Senlis Foederate

The PC's have a week of travel between Bantral and Senlis, their next destination. The plan is to meet with local authorities and receive an official "Letter of Marque". This legal document will give them legitimate cause to hunt pirates. They will also be able to attack Arkesh Traders vessels without themselves being considered pirates. This will allow them to benefit from a prize court on Senlis, which could pay quite a lot if ships are captured and brought intact to Senlis itself. Finally, it should shield the MV Ruby Costa and crew from legal entanglements when operating in one of the several "Imperial Client States" of the Trojan Reach. If an Imperial Navy vessel orders them to heave to and be boarded, the "Letter of Marque" can reduce the delay to hours instead of days or weeks. 

Mr. Shalkash shares the following tidbits about Senlis, above and beyond the listed library data and whatever a player thinks to inquire about:

You will be getting the Letter of Marque from Prince-Director Aurien d’Embel of Ville Bossuet. He is the ruler of the largest of the five cities on Senlis, the one that has the starport. I suspect that the Prince-Director wants the MV Ruby Costa to capture pirate ships intact so that he can increase the size of the Foederate Navy... specifically with ships he owns.

Senlis is a "hydraulic empire". The only water is a muddy lake they call "the sea". The nobility controls the water supply for the entire planet, and they use it as a means of controlling the commoners. The system has worked for centuries. But they are touchy about it, so try not to make any comments about the place being old-fashioned, or a frontier snakepit, or any of that. Just enjoy the hospitality, and play along with whatever the old fellow has planned, and then be on your way. Try not to drink the water.

Oh, and it's a dueling culture, at least among the nobles. They wear fancy stunsticks instead of swords, but they do have a lethal setting. Personally, the idea of dueling is ridiculous, dueling with hand weapons even more so. But the young men at court are very serious about it, so if you offend, apologize. If they don't accept it, duel well... but don't draw blood.

Prince-Director Aurien has been a good business partner for Baraccai Technum, and we desire to keep it that way.

After a brief ceremony and presentation of the letter of marque, the crew hit the markets of Ville Bossuet. At Brubek's, they ran into the crew of the MV Keydah Lightfoot, a J-3 freighter flagged under McClellan Factors colors. Small talk and banter were exchanged, but no mischief was made.

Eventually, MV Ruby Costa departed for its patrol. The flight crew settled on the following route, to start their hunt on the Spinward end of the "Dust Belt".

1. Braudel
2. Goria
3. Velscur
4. Odin
5. Thor