accomplishedCHARACTERS
Hendra Carpentar (Kathy) - Belt miner
Malina Arkestro (Angela) - Bodyguard
Zera Chirinos (Ellison) - Technician
Grigor Morgant (DavidM) - Archaeologist
Sandar Kelemon (Mark) - Explorer
March 17th, 2701 AD
...launching a swirling cloud of seeming ice-like particles at them. Hendra Carpentar, Zera Chirinos, Malina Arkestro, and Grigor Morgant frantically attempt to dodge and avoid the particles, and succeed admirably, though Hendra and Grigor take some minor damage. Malina tosses a second EMAG grenade in the direction of the nanodevice cloud, and it causes them to freeze in mid-air, then spin around and around in a disoriented manner. The gasping Hendra tells the others that they can't deal with whatever this nanotech is, and that they need to get back to the Wanda1. Picking themselves up, the four characters head out of the engineering section, and make for the docking port once more.
Malina informs Sandar Kelemon of what has just occurred, and the explorer says that he'll meet them back at the Wanda1. Sandar takes a look around at what he's left with, and decides there's nothing for it. As he makes his way towards the docking port where his team left the Wanda1, he comes to a decision and heads for the Mackenzie Heron's armoury. As he expects, he finds the armoury already open, its stores somewhat depleted. He grabs several weapons (a pair of slug rifles, a slug pistol, and a standard infantry rifle) as well as several EMAG, smoke, and stun grenades, and then heads for the docking port.
Hendra, Zera, Malina, and Grigor arrive back at the Wanda1, and find that a nasty surprise is waiting for them. The two Tafur prisoners have managed to escape their bonds (Grigor admits that he knows less about tying people up then some other subjects!) are are lurking in wait. A struggle breaks out among the former prisoners and their unwary prey, but the four characters are more than a match for the two Tafuri. Hendra is somewhat horrified to learn that Malina dispatched one of their foes through an airlock, but as Grigor's bodyguard explains, "I did what I had to do! It was him or me, and it definitely wasn't going to be me!". Hendra is somewhat shaken by this, but before she can confront Malina about it, Sandar arrives, and the characters buckle down. Malina disposes of the last of the Tafuri raiders' body and then Hendra heads the Wanda1 back towards the Blue Daphne. She informs the others that the Tafuri vessel has dispatched another small ship towards the Mackenzie Heron.
Once the player characters return to the Blue Daphne, a sigh of relief escapes them, but Sandar tells them it's not quite over yet. There's still the matter of what the Tafuri want aboard the Mackenzie Heron. Zera says it has something to do with what they encountered down in Engineering, but she can't tell Sandar what it was, and none of the others know either. Sandar says that they have to make it difficult for the Tafuri to salvage what they want, and he suggests they won't approach the sensor edge of the system for fear that the authorities will get wise to their actions. Grigor asks what he suggest they do and Sandar tells him - either shoot at any Tafuri ship that approaches the wreckage of the Mackenzie Heron, or destroy her themselves. Zera says the latter goes against the grain, since aren't they trying to salvage the Mackenzie Heron? "Too dangerous," Sandar tells her, but defers to the others. Malina asks how they're going to shoot anything at the Tafuri ships, and Sandar tells them of the series of old, non-functional laser cannons aboard the ship. He says that Zera can probably fix the basic relays easily enough, but the hook-up to the power relays are a bit tougher. Zera says she can do it, and Sandar tells Fritz (the AI) to take her where she can get to work. He heads back for the Blue Daphne's bridge, accompanied by Hendra and Malina. Grigor looks around, somewhat put upon, and then decides to follow them up to the bridge, but Fritz comments that he could be of use to Zera, and so follows the AI's directions.
Two hours later, Zera tells Sandar that the weapon systems have been brought back on-line, a fact confirmed by Fritz soon after. Sandar orders Hendra to move the Blue Daphne closer to the Mackenzie Heron, and learns from the belter that the Tafur ship is coming within range of the Blue Daphne's weapons systems. Hendra sends a message to the incoming vessel to abort its mission, or they will take action, and as Sandar expects, the Tafuri ignore them. Hendra takes over the weapons control as Sandar shifts into the pilot's seat, and after several shots at the task, Hendra destroys the vessel, even as Fritz informs them that a small group of ships from Gardenhome is arriving in the vicinity [having been sent after Grigor called in help, much to Sandar's annoyance]. The characters are pleased as the main Tafur ship turns tail and heads for deep space.
Aproximately three days later, the Blue Daphne is continuing on its journey to Melesson, one of the asteroid habitats in the Tenali Belt, with a cargo of foodstuffs and several components for their climate systems. The crew of the Blue Daphne is ensconced in the crew lounge of the ship. The rest of the player characters learn from Sandar that the Alpha Mensae government and the Bureau of Spacial Affairs has granted his claim for salvage rights of the Mackenzie Heron, but that the government has reserved rights on any "odd technologies" or other such anomalies that are recovered on board the ship. The wreckage of the vessel, which are intended to be refurbished once the salvage claim is done with, will be repaired and put back into service by Temio-Fargate. Sandar says that the T-F highups are trying to tie the salvage rights up in the Mensae courts, but he has no idea what will happen with that - something to worry about after the run to Melesson. Looking at each other with mischievous smiles, Hendra and Malina ask Zera to tell them about her background, and the young tech vehemently tries to dodge several of their questions once more...
Friday night's session of River of Heaven was quite enjoyable, wrapped up the current scenario, and had some good roleplaying during its course, and a bit of action as well. The players and their characters were pretty much into the adventure for all of the game sessions, and this one was no exception, though I did go over the rules one more time with the players (since it had been a month since they had last played River of Heaven). All of the players were pretty pleased at the adventure's outcome, and quite enjoyed things, two of them commenting once more about the rules.
I'm looking forward to the next session of River of Heaven, whenever that may be, and can't wait to run this hard science fiction rpg again. :)