Glisten III

Date: Sun, 08 Jan 1995 13:37:13 -0500 (EST)
From: Alvin Plummer <plummera@SHERIDANC.ON.CA>
Subject: Glisten III

Now, the final portion of my Glisten adventure...

==============================================================================
<Swelling theme song...>

The PC's may try to ambush a Fiat. messanger *after* he arrives at Tlaiowaha
[ie. get there by their own (hopefully faster) ship, or find out his 
schedule and be there, waiting for him].  

They should berth their ship, and wait until Ftai.'s courier ship has 
arrives and is ready to disembark the messanger.  Then the PC's need to 
grab the messanger, get back to their ship, and jump while their ship is 
still on the tarmac (they dare not try to lift out: if the starport's 
defenses doesn't nail them, the local SDB fleet will!)

Because of the Heirate's political climate and clan structure, the only 
military they need to fear is the Ftai. clan - who can afford to send 14 
500-disp TL C-E warships after them.  Since the Ftai. need to block off 
escape routes and search systems, it's highly unlikely that the PC's will 
encounter more than two ships at any one system:

Roll 2d6 for encountering a Ftai. warship while running to Glisten: 

the first half of the journey:
2-6 none   7-8 one ship    9-11 two ships   12 three ships
the last half of the journey:
2-4 none   5-7 one ship    8-10 two ships   11-12 three ships

[reminder: Tlaiowaha is about 10 for-parsec jumps away from Glisten.

However, at Glisten the PC's will be given a break - assuming that they 
have chosen to jump near the Ilroei complex at Sarodon Asteroid rahter 
than to Glisten Starport, that is.  Otherwise, expect major red tape, or 
a final last attack by two Ftai. ship's.

======+++++=====+++++=====+++++=====+++++=====+++++=====+++++=====+++++

Entering Nightnoise

Both the information from the mercenary money launderer and the info on 
the biochip in the dead Aslan Messanger's skull agree that the merc's 
hired to kidnap Hlausau' Ktyakuhois were the Aao Le-Tik group, based from 
Glisten.  A few hours at a human merc watering hole (Average: Streetwise 
- Easy if the human is a Merc himself) will inform the PC's that the Aao 
Le-Tik is a squad of about 20 members, of only average fighting ability 
but imaginative when it comes to ruses, bluffs and deception.  
Originally formed to fight Glisten's occupation, they eventually became 
discuraged and chose to sell their services to the highest bidder instead.

Both sources also agree that the original place where Kty. was held was 
in an abandoned city on Nightnoise, an asteroid in Glisten's orbit 3, 
outside of Glisten's two asteroid belts.  The Ftai. message says that the 
Aao Le-Tik abandoned the site when they sent the blackmail message, and 
their jumpship was found abandoned at Trin.

Winston - the (possibily) captured launderer - insists that the jumpship 
was a ruse, and the mercenaries hid themselfves in the city until the Ftai.
search team left.  

If Winston isn't with the PC's, but they did get the biochip, either 
they or (if the players are rather thick) the aslan's should decide to go to 
Nightnoise to see if any clues remain on the Merc's whereabouts.

Two weeks later, the PC's - along with Winston (if they somehow found 
him), and 80 Aslan technicians, investigators and troops - heads for 
Nightnoise on a 1000-disp charted fusion-drive spaceship.  They bring 
enough equipment to last the expedition three months, along with 20 Aslan 
grav bikes.

The Aslan transport spends days disembarking people and equipment, then 
leaves, to return in three months.  The expedition finds itself in an 
artifical cavern, it's roof open to raw space, formerly a F-class port. 
The expedition presses down a corridor, it's mobile powerplant providing 
the energy needed to power air locks and iris valves.

The dead city of Tanenbaum is completely dark - no power, nolights, no 
gravity, no breathable air.  Four hundred years ago, Tanenbaum's lax 
safety regulations finally caught up with it, resulting in a massive 
city-wide plase that rendered it uninhabitable and killed 92% of it's 
155,000 inhibatants.

Today, charred skeletions and melted furniture litter the residental 
areas of the city.  The air is full of carbom monoxide and old toxic 
fumes from the fire, and occassionally the zero-G soot (floating in round 
clumps in the air) is broken up, impeding vision.

The party pressess forward, to where the biochip/Winston says Kty was 
first held.  A recently-built, makeshift  airlock is opened mechanically, 
and the party enters - one at a time - into breathable atmosphere.  The 
modern light-switches work, displaying a hallway leading to eight rooms.  
The place is furnished with cheap steel furniture, adapted for a zero-G 
enviroment.  There is no computer, memchip's or paper to be found.

Even a careful, 3-day search will only show that Humans and Aslans were 
here within the past two years.

++++++++++++++++

If the party doesn't have Winston to guide them, they must divide up the 
city and search every section for sign's of continued habitation.  If 
Tanenbaum is divided up into 10 equal sections (The Aslans obtained a 
500-year-old electronic data of the city from the Glisten archives before 
leaving) it will take one month to search a single section. There is a 
10% chance that they're searching the right section, and for the group to 
find the right signs [ie. an increase in background heat, detection of 
unaccounted-for electric fields, recent footprints and handprints) is a 
test of 

Difficult: Observation 
(assume group observation asset is 10) 
..once per month.

If the party finds nothing after three months, the leader of the Aslans 
will argue to leave.  The PC's may agree, and abandon the site [and, 
unknowingly, the 42 MCr].  If not, they can argue that the party be 
resupplied (Formidable: Persuasion), increased to 200 searchers, w/ 
additional equipment (Impossible: Persuasion.  Success here will decrease 
searching difficulity to Average), or be left with a skeletion crew to 
continue the search (Difficult: Persuasion.  Success here will increase 
difficulty to Impossible: Observation)

If they're smart, they can elect to watch Nightnoise from their ship for 
any sign's of activity.  With simple patience, they will spot a 100-Disp 
unarmed spaceship, landing on the asteroid some distance from the old 
spaceport. (in 1d6 weeks.)  This freighter is carrying supplies to the 
merc's in the city, and is landing near a abandoned air lock to transport 
supplies.

++++++++++++++++++++

If they find the "Neighbourhood" where the merc's are holding Kty, they 
can plan out a strike team.  However they do it, they should remember to 
enter the merc's territory thru an airlock, to perserve the atmosphere 
for the hostage's sake (if they feel that she's still alive).

Of the 80 Aslans, 30 are female, with spacesuits (AV1) and two 9mm magnum 
                  revolvers each (Experienced)

                  40 are male Aslans, with Combat Armour-10 (AV 2/1), 4 
                  Grenades (C:3 B:12), and 1 ACR-10 (Veteran)

                  10 are Male Aslans with Combat Armour-12 (AV3/2), 4 
                  Grenades, and one Plasma Rifle-12 (Elite)

The Aslan females will avoid the heat of battle, but will fight if pressed.

Four Veteran Aslan's are demo experts: each have 6 kg of plastic 
explosive and 10 blasting caps.

Twenty Aslan will get grav bikes: their bikes carry extra ammo and 
another 6-hour air tank.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Of the 22 Aao Le-Tik mercenaries, 17 are in Tanenbaum (two were with the 
money launderor, one is on Glisten, two are on the 100-Disp resupply 
freighter)

Because of closed-circut TV, Jeho Markinov, the commander of the Aao 
Le-Tik, will immediately be aware if the PC's or the Aslan's enter the 
Merc's territory.

As soon as he sees that they're coming, he'll order a fighting retreat to 
the merc's air lock.  Ordering Kty into a rescue ball, Markinov will 
activate the 25 pre-set tripwire mines, send an emergency call to his 
man at Glisten (which will tell him what's happened, and to take 
certain actions), destroy the vital circutry of his command post with a 
blast of his plasma gun (so his cameras and sensors can't be used against 
him), and head out to the well-camoflagued escape ship near the merc air 
lock.

The merc's have endlessly drilled for this action, using VR and the 
anciend electronic maps of Tanenbaum for pratice.  They will split into 
two fire groups, and one hostage group: 

Fire group 1: 1 Elite, 3 Vet's, 2 Experienced, 1 LMG, 10 mines
           2: 1 Elite, 3 Vet's, 2 Experienced, 1 LMG, 10 mines
Hostage:   Markinov, 1 Elite, 1 Experienced, 1 Hostage

..the mines (C:5, B:24) are set by physical tripwire, impossible to see
   (but infrared may pick it up).  Twelve turns must be spend to set them 
   up in a hidden spot, four turns if left visible.

..the LMG's are TL7, w/Bipod, using ball ammo

The Merc's...

Markinov (Init 6: you will kave to develop his skill set) 
  Battle-Dress-10, 1 Pasma Gun-14, 4 smoke grenader, 4 regular grenades

3 Merc's with Combat Armour-12 (AV 3/2), 1 Autogun, one plasma Rifle-12, 
  4 smoke grenades, 4 regular grenades (Elite)

6 Merc's with Combat Armour-10 (AV 2/1), one Plasma Rifle-12, 4 
  Grenades (Veteran)

5 Merc's with Spacesuits (AV 1) w/Chest-Armour-10 (AV 2), one plasma Rifle-12
  (Experienced)

2 Merc's as above, but also with a one-shot Plasma Bazooka-10 (Experienced)

++++++++++++++++++++

The Merc's will treat the city like a three-dimensional maze.  Their 
planned route will avoid open spaces and large rooms, but dwell in 
corridors and maintenance shafts.  Whever possible, they willa ttempt to 
shake their pursuers by using unexpected tactics, surprise, and superior 
knowledge of the city layout.  If they can draw out and isolate an enemy 
squad, they will do a brief offensive and attempt to kill it, or at least 
keep their head down with suppression fire.  Again when possible, the 
fire groups will try to cover each other.

The first hour of the conflict will occur in the merc's breathable area.  
Sometime after this, the merc's will blow a hole in the wall, venting in 
bad air.  While the Expedition is busy ramming on their helmets, the 
prepared merc's will burn rubber.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The Aslan commander will attempt to herd the merc's into dead ends and 
killing zones.  Five vet's will be left behind to guard the females: 20 
Vet's and five elites will chase the merc's, while 5 elites and 15 Vet's 
- all on grav bikes - will either steer the merc's into a dead end, 
prepare a cross-fire killing zone, or try to block their escape route.

The PC's should be careful regarding combat.  If their weaponry and 
armour is not up to a plasma-gun firefight, they should stay in the rear 
with the Aslan females.  If they insist on joinin gin the fun, they 
shouldn't seperate from the main chase group: as humans, any Aslan trhey 
surprise may asume that they're merc's for a cxombat turn.  Shared radio 
frequency's will quickly dissapate the confustion, but large holes in the 
PC's chest may appear in the meantime.

++++++++++++++

Capture

Battle should be played out in two scales: generic map's for the PC's 
(but remember the 3-D nature of the conflict!), and an abstract system 
for the entire battle,

The battle is limited to 6 hours - this is how long the merc's have until 
their air supply run's out.  If they don't make it to the escape ship in 
time, they surrender.  If the PC's air hits bingo level (ie. the level 
they need to get back to base and recharge their air supply) they *MUST* 
immediately retreat back to the Aslan females, and their mobile air 
refresher.

If the Merc's make good time, the merc's can reach their escape ship - 
a Ship's Boat - in about 4 hours.  If the PC's alert the authorities, the 
Boat can easily be halted by Glisten's Navy before it can reach the 
Starport.  If not, the Merc's escape: about 6 month's later Kty is 
realeased, for 42 MCr.

If Markinov is trapped like a rat, he'll surrender, relying on Aslan 
belief's onnot killing prisoners to protect him.  If he realises that the 
Aslan's who trapped him are from the Oikhoiseaha clan, he'll bargain: 
Kty's life for the merc's escape.  The Aslan leader will agree, and let 
him and his men go: they will send an assassin (or the PC's!) to 
terminate him later.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rewards

If fully successful, the PC's get their 43 MCr three bi-monthly installments. 
They also gain the favour of an up-and-coming clan and a respected, 
powerful Aslan female clan lord.

If they find the merc's, but Kty dies in the firefight, they just get 
the money.

Since much of Ktyakuhois' plans involve expanding into ex-Imperial space 
-- especially the systems of Glisten, Albe (Sindal: Trojan Reach/2211 
A540A98-E De Hi In Po 213 As F4V M2D), and Tobia (Tobia: Trojan 
Reach/3215 A444A55-F In Hi 203 As F7D) -- she is likely to find plenty of 
use for the PC's.  However, if they want to climb to the to pf the ladder 
as trusted servants they must join the clan and adopt Aslan Ways, 
renouncing Regency citizenship.

Hlausau' Ktyakuhois   6.5 terms   - 1 term purchaser
                                  - 5.5 terms adjudicator
867958-B                          - 1 term administrator

Epilogue - PC's can join with Kty
         - how do PC's spend their money?
         - characters can be retired, if the players want to
         -   "   "     "  "  enhansed (ie. more education, cyberware, 
           hardware).  After a while, their patrons who hire them will 
           start to give them especially tough jobs
         - PC's can expand - ie. go into a business venture, or build
           their own Merc. unit
         - PC's can buy a starship, new or used (increased wear = decrased
           price, as per _Traveller_ p.241

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvin Plummer
"Preserve what we created, Norris, and remember what we stood for."
                               - Strephon, 179-1126