Odin and Thor

In order to progress the story along to elements that are more interesting and involve more players in the action, I decided to "off-camera" this portion of the travel. This included the worlds of Odin and Thor, as well as a minor ship-to-ship encounter in the Thor system. In the interest of moving the story along, this encounter was gamed out using the M2SSSC and several random die roll generators on Google. No PC's were killed or seriously injured, and only minor freebie loot was acquired as a result of this. If you are satisfied with this method, I will probably handle other portions of the MV Ruby Costa's travels this way, narrating the repetitive bits in favor of the exciting and interesting parts of your journey. 

Odin  - This is the spinward edge of the “Dustbelt” by most reckonings. Odin is a moon-sized vacuum world orbiting a red dwarf star. It is a depressing little snake pit ruled by an ossified remnant of the Sindalian Empire. Odin’s people are xenophobic and rigidly controlled by a permanent bureaucracy, thanks to the dictates of old life-support and limited organic resources. They jealously guard their independence. Local manufacturing facilities are limited to TL8 goods, and only in quantities sufficient for local use. The rulers will be quite happy to trade, however, as there are abundant mineral resources, especially radioactive and those required for electronics and computers. They have a handful of old TL-15 SDB’s from the Sindalian Empire, barely operational after centuries, to defend the settlement from pirates and raiders. There is also a small number of industrial lasers and mass drivers suitable for improvisation as weapons against large, slow ships.

The MV Ruby Costa docked at the small Class-B highport in orbit over Odin. It is run by GeDeCo, which maintains the bare minimum to classify as a B, but does provide adequate security on their base… there are twenty security guards and a number of visible turrets on the station. The port is intended to serve as a gateway to the worlds of Egyrn and Menorial and is currently a barebones sort of place. There is a little bit of legitimate business to do here if one is not overly ambitious. There is a trading bazaar, a couple of brokerages, and a small restaurant concourse. There is even a small Florian presence here, concerned with connecting a J-2 route from Trossachs. The highport is a small but busy one by the standards of the region, mostly for traffic skirting the gap in the center of the Florian League. There are several ships here, far traders coming and going from the various middling worlds of Menorial, and larger J-3 vessels traveling to and from the distant regions beyond Strend. These are nearly all 600-ton freighters built on converted liner hulls, with a single 400-ton Patrol Cruiser in escort. 

The most important thing you learned was that the MV Marluc Ghisli, a Leviathan-class merchant cruiser owned by McLellan Factors, passed through Odin about three weeks ago on its way to the Florian Main. The ship came rimward from District 268, and was apparently on a long, leisurely cruise to find new opportunities - they even established an office in the Odin Highport to explore commerce with the Odinites. Crew members mentioned visiting Solaria, Yggdrasil, and Dpres in no particular order, and even made mention of establishing a new J-3 trade route between the Florian League and the Imperium through Egyrn and District 268. That would be disastrous for Baraccai Technum, needless to say. 

Thor - A low-population water world, Thor is dotted with archipelagos. It is actually a relatively nice place, albeit plagued by raiders from elsewhere in the region. Thor is a simple place, TL-5 at most, with little society above the local level. Transport is mostly small ships and seaplanes, all alcohol powered. Life is a bit like 1940’s French Polynesia, most islands being independent and linked by trade and mutual assistance pacts at most. Trade is definitely possible here, though the “starport” is more of a glorified airport. For such a nice planet, the locals are unfriendly. Only those of the starport island of "Klonatonga" are willing to conduct trade with offworlders; on other islands, autocannon fire is a more common greeting. 

Not long after the breakout on the edge of the Thor system, the MV Ruby Costa detected a 200-ton vessel of a fairly archaic pattern on an intercept course, apparently trying to catch the PC's before they could refuel. CPN Baker decided to maintain the heading, giving the impression that the bogey was undetected. The bogey came relatively close without hailing or opening fire, waiting until the last minute before finally opening patchy radio contact. They claimed a powerplant emergency, with several crew members badly injured and requested medical assistance. Sensors indicated that yes, the plant was emitting both radiation and excess waste heat. This ruse allowed the bogey to get relatively close before they finally announced that they had nukes onboard and would blast the MV Ruby Costa if they did not immediately surrender. At this point, CPN Baker decided he was done playing along, and ordered the PAWS guns deployed, initiating combat. 

Despite severely outgunning the Pirate Lancer, the combat lasted longer than expected due to their surprising skill and aggressiveness. The little ship's pilot was quite good, making an elusive target for the cumbersome particle accelerators. Their gunners were also good, landing more blows than expected on the MV Ruby Costa. The outcome was a foregone conclusion, and eventually, the PAWS and lasers hit home. The single laser turret fell silent, and the last missiles were easily shot down. When the MV Ruby Costa's boarding team stormed down the tube, they found most of the crew dead by radiation or weapon damage, and the ship was quickly taken. Trooper Kakki averted disaster when he was able to kill a pirate in the attempt to detonate what was in fact a single nuclear warhead in the magazine. 

After a few hours policing up the damaged Pirate Lancer, the PC's acquired a goodly number of TL5-8 small arms, a couple of TL9 laser carbines, the usual assortment of supplies (admittedly both scarce and low quality), and a single nuclear missile of dubious manufacture. Based on computer logs and the ethnicity of the crew and ship's troops, the vessel (named "Garoi-7") seems to have originated in the Belgard Sojournate but included some warriors from Velscur among their number. The damaged but still spaceworthy Pirate Lancer was stripped of goodies and then quietly grounded on an ice-moon of the inner gas giant for later retrieval by the Senlis Foederate. 

Unfortunately, the MV Ruby Costa had suffered damage, including a direct hit from a missile that rang everyone's bell a little. Her major systems appeared to be in good order, but the hull and structural bracing on the port side were badly mauled. The engineers determined that full repairs would require facilities they would not find on Thor. She was spaceworthy but would require close attention to avoid inconvenient leaks, and a gas-giant refueling was contra-indicated. Solaria, being only a parsec away, seemed the most logical choice; it has a Class-B starport and is not an Imperial client state, and any repairs needed could be handled there. During a quick refueling visit to the port on Thor, the engineers patched the damage as best they could while the troopers restocked on provisions in town. The MV Ruby Costa then jumped for Solaria. 

MV Ruby Costa vs. 200-ton Pirate Lancer Rolls 

Round 1: MV Ruby Costa vs Pirate Lancer, both captains adopt a neutral posture for the fight. 

MV Ruby Costa - Naval Tactics 12 (10 and Situational DM+2), Pirate Lancer - Naval Tactics 14 results in light damage to both. MV Ruby Costa suffers 15pts damage, Pirate Lancer suffers 22pts of damage, and a SEV1 crit to the M-Drive, making it less controllable. Combat continues despite radiation damage to the Pirate Lancer. 

Round 2: Pirate Lancer adopts an "Aggressive" posture, closes distance apparently hoping to board or possibly ram. 

MV Ruby Costa Naval Tactics 15 (13 and Situational DM+2), Pirate Lancer - Naval Tactics 10 results in light damage to MV Ruby Costa, moderate damage to Pirate Lancer. MV Ruby Costa suffers 16pts hull damage and loses 1pt of hull armor, Pirate Lancer suffers 38pts damage, loses 1pt of hull armor, and takes an additional hit to the M-Drives. 

Boarding Action: MV Ruby Costa has the upper hand, initiates a boarding action using the tube. MV Ruby Costa rolls a 13 (10 + Situational DM+3) versus the Pirate Lancer's 5, resulting in a short but deadly action as the boarding team takes the pirate vessel in a single starship combat round.