S34 Spend, Spend, Spend!

No Steve this week so Wombat was unobtrusive as well as Jesse Wales, probably giving the ship’s systems some TLC in the superb facilities available at Glisten. The players were still deciding exactly what augments they wanted put in - and we were all getting to grips with the different rules between the Core book and the Central Supply Catalogue! A general surgery-recuperation-acclimation period will be applied while we nail down the list. 

Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 038/1107

Glisten was many firsts. Their first Tech-15 system - which was why they had come; their first system homed in the asteroid belt, and their first encounter with really serious system traffic control. With an almost infinite number of moving objects in their mainworld orbit, Glisten’s Control Authority was almost obsessive about being sure where people were. The Cats were given a set flight plan, and required to feed their sensor data to the central system to contribute to the oversight.

As they headed insystem after skimming at the gas giant Nasmi (Glisten III), they got a message from the very prestigious GLIPS (Glisten Institute of Planetological Sciences), asking for an hour of their time if at all convenient, to discuss their experiences on Egypt and Judice. They arranged this for 041.

Banfi Starport was impressive, easily the biggest anyone had encountered in the Spinward Marches, and more than capable of docking the Long Walk in an enclosed berth. With her settled, the crew started work on their extensive plans for their stay here. Vespasian set out on his usual ‘rounds’, asking however for a week rather than his usual day. Nevada prevailed on him to take a tracking device, while Feng gave him a Joey to wear when he felt it didn’t interfere with his duties. Clearly the robot didn't understand its’ meaning but seemed to take it as some kind of obscure honour.

Glisten City was an impressive construction of four asteroids in a tetrahedral pattern linked by travel tubes. As well as a population in the millions, it was home to headquarters of most major businesses, most of the system’s admininstration and the Duchess’ palace. 

Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 039/1107

First, they contacted the company with which the Collace government wanted their order placed., Robinson Armaments. Calling the PAN code, they connected with an admin robot which, rather to their surprise, checked their details, accepted the data packet containing the order and specs, and arranged an appointment with their designated sales executive for 042. 

Next on the list was to look up a supplier for augments and implants. With Nevada’s industrious trading and shipping over the last year and a half, group funds were pretty healthy, and the party had decided on a major program of self-improvement. After some research, they came up with three major players in this space:


Deciding on Tallyman, the group got in touch and travelled to the asteroid Warem, where they met the sales exec Benedict Waber. Their requirements were discussed with the leader of their surgical team, and they were scanned in detail as well as their medical data being taken from Wombat’s records. An appointment was made for them to book in for their surgeries, with flexibility while they got their other business taken care of. 
Sir Lauren Theim, Knight of the Household
On their return, they were very startled to receive a PAN from the household of Her Grace, the Duchess of Glisten! Apparently, they had been granted an audience; none of them had asked for one, but those like Nevada with a little experience of the upper echelons of society were aware that this was a very polite way of telling them to present themselves. Responding, they found themselves in contact with one Sir Lauren Theim, Knight of the Household, who explained that the Duchess had asked to see them and arranged an appointment for 042.

Timo, who as a citizen of an independent world had far less ingrained respect for the nobility of the Third Imperium, did not intend to go, took a private dive into the seamier side of the system PAN. While the tracks were much harder to find than they had been on Overnale, he located signs that the Canedo crime syndicate was indeed operational here, especially on the rather wild mining asteroids Therak and Erom. 

Ducal Palace, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 042/1107

Nevada, Wombat and Feng set out for the palace, Nevada and Wombat in dress uniform and Feng in her rather spectacular red Dispersion Fabric dress. Apart from Nevada’s dress cutlass and Feng’s implant, they carried no weapons. Perhaps fortunately, Jesse Wales the ex-pirate had also declined to come.

On arrival at the Duchess’ palace they were greeted by efficient footmen who knew they are coming and explained that they will escort them into the presence. Placed around the entrance lobby were security troops in combat armour with military shotguns and heavy stunners. The footmen very politely requested the three to check any weapons into a locker in the entrance hall, to which they were handed the key. Nevada demurred, pointing out that his dress sword was a part of his uniform, and after a moment this was allowed to pass. Feng’s blade implant and internal power pack were immediately picked up on the scanners, and she was cautioned not to deploy it under any circumstances. If her dress was observed, it was not viewed as a matter for comment.
Her Grace Duchess Avaraja Astaarte Muktheswara
While this had been going on, Sir Lauren had arrived and greeted the visitors politely. Once security was satisfied, Sir Lauren escorted the visitors through the palace into a spectacular high-domed chamber lush with vegetation, in the middle of which was a table set for high tea. Seated there was an elegant older lady of Asian descent, beautifully dressed and sipping tea from a porcelain cup. Four armoured guards were unobtrusively stationed around, their armour chaemeloned to match the vegetation, and two maids stood ready to serve. 

Sir Lauren led them up to the table and bowed slightly but politely, an action mirrored by the visitors. The Duchess smiled at their courtesy and invited them all to sit and take tea. There was inconsequential small talk while the mechanics of tea, cake and sandwiches were managed. Feng made admiring comments about the gardens, mentioning her own creation at Botany Bay, and enquired about the rather excellent blend of tea. Her approach was rather gauche and awkward, but she had touched a genuine interest of the Duchess’ and the two chatted easily about horticulture for a while, with the Duchess directing Sir Lauren to arrange tea-plant cuttings for Feng. 
The Duchess' Botanical Gardens
With a visible shift of mien, the Duchess moved to business. “I’ve been hearing very good things about your influence on the aspirant worlds of District 268,” she says. “Your influence has helped support pro-Imperialism on Collace, and I understand Tarsus is moving towards a much more civilized state; again, thanks to your help. As you know,” this was where the need for diplomacy came in, because they didn’t, but she obviously expected that they did, “I am very much in favour of a peaceful process to the inevitable integration of the District into the Imperium. We need good, respectable citizens to make their homes out there, and to raise the tone closer to what is fitting for a new Imperial subsector. Hence, I wanted to meet you in person, thank you for your efforts so far, and to ask you to continue them where possible.”

Whether or not they actually agreed with her enthusiasm for an ever-expanding Imperium absorbing their home sector, the Cats were duly modest and grateful, asking if there was anything particular she wanted them to do. She demurred, “You know the situation on the ground probably better than I do,” she said. “I will trust your judgement. 
“I’m aware you are here to collect armaments to help the aspirant world Collace fend off those badly-behaved barbarians from Trexalon,” she added approvingly. “My Intelligence services tell me they intend to invade in the near future.”

Her expression was very pleased, and her visitors had the strong impression that she was pleased with them. “Sir Lauren,” she said aside to her aide, “Please make sure their stay here goes well.” 

GLIPS, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 042/1107
Dr Baj
Stopping at GLIPS on the way back through Glisten City, they met with Atmospherologist Glendora Baj, a scientist of that institute. She had offered them a thousand credits - and lunch - as a token of gratitutde for their time, so the Cats were fairly forthcoming in describing what had happened. In Egypt she had only the slightest interest, but the discovery of the crabs was a different matter. She had question after question about them, and was delighted with the helmet-cam footage of them. By prior agreement, they didn’t mention the possible contaminant in the Judicean atmosphere. The lunch was rather excellent, but it was only when they were well on their way to their appointment at Robinson’s that it occurred to them that Dr Baj might well be looking to steal the glory of the Judicean scientists’ discovery.

Robinson Armaments, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 042/1107
Fletcher Darnall
Their last call was to Robinson Armaments, where they were whisked to a plush customer meeting room and introduced to their Sales Executive, Fletcher Darnall. He’d reviewed their specs, and was ready to confirm the order:

For Collace
All packed into 40 standard 1-ton crates

For the Cats with Guns
With the number of players a little fluid, the order is set at “one each” and if our infrequent players return, they will be assumed to have a set available. They can easily afford it! 

Conversation got around to the possibility of improvements off the menu, and someone mentioned the robot cats. Fletcher became very interested at that point, and said he’d be willing to throw in expanding the unit telemetry to cover the robots, if Robinson were allowed to take a non-invasive dump of their specs from the machines. 

Moving on to personal purchases, Nevada and Timo enquired about high-energy weapons and explosives. Fletcher looked a little uncomfortable at this point, as normally only governments and licensed security or mercenary companies were able to buy any such thing. “However”, he coughed delicately, “I understand you have the favour at the highest level, and so in this case we will be able to arrange something. Our partners Renfield Corporation  supply the explosives side, and operate a Bonded Delivery process where legitimate shipments of items not actually legal  here can be delivered to a starship via the starport. Obviously, you would be expected to ensure that these items remain there until your departure.”

The order would take five weeks from placement, with fitting and configuration for the personal sets to be done in four. 
Arcfield Blade
Last of all, Timo made a personal purchase of an Arcfield Blade, a very new item recently launched by Robinson. It was so new that, as far as anyone knew, it was likely to be classified as a bladed weapon by the law, though it clearly wasn’t....

Almost off-handedly, Fletcher dropped in the news that they were entitled to a 2% discount; not a high percentage, but a lot of money saved given the size of the spend. Ducal favour, it seemed, was useful. 

IOMR, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 042/1107
For some reason, AI was very unwilling to do this logo. This is as good as it gets.
The Imperial Office of Mercenary Registration (IOMR) had offices in Glisten city, and Nevada went to see them. The process was similar to that they’d gone through for a planetary registration on Collace, although a little more formal. He was required to provide:


As he worked through this, he couldn’t help feeling, again, that the process was unnaturally smooth. The Duchess’ favour again! The application would take 4 weeks to process. 

Travel Tube Station 87b, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 044/1107
Ambush at the Station
As Nevada, Feng and Timo headed home from an expedition to a good restaurant on the travel tube, their path took them through one of the system’s many stations. Tired though they were from a busy day’s shopping, their instincts were still sharp and all three noticed an unexpected number of local police entering the crowded station from three directions at once. Something about their air and equipment didn’t feel quite right, somehow. The three changed direction, heading towards the exit, and all three groups of police suddenly began to converge on their position, readying pistols - not a usual weapon for policing in a busy public area. They found themselves boxed in along with several civilians, who were rapidly becoming alarmed. 

Timo bellowed a shout of “Thief!” while pointing off at sharp angle. Real police should have at least reacted to this; but these ignored it completely, instead scattering to cover and raising their weapons. 

Nevada hurled himself towards what little cover was available, but Feng and Timo were more direct and possibly less sensible. Both produced their blades and attacked, Feng shoving a woman passenger heavily out of the way. Shots were fired, though instead of the loud noise they were expecting, there was only the faint flutter of gauss fire. These were Gauss Pistols! Reaching her target, Feng stabbed savagely at the man’s armpit, spoiling his aim though not piercing his armour. Timo wound up and slashed with the terrifying blazing Arcfield blade, shearing straight through the stun baton he tried to parry with and cutting his gun arm off. Feng leaned on the blade, shoving it deeper into her opponent and he dropped. She put her foot on his gun and then sent it sliding across the marbled floor to Nevada, who grabbed it like a lifeline, drew a bead and put two bursts into an ersatz policeman.
Fake Fuzz
Timo grabbed his opponent’s pistol - with the arm still attached - separated it and started taking pot shots. All three were now armed, and began exchanging serious fire with the fake police. Despite being armed now, their odds were not good, Feng in particular being fairly badly wounded. At this point, however, the real police arrived - armed with shotguns - and took down one of the false ones. The last two made a run for it, hidden from the police by the bulk of the station, and disappeared up one of the access ramps. 

The three quickly discarded their weapons, Timo scabbarding the Arcfield so that it looked like a normal sword, Feng folding her implant away, and knelt down co-operatively. The police secured the area, quickly and efficiently, and once their officer had checked the CCTV footage, treated the Cats as victims rather than criminals. One of the attackers was clearly bleeding out and Timo asked - and receieved - permission to apply first aid. While he did that, he quietly and carefully took possession of the contents of the man’s pockets. He got a wallet with various cards and Cr,5000 in cash - not common at this tech level except for illegal dealings - some coins and a ring. All three were then loaded into an ambulance and the world blurred away for a while. 

Rosemont Hospital, Glisten City, Glisten/Glisten/Spinward Marches/Third Imperium, 048/1107

When they came to after the surgery to remove the bullets, they were in one of the hospitals located in Glisten city. All were well on the way to recovery, though Feng was still quite badly wounded. As they watched the news, they caught articles about the Station Slaying; apparently some armed malcontents had killed and wounded several members of the public for no clear reason, before all being killed by the police. There was no mention of the two captured, nor of the two that escaped, nor of the fake police uniforms. 

All their possessions were in lockers near their beds when they checked, though Timo’s “sword” had a peace-bond attached and Feng had a security strap around her implant, to stop her deploying it and inadvertently hurting anyone under the influence of powerful pain medication. Police were present, though in subtle numbers and uniforms, and the patients were told they’d be released once the medics cleared them, and they’d been interviewed by the investigating officer. 
Session Date: Aug 13th, 2024