corporate hab-plex, the best time to capture him is when he’s on the move.”
“Lucky for us, he routinely takes the grav-lev train as part of his work here. It won’t be easy. The trains are monitored at all times. With one exception…”
She gave the group a second dataslate with details of the mag-lev train.
“The salt-dust wastes have frequent electrical storms. The trains are proofed against damage but it disrupts their communications. In one week, Tanlin’s regular train is going to hit just such a storm: the forecasts by Albe’s TL14 supercomputers can predict such vast storms well in advance. Your job will be to bring him to me in the wasteland nearby.”
She called over an assistant: a dark-haired Sword Worlder.
“To assist you, I’m going to introduce you to my broker, Ingabel. Anything you think you might need – explosives, bribes, plas-cutters, vehicle rentals – you explain what role it plays in the plan and she’ll do her best to get it for you, no charge. Any questions?”
The party then spent the rest of the session plotting their approach to the heist and making a shopping list for Ingabel…
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