GURPS Traveller - The Empty Peace

No probs Shanistar.

There are a couple of sessions times in the game calendar that still require votes from players. If you have not yet voted, then please do so.

Here brief synopsis on the campagin so far.

The Story So Far
With the Emerald Monarch ready to depart the captain orders a quick crew briefing in the cargo hold. It is the first time the entire crew has been together in the same location. The captain reminds the crew of their mission objective, and if everyone can work together as a team then they can overcome any adversity. The crew are then granted shore leave until midnight. It’s their last chance for to say goodbye to family and friends before they leave on a 12 month mission into the Vilani Imperium.

At 0600 sharp the Emerald Monarch drops its moorings and sets course for the Confederation Navy Shipyards to pick up a consignment of communications equipment and computers. The crew is in awe as the look upon the massive and busy facility. Once docked, the captain departs for a meeting and leaves the crew to make arrangements for the cargo. A few hours later he returns, and the order to leave is given. With all cargo on board, the Emerald Monarch undocks form the shipyard facility and proceeds to the Apishal jump point. Jump engines are onlined and the crew say farewell to Nusku.

The week in jumpspace is uneventful, but during this time the captain speaks with the First Officer, Mr Matthews, and informs him that there are elements within the Confederation Navy that believe another war with the Vilani Imperium is looming. The Emerald Monarch has a secondary mission, that is, to passively gather intelligence helpful to the Confederation should war break out.

Safely completing its first jump, the Emerald Monarch emerges at Apishal. It is the first Vilani system beyond the borders of the Terran Confederation. The captain orders the ship to set down on the systems main world. It is a garden planet of medium size with a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, but far too thin to breathe without respirators. The primary facility is an outpost servicing a population of approximately 600 Vilani, with more than 50% of those being military in nature.

The captain complies with an order to submit the ship to an official customs inspection. During the inspection it becomes clear that Terran’s are not viewed favourably. Despite the inspector’s obvious negative opinion, the ship and crew are cleared.

The first order of business is to see if there is any possible means to make some money from the frontier outpost. Initial speculation gathered from the general vibe, is that few will deal with the Terrans. However, through the resourcefulness of Mr Daniels, a meeting with a local Shangarim official from the Sharurshid bureau is arranged. He has an overdue consignment of supplies that must be delivered to a station in the Altair system.

Through either expert negotiation by Mr Daniels or desperation to get the consignment delivered, the official agrees to a price far beyond what he was initially prepared to pay a Terran. The consignment is loaded and the Emerald Monarch and crew depart for the Altair system.

A week later the ship arrives in Altair to find something is wrong, all communications with the destination go answered. Cautiously they approach the station which is in orbit around a large moon of a Saturn like gas giant. They arrive to find the station has suffered an incident, which has left it tumbling slowly through the upper levels of the moon’s atmosphere. Sensor readings indicate the station and the small amount of trailing debris is decelerating due to atmospheric drag. Further analysis puts the station on a de-orbit vector which will impact the moon in 5 days time.

After careful manoeuvring around the station, which nearly resulted in a collision, the crew is able to get a better look at the damage and determine that the station has suffered impacts from micro meteors. Several sections of the station hull show penetrations and sensors detect irregular fluctuations in the power reactor to indicate it has also suffered some damage.

that "careful manoeuvring around the station, which nearly resulted in a collision"

yeah... that was my two rolls... 17 and then a 16.

Hello all.. it's been a while since I played Traveler (T20 if I remember right) and a LONG time since I played GURPS (as in v1).

I am looking forward to joining your group as I really enjoy scifi RPGs (I started with Star Frontiers.. yes, I just dated myself ;) ). I am also available for the Saturday timeframe.

Welcome aboard. I have accepted you to the game. Please check the session times to ensure you can make them.

You expressed an interest in a Tech. You have the following crew positions available to you.

Chief Engineer
Engineer
Technician

If you need help with the character then let me know.

The Chief spot sounds good... will get in touch via email to iron out the details.

As Eric Adler:

Dear journal…

Is that right? I am not quite sure how to do this. Megs suggested that I start a journal before I leave and that it include the seminal moments of my life. O well, I suppose I should start at the beginning.

A million years or so ago, a chemical reaction in the primordial goo created… oh wait, too far.

For me, it started on June 30th in the year 2137. The place was a cabin deep in the Black Forest of Germany. My parents, Gerwulf and Berta Adler, had returned to their German homeland for the occasion of my birth. They were both employed in the Engineering field on Terra, my father as a Nuclear Tech and my mom as an Associate Professor, and had decided to return to Germany so that my Grandparents could celebrate in their first grandchild being born. My youth was spent travelling from one end of Terra to another. This was primarily due to my father’s work as a Reactor Troubleshooter.

My interest in the area of Engineering began very young. My father and I used to take things apart just to see how they worked. The fun part was putting it back together with updated parts. For my 16th birthday my father bought me a 1936 Harley Davidson EL “Knucklehead” 80ci motorcycle. It was about 60 percent original with the rest made up of parts my father reproduced from historical records. I named her Jenny, after my first girlfriend. After High School I entered an Engineering program at the same University where my mom taught. I made sure, however, that I never got any of her classes. I graduated, Summa Cum Laude, with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Soon after graduating, I joined up with the Terran Defense Forces as an Engine Room Technician. Over the next 10 years I rose to the position of Chief Petty Officer in the Engineering Section of the Terran Blockade Runner “Pony Express III (PE3)”.

That last posting contained both the happiest and saddest moments of my life. This is when I met the woman whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Of course I did not know that when we met. That fateful day was a pain in the ***, literally. I had cut myself crawling through the bilge sections and had to visit the sick bay in order to update my shots, hence the pain in the *** part. The nurse on duty, Sarah, was new and took a while to find my records, get the right meds, and get the nerve to administer them. During all that time, we found time to get to know one another a little. Over the next few months, I kept finding excuses to go by the sick bay, even if it was for only a simple service call. Sometimes I did not even realize I was doing it. When I finally got up the nerve to ask her out on a date, the first thing out of her out of her mouth was “about damn time”. Unlike the trysts that had made up the previous relationships that I had been in, Sarah was different. She was genuinely interested in what I did, even if she could not understand it all. I even had time to give her a ride on Jenny whenever we had shore leave, although I never did tell her the truth about the name. Over the next year we grew ever closer and were engaged to marry as soon as our tour was over.

Then my life stopped.

It started innocently enough; PE3 was participating in a training exercise with another blockade runner, the “Helping Hand”. I found out later that the captains of our two ships were friends and had placed a wager on which ship could navigate the target system & deliver the supplies first. Our captain (Capt Jonathan Brant) was a very competitive person, who sometimes took unnecessary risks, this being one of them. To shave some time off our transit, the captain decided to take us through the rings of a gas giant. While in the transit, one of our engine pods took damage from the rings and we had to shut them all down. My left knee was crushed badly during the impacts. Sarah was one of the responding Medics who pulled me out of the pod. The Chief Engineer then went into the pod, with some help, to isolate the damage in order to prevent an overload and to enable the other engine pods to work despite the damage. On top of all that, the gas giant’s gravity well was pulling us further and further into it.

To make things worse, the Captain was screaming at us to either isolate and fix the pod, or jettison it in order to get us moving again. The Chief kept assuring him that we had time and everything was under control. Sarah came back from Sick Bay to help with the other injured, and trapped, personnel that were still in the pod. While they were in the pod, it suddenly jettisoned without warning. My heart stopped because Sarah was in there. The last thing I remember was a horrid scream of eternal pain. It was coming from me.

I woke a week later on a hospital station around Terra. I learned that Capt Brant had reported that the internal sensors had reported an imminent core breach in my engine pod and that he had to do an emergency core dump in order to save the ship. I may have been in pain while sitting outside the pod that day, but I never got a hint that the problem was that severe. For months during recovery I accepted the official line until I got a chance to speak to some to the bridge crew. While they would not go on record, some were hinting that the Captain panicked and dumped the core before it was necessary.

I started to make official inquires, but was told to drop it. After a few weeks I was ordered to drop it. Apparently the Captain has some friends in high places. I then started a two year campaign to position myself in key areas where I could gather unedited data on exactly what happened. At the end of those two years, my mourning period, I presented my findings to both the JAG office and the press. I no uncertain terms, I sealed both the Captain’s fate and my own. The Captain loosing his commission and spending a few years in the Brig were a given, what would happen to me was not. I had broken the #1 rule, always obey orders. I had continued my quest against the orders of my superiors. Even though it was for a good cause, my actions would have consequences. I must have had a guardian angel somewhere in fleet, because I was allowed to resign my commission under honorable circumstances.

I spent the next couple of years earth-bound in various engineering fields trying to decide what to do next. I had applied to several Terran firms, but was unceremoniously rejected most of the time. I think Mr. Brant still has some friends in high places. After realizing this, I started to apply to systems outside of the Terran home system. I had better luck there and have worked my way through several Engineering positions aboard freighters and survey ships. After the last mission, my Chief (Bernard O’Shea) suggested that I do something about my anger issues.

What anger issues? He sat me down and helped me to see that the reason why I had not been picked up for follow-on missions was that I treated fellow crewmembers with an angry edge. While he did say that I was an excellent engineer, I need to deal with this before anyone would hire me on as a Chief. He suggested that I take up a martial art in order to focus my mind and release energy. I took him up on his offer and came to his dojo one day while on leave.

Just as the setting sun gives way to a sunrise, that day was my second sunrise. Her name was Megan O’Shea (Megs), the Chief’s daughter and head student in his dojo. I couldn’t help but be attracted to her fit body, red hair and green eyes. The intimate contact, both on and off the dojo floor, has made some distant feelings reemerge in my soul. We have been dating for about 6 moths now as I finish this entry. She even got me hooked on doing my own cooking.

I almost forgot, Megs talked me into starting work on Jenny II. Did I forget to mention that Jenny was being stored in the back of the engine pod I was in? It took a while, but I was able to find original engineering drawings of the original Jenny. A few months ago Megs and I were talking about Jenny and she said she wanted to help rebuild her. I think it was her way of helping me heal over the loss of Sarah. Jenny II is almost done and I am looking forward to Megs and I taking her on a long coastal ride this summer.

Well, this is almost it. Some leads are starting to develop with some ships due in the system later this month. I do not know where they will lead, but I am looking forward to finding out.

For those following the logs, our new Chief Engineer made a post that I had to move earlier in the timeline, so it might be missed if your just reading from the top.

Here it is: https://ronnke.ath.cx/the_empty_peace/blog/?p=85

Real life has claimed 2 players in this game. I have opened the game to accept new players, so if you are interested let me know.

I'm still looking for a few new players for this game.

Below is a list of the current crew complement. Players interested in joining the game can take on the role of any one of the listed NPC's with the exception of the captain. The Red Shirts are faceless characters which can be personalised into player characters as long as they can fill the role assigned to them. Derrik Parsons and Cronus Magnus may become NPC's as their players have not responded for a couple of weeks.

Bridge Officers
(NPC) Martyn Brierfield (Captain)
(PC) Daniel Mathews (1st Officer / Navigator / Loadmaster)
(PC) Derrik Parsons (Pilot)
(PC) Cronus Magnus (Communications / Sensors)
(NPC) Maxwell Stewart (Chief of Security / Gunnery Officer)

Crewmen
(PC) Remi Prudhomme (Security / Gunner / Pilot)
(NPC) Darzamis Mashani Ekala (Security)
(NPC) Red Shirt 1 (Security / Air Raft Pilot)
(NPC) Red Shirt 2 (Gunner)
(NPC) Red Shirt 3 (Gunner)
(NPC) Red Shirt 4 (General Services / Freight Handler)
(NPC) Red Shirt 5 (General Services / Passenger Services)

Engineering
(PC) Eric Adler (Chief Engineer)
(NPC) Susan Taylor (Engineer)
(NPC) Geoffery Jackson (Technician)

Medical
(NPC) Anya Lindstrom (Doctor)