F-001: Previously on Dominion Space

by · 2021-04-08

Previously on Dominion Space

  

Oliver

 

Lia

 

Aaran’s Pride -> Aden -> Witnish -> Riddle [~211.146]

At the instruction of Minor Vizier Frederick Salfield,   the Vizierate pulled together a project team  of people who at that time were in Octant 6.  This occurred largely against their will.  They were put under the leadership of Minor Vizier Richard Dicard .  
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Riddle, GRRAS [~211.204]

The team then travelled to Grand Riddle Research and Academic Station (GRRAS), where Vizier Salfield is based.
 
There they met Vizier Frederick’s office manager, Vizant Melody  who helped them settle in, and were briefed by Vizier Frederick on their mission.
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Riddle -> Witnish -> Zargonia -> Argyropoulos -> Pristine, Snark 416 [211.209]

On the journey from Riddle to Pristine the general consensus seemed to be that no-one wanted to be here and it could be inferred that no-one liked each other very much.
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Pristine [211.295]

Initially charged with traveling to Pristine to purchase an object described as The Argyle Notebook from a man named Willard Argyle for a large sum, the team eventually located Argyle but found him unwilling to co-operate and he fled from his isolated home after threatening the team.  The team investigated the abandoned and booby-trapped residence , recovering items such as Argyle’s computer and a library of his journals. 

 

  
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Pristine -> Argyropulos -> Zargonia [211.300]

The team decided to return Vizier Salfield to report.  Oliver Starr , the team’s cybertechnology specialist (and alleged cyberterrorist) took a lead role in the investigation of the Argyle materials.  

Incidentally, Snark 416 was docked at Argyropoulos Highport on 211.316 and 211.317.

Argyropoulos [~211.311]

[Start-up backstory by GM] At Argyropoulos, Lia Silver-Rose   arranged to travel on a commercial freighter, the Spanial captained by Karmen Intuveker  and her crew.  

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Argyropoulos -> Adal -> Mundo Zargo, Spanial [~211.313]

[Start-up backstory by GM]
Lia spent several jumps getting to know the crew of the Spanial  and fitting in before arriving at Mundo Zargo, though it was only at that point that the close-knit group really began to trust her.  She began being given access to training sims and shown around Spanial in earnest.

Zargonia, Zebulon Station [211.329]

On the return journey the ship was subjected to an unusually intense customs inspection by a Legion Commissar Commander Usher , who interestingly, knew Oliver’s mother – herself a Legion Officer.  In an interview in a Legion Cast at Zebulon Station in the Zargonia system, the Commissar convinced Oliver to make contact with a Legion member stationed at GRRAS and that, perhaps, something was not all above-board with the Vizierate project. 

Mundo Zargo [211.344]

On arrival at Mundo Zargo, Lia assisted with unloading the cargo, then scored some Zoner! and spent time at Boothes Bar with Gregar .
Aboard Spanial, XO Jennie  expressed her concerns to Lia that Captain Karmen was setting up a job for the ship that seemed dangerous with a new employer named ‘Zayaire’ that they had not worked for previously.
Lia reached out to her contacts and discovered that ‘Zayaire’ is a powerful figure in the local underworld.
Then Lia made contact with a client, Aston Ziegler-Sim-Carrow-Narw with the Mundo Zargo Trade Bureau, and escorted him to a party.  The party was held in honour of Assistant Secretary Namasia Markov-Wrikster, who serves on the Governing Council of Mundo Zargo.  While pointing out other guests Aston noted that Local Overcrat and head of the Mundo Zargo Agriculture Bureau, Zayaire Preston-Lischost,  was present.  
At the party Winta encountered Adler Zang  who claimed that Zayaire was both overstepping his Bureau’s responsibilities, and had an unsavoury “…date acquisition team…” that were sourcing local girls for Zayaire’s use as romantic partners.  She had a plan to speak to the Governor’s assistant about the Bureau issue, the first step being 
Aston advised her that Adler used to date Zayaire and had a grudge against him since he dumped her.  
Also at the party Winta and her date met Minor Vizier Farbello, the Vizierate’s representative on the Planetary Council, and who issued Aston a challenge during a game of Truth or Dare – basically, ‘step up, be all you can be.’
When Winta met Zayaire she teased him intent on leaving him with a feeling of ‘you’ll never have this…’  During the conversation he does a deal with Aston to hire a freighter through the Trade Bureau for purposes which would indicate Adler’s suspicions about him are correct.
After the party, Aston and Winta were invited up to the Assistant Secretary’s private suite, where the Assistant Secretary was talking shop with colleagues and asked Aston if he might be willing to move Bureaus as some sort of reshuffle might be coming.
Winta escorted a stunned Aston back to his hotel and tucked him in to a drunken sleep.
 

Zargonia -> Witnish -> Riddle, Snark 416, GRRAS [211.346]

On returning to GRRAS, Vizier Frederick held a debriefing  at which he was dismissive of the team and handed over future operations to Minor Vizier Lilith Saden-Ejder  – known as ‘Nanny’.  Nanny considered that Oliver’s research into Argyle’s activities revealed Argyle to be a substantial security threat to the Dominion and instructed the team to return to Pristine to pick up Argyle’s trail and recover his Notebook; said Notebook was apparently not among the materials the team had recovered.

 
Prior to departing from GRRAS, Oliver was contacted by Legion Under Officer Felicity Lazar-Opes – the contact mentioned by Commissar Usher during Oliver’s interview.  Felicity put Oliver through a series of aptitude tests and determined that he was most suited to becoming a Commissar were he to become a Legion member – and he agreed to become a Special Recruit  and an informer for the Legion placed inside the Vizierate.

Mundo Zargo -> Zarg’s World, Spanial [211.347]

Karmen warned Lia that the job would take Spanial away from inhabited systems for about 60 Cycles, and gave her a chance to leave the ship.  Despite her misgivings about possibly missing contracted appointments with a powerful client, Raina  , Lia opted to remain. 

Karmen revealed that the job they contracted to do was to ferry a cargo container and a passenger to a restricted system.  

On the trip to Zarg’s World, from where they would jump to the restricted system, Lia got to know their passenger, one Samuel Kort  .  Kort is a ‘security specialist’; he spent a lot of time using the ship’s exercise equipment – particularly the punching bag.   

Riddle -> Witnish -> Zargonia, Illuminator [211.352]

The team, with Nanny coming along, departed GRRAS and travelled aboard the Vizierate Research Ship Illuminator as far as Zargonia.  During the trip, Oliver had a romantic encounter with Minor Vizier Mallory Harrison , a Vizierate expert on alien races who cautioned him about working with her fellow Viziers Nanny and Frederick.

Zarg’s World [211.361]

Spanial arrived at Zarg’s World and made its way into the Highport, Lia chatting amicably with the Legion Customs officer through the customs check.

The crew informed Lia that they had recently acquired a space utility vehicle – a Horton Model 7 Hopper .  However, they didn’t have a manual for it.  Kwint  was able to locate one, and he and Lia travel down to the floating city of Gravport to collect it, incidentally having a lovely restaurant meal while they were there.  
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Zarg’s World -> Foofor, Spanial [211.362]

Spanial departed the Highport and headed for an asteroid in the Zarg’s World system where it dropped off a comm buoy and Kwint departed in the shuttle to act as their alibi.  Then the ship headed for the jump point to the restricted system of Foofor.  Lia studied the Hopper manual.

The crew bonded over a meal, and Gregar took a 360° photo of the event .

There was some debate as to whether to test the Hopper inside the Cargo Hold, or wait until the ship came out of jump and do the test in open space ; Jennie won the argument and the test was deferred.

It was difficult to open the container in the hold given the security precautions on it, giving into curiosity Lia and Prrri scannrf the container with a themal sensor, revealing a cold interior and some sort of power source  .   

Zargonia [211.379]

Arriving at Zargonia, the team travelled to the city of Snow Lake where they interviewed a former member of the Overlord’s Household, Alec Bronze-Stepping, who Nanny said apparently knew Argyle.  However, Bronze-Stepping informed the team that he knew an identical looking man named Abbas Lozenge-Sok  who died some time ago in a vehicle crash.

 
The team followed the Lozenge-Sok lead to MaPaCoA, the Dominion’s major computing centre, where Lozenge-Sok was a former employee.  In discussions with the MaPaCoA security board (comprising representatives from the Vizierate, Overlord’s Household, Legion and Planning Bureau) substantial evidence came out that Willard Argyle is a fake identity of Lozenge-Sok, who’s death was apparently faked as well.

Foofor [211.378]

On emerging from hyperspace, Jennie tried to work out where they were in the restricted system, as they had limited navigational data.  Lia and Prrri tested the Hopper, Lia discovering an error in the cobbled together online flight manual that could have been quite dangerous if not picked up .  Gregar and Ipan  were given a dressing down by Karmen over the incident.

Navigational data sorted, Spanial made its way toward their target planet, a roiling ball of ammonia and lightning, to rendezvous with the ship that was supposedly in orbit there.  Instead they found a spinning remnant of ship, missing it’s drive section  .  Eyeing the ammonia world that they were orbiting, Lia speculated, and was later proven correct, that this was the work of the Yarg – an enigmatic alien race.

A team of four – Lia, Karmen, Prrri and Kort boarded the wreck , discovering that the hull had been weakened in parts and literally broken off .  They entered and recovered some valuable salvage, as well as identifying samples from the crew and some possible Yarg artefacts  , some of which seemed to have been brought by the crew to this system.  It seems the Yarg boarded this ship and there was combat with the crew.  The ship was armed, and among the salvage was a brace of anti-ship missiles.  The wreck was a dangerous environment and Karmen was injured during their exploration.  

They flew the Hopper back to Spanial and Karmen went to bed, knocking herself out to rest and recover leaving Jennie in charge.  At that point unknown ships  were detected leaving the planet and Jennie headed the ship for the jump point.  One of the ship destroyed the wreck with cannon fire and the other pursued Spanial. There was communication of a sort – both Spanial and the Yarg ship playing their own messages back and forward to each other.  The Yarg ship fired a few shots in Spanial’s direction, obviously intended to miss, and broke off pursuit.  

Spanial jumped out of the system to return to Zarg’s World.
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Foofor -> Zarg’s World, Spanial [211.380] 

On the return journey Lia, assisted by various others (mostly Gregar and Prrri, even Kort), examined various possibly alien artifacts… … …  .

Without telling anyone else, Lia made a copy of the egg-like object she found in a cabin aboard the wreck.

Lia, Prrri and Gregar also played 3D jigsaw puzzles and assembled the silvery pieces they found… what they put together vaguely resembled… part of a silvery, metallic tentacle?   Lia wrote up two sets of notes on her findings, one edited and another a true account, her aim to conceal some things from their employer. 

Zargonia -> Argyropoulos -> Pristine, Maldemar 732 [211.386]

With the security board interested in the outcome, the team were issued a new ship, a Vizierate Maldemar Class Sloop , and travelled on to Pristine leaving Nanny on Zargonia.  During the journey, Oliver continued the research into Argyle’s work, incidentally including watching some of his video collection .  Consequently, Oliver believes he has discovered how to do something that Argyle was apparently trying to accomplish – send hidden messages inside the Dominion’s communication network.  He has not shared this discovery with anyone.

Zarg’s World [211.385] 

Spanial arrived in the outer orbit of the Zarg’s World system, a difficult jump from a poorly mapped system done under pressure, Spanial missed Jennie’s intended arrival point by a couple of dozen AU.  Jennie spent some time beating herself up, though there’s some question whether the ship in the hands of a less-skilled navigator would have emerged from Jump at all.
It was some time before the ship was able to make contact with Kwint, and 16 Cycles before they could meet up with the shuttle and jump out of the system back to Mundo Zargo.
In the meantime, Lia continued her research and her private pursuits.
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Zarg’s World -> Mundo Zargo, Spanial [211.401] 

As soon as they met the shuttle, Spanial jumped out for Mundo Zargo.  Their rendezvous complicated in that they were supposed to receive instructions for returning to Mundo Zargo from Kort’s now-dead contact on the wreck.
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Mundo Zargo [211.410]

Arriving in the Mundo Zargo system they decided to send an advance team ahead on the shuttle to deal with Zayaire while Spanial ‘dawdled’ into dock to give them time. Lia, Karmen, Kort and Kwint went ahead.  Kort had some contingency contact methods and they were met in the General Landmark Inn by a no-nonsense individual named Tanner, who arranged for them to fly out to the Grasslands Agricultural Estate.  

On landing they were taken to a part of the estate known as ‘The Facility’ – a warren of rooms and tunnels built into an escarpment adjacent to the Agricultural Bureau farmlands.

Tanner interviewed them about the job and then arranged for them to meet Zayaire.  While waiting, Lia explored the facility and discovered it was huge and staffed by what were apparently private contractors working for four different organisations, respectively in charge of Companion Lifeform research, Xenoform research, Facilities Management and Security.  They wore uniforms that matched some found in the Cargo Hold of the wreck.  In the entire time she was there, Lia saw only one person in an Ag Bureau uniform.

Lia also happened across a small stall selling produce from Felline, and was annoyed when the sellers were dismissive of the eating habits of the Felline themselves. The crew met with Zayaire in an ornate boardroom, Zayaire apparently surprised at Lia/Winta’s presence.  However, that seemed to change the tone of the meeting, and instead of a roasting, a deal was struck:  The Spanial crew were to return the original cargo and any alien artifacts they had recovered.  They would be paid for the original job, and the charter would be extended if they took the missiles they had recovered to a cache in the Zarg’s World system.  They were also given instructions for bypassing customs.

They returned to the Highport to await Spanial’s arrival.  While there, Lia was approached by a woman named Lexi Lochan, an agent of Raina’s, who conveyed that Raina was worried about Lia and also wanting to see her.  Lexi also had several quastions about the Grasslands Estate Facility and filled in some knowledge gaps for Lia.

Before returning the cargo to Zayaire, Lia spent time with Prrri  in his cabin, where he showed her that modern Felline use a facsimilie of one of the produce items she saw as a fruit drinking canteen. 

The cargo container was returned to the grasslands estate, where the exchange was made rather abruptly, leaving Karmen with a briefcase full of Money cards and them to make their way back to the ship.

That Bluevening, Karmen paid everyone their bonuses from the job and their share of the salvage.  It was noted that there were a few items left over needing to be disposed of.

NextCycle, Spanial left the Highport to return to the Zarg’s World system, Karmen and Jennie, with Lia looking on, discussing how best to manage this next bit of illegal activity.  

Pristine [211.415]

Arriving on Pristine, the team returned to Argyle’s hunting lodge to discover the place had been cleaned out by what they would later learn was a Legion military raid, and that the Legion has fallen foul of some of the booby traps.  During the investigation Dicard was seriously injured by an animal that had taken up residence in the abandoned building.  
 
Oliver was invited to meet with the head of the Vizierate on Pristine, who stated their mission was obviously important and appointed him as a temporary Vizant 4  – a position of some authority and prestige – to help avoid bureaucratic obstructions while Dicard was unavailable. 
 
The team visited the local Legion Cast to ask questions about the raid, and discovered that it involved Commissar Usher, who had taken possession of the remaining equipment that that team had left behind previously, including Argyle’s chip emulator that Nanny had specifically asked them to recover.
 
Following clues obtained by Oliver from Argyle’s journals they went to a nearby mine site where they uncovered evidence that Argyle’s former contact at the mine was murdered.  They met Joel Cagnotti, a mine employee who knew Argyle and who Argyle apparently gifted his snow mobile before disappearing from sight. The team pieced together Argyle’s movements after he left his home, determining he used his computing knowledge to hack the mine’s and the spaceport’s systems to leave the planet undetected.  They uncovered evidence that Argyle had help in his departure from an unknown group of people smugglers.  
 
The team then split up, leaving Dicard to recover from his injuries and then with the help of Fromm  to investigate the people smuggling lead.  

 

Mundo Zargo -> Zarg’s World, Spanial [211.413]

Lia spent most of the trip following her own pursuits.
However, at one point Karmen officially invited her to become a permanent member of the crew and to legitimise that by starting the processes to get Lia a set of formal Commercial Spacer’s qualifications.

Pristine -> Adal -> Zarg’s World, Maldemar 732 [211.419]

Meanwhile Oliver took the sloop and the rest of the team  to Zarg’s World, the most current known location of the ship on which they believe Argyle left Pristine.

The journey was sped somewhat when their Adal customs check was done via a customs pinnace operating off a carrier near the system’s safe jump limit.  

Zarg’s World System [211.422]

Spanial arrived in the outer part of Zarg’s World system, not far from the Outpost of Loyalists’ Rock.  This time Lia is to fly the decoy mission in the shuttle.  She travels to the planet, spending her BirthCycle alone in the shuttle.

She used the time to reflect on some of the aspects of her past  .

Arriving at Loyalists’ Rock, her cover story went somewhat awry and she picked up a cargo of ‘Agricultural Samples’ intended to be taken by another carrier to a recipient on New Zargland.

She returned to the shuttle with the ill-gotten goods and flew to catch up to Spanial.

After meeting up, Spanial travelled to the asteroid they chose to hide the missiles on.  Lia flew Gregar, Kwint and Kort to its surface in the Hopper, and despite a small mishap that saw Kort flailing at the end of his tether line, the missiles were stowed successfully.  

The ship flew on to the mainworld.

Zarg’s World [211.440]

Arriving at Zarg’s World Highport in the Maldemar 732, it was a simple matter for Oliver to locate the ship he was seeking, the merchant freighter Spanial  , and he and Alan paid a visit to the ship at its dock.

Zarg’s World [211.439]

Arriving at Zarg’s World Highport, Lia and Karmen spent some time hunting up possible cargoes.

Then with some free time, Lia decided to treat herself purchasing some expensive jewellery.  In the store she met South Walker-Cane, a charming Legal Advocate who took her to lunch, which was engaging and pleasant until it wasn’t.

Cooling off in a random room, Lia was discovered by two Legionnaires, who advised her there was a cargo-related matter to do with her ship and flew her up to the Highport in a Legion shuttle.   
 

 Zarg’s World [211.440]

Vizant 4 Oliver Starr , with Under Commander Alan Halcyon    ‘assisting’ interviewed Captain Karmen Intuveker    and Cargo Master Lia Silver-Rose  about the whereabouts of Willard Argyle .  Oliver convinced Karmen to reveal the truth of what Spanial had done, which was to take Argyle into Separatist Space  where he was picked up by Separatist ship.

Alan indicated he was not able to fly into Separatist space, and Oliver returned to Maldemar 732, perhaps feeling somewhat disheartened.  

Zarg’s World [211.440]

Oliver returned to the sloop, made some preparations, ordering Maldemar 732 back to GRRAS.
Then went to the Vizierate offices, where he arranged to go undercover, returning to Spanial and putting his proposal to Karmen.  She would take him to Separatist Space, he would make sure there were no repercussions for Spanial and its crew.  
Karmen accepted his proposal, noting they were short on space, and billeted Oliver in the Sick Bay.

Zarg’s World [211.440]

Lia discussed the events with Karmen, and on Oliver’s return, showed him around the ship. 
 

 Zarg’s World [211.441]

Oliver was inducted into the basics of Spanial’s Comms and Scan systems by Ipan, who seemed somewhat resentful of his presence but was none the less, acting professionally. Karmen advised Lia that she would arrange for another ship to take the errant Ag Samples cargo to New Zargland.

Lia received a message and met with Martell Bartman-Jira  , another of Raina’s agents.   Martell advised her that Raina was sending some ‘experts’ to look after her, out of concern over both the Vizierate and Zayaire.  He also, in this and subsequent meetings enlightened her as to the relationship between Zayaire and Raina:  They are peers, each with their own territories, but these are not fixed, and Raina is keen to avoid anything that could be an ‘incident’.

The crew had already decided to take part of their Dock Leave together and visit Circus Galacta, currently on Zarg’s World and arrangements are made.  Oliver is invited.

Oliver gradually met the rest of the ship’s compliment:  Reintroduced to Prrri, who seems cautiously accepting in his alien way; Kort, who seems suspicious and perhaps dismissive (and is not being told about Oliver’s true reason for being aboard); Gregar, accepting but so far too busy to do more than superficialities; Kwint, who seemed actively trying to be friendly; and, Jennie, who was professional and somewhat welcoming.

Oliver didn’t have a great time at the Circus Sideshow, perhaps nervous about fitting in he was distracted and under-performing.

Lia acquired a large AlpCow plushie from Kort.

They tried the VIP lounge, where Oliver had a portrait done  and Lia was buttonholed by a man named Glover – one of the Experts that Martell warned her about.  

Glover asked after her safety and arranged a meeting with she and Karmen.

Lia purchased a gift for Lali.

They watched the circus Big Show, which was utterly spectacular.

Afterwards some of the crew partied on, Jennie, with Oliver co-piloting fly the shuttle back up to the Highport.  They chatted on the way, and she also gave him his first job – to check the Hopper’s computer systems.

NextCycle, Oliver purchased a replacement for the Hopper’s onboard manuals, going straight back to the ship afterwards.

Lia went to the meeting with Glover and Karmen, was almost tempted to fly straight to Captree with Glover, but decided to stay with Spanial.  Glover asked a bunch of questions about Oliver, cautioned them about Zayaire and said he and his associate, Vuist (who Lia has not seen) will shadow them to Mundo Zargo.

Lia and Karmen returned to the ship.

In Green Shift, a speculative cargo of radioactives arrived and was loaded aboard by Lia.

In Blue, Karmen convened a communal meal where everyone ate a delicious Kwint-dish and Karmen dealt with some housekeeping and the rough plan ahead.  

After the meal, Lia went to her cabin and Oliver was invited to watch the undocking procedure from Control.  He and Jennie chatted some more before Spanial left dock to head for the jump point to Mundo Zargo.   
  
  

Spanial

When the undock procedure is completed it’s Ipan’s watch, though he only has a few tasks to sit.

  

Immediate Actions

It’s near usual sleep time for both Oliver and Lia.

Lia is due for a Zoner! hit.

Anything before sleep for either Lia or Oliver?

Anything specific for nextCycle?

  

General Time Management

Both Oliver and Lia have a number of projects underway, I’ll enumerate them next post if desired?  I’d like some idea how their time will be split between them.

Both Oliver and Lia are expected to be on work-duty in Green Shift.  Lia to sit Watch, Oliver to do…stuff.

Oliver is supposed to meet with Gregar soon-ish, specifically re the Hopper software and generally regarding a work programme.

Oliver has indicated a desire to catch up with all the crew during the trip. 

Is there anything else Oliver would like to do  role-play specific during the trip?

Is there anything role-play specific Lia would like to do during the trip?

  

2 Responses

  1. Lia Silver-Rose says:
    2021-04-08 at 23:36

    Nothing before sleep except Zoner!

    Next cycle, apart from sitting watch and following her routine, is there a way to check past messages? If so, she will review her correspondence with Vizier Farbello.

    Lia still wants to speak to Kort at some point on the trip and would like to have a word with Karmen before that happens.

    She will continue trying to make Oliver feel part of the team and just generally hang out with everyone else as she has been.

    Projects she is working on: her new perfume, jewellery commission and personal pieces. She will also spend a little time on those metal bars.

  2. Oliver Starr says:
    2021-04-08 at 23:37

    No specific roleplay, he does plan to just check in and try and gauge how everyone reacts to him.

    Nothing before sleep. He will see Gregar as soon as he can the next day.

    He’s mostly trying to teach these glasses and perhaps draw a blueprint for this grenade.

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