There was a plan to take the Free Frigate Exceptional Object and give or take, more or less, it went without a hitch. They stormed the welcoming group, took control of the ship’s computer system and took it all without losing a person. They had rolled a Criminal Culture skill roll to hire more muscle for the job and it seemed to help.

Strachan, the Gudridim Hunter, took a shotgun blast to the chest in the opening moments of the operation but that Warrior ability allowed him to side-step and gut that security personnel like a fish. Strachan was brutal AF.

It was cool to have everyone all together, all interacting and working on the gig.

They offered to hire the captured pilot and the navigator and they were bereft. “We were working for a higher purpose until you came in shooting. You aren’t Lalita Navy or Oritheen Legates or Guavaran Navy? You’re just fucking freelancers?”

Turns out this crew was gestating a highly illegal A.I. designed to hunt and destroy the rogue A.I. that they believe engaged in planetary genocide. The A.I. was kept into a salt-water tank, seen to by high-tech fish-people from Sobha, a TL 5 planet whose populace live under the planet’s oceans.

Arkady looked them dead in the eyes and said, “We will need to see your data.” I love that Pete turned that into a totally bad-ass sentence.

They handed their findings over and after a few days, Deiter made a Science roll with Arkady’s help.

Dude. “Not only do you know that their conclusions are sound, but looking at their data you’ve got hypotheses and ideas that go beyond what they were thinking. You take their ideas another step and you think you know where one of the Unbraked Rogue A.I.’s currently is operating.”

And Strachan found a knife on one of the soldiers that was of Gudrid make. He also noted that the pilot knew something about Gudridim that clearly didn’t come from a holo-vid drama.

Next week the Astral Dragon LLC figures out how to deal with its first resounding success.

“Wealth can be wonderful, but you know, success can test one’s mettle as surely as the strongest adversary.”

Next Morning Notes

When I write up an AP post the night of the game, I always wake up the next day with moments I wanted to write down.

Strachan asking Arkaday how he hunts and in his reply, he essentially describes the scientific method. Strachan nods.

Strachan has a crew member stuck in a tunnel. He tosses a smoke grenade, the guy misses with his laser pistol and the hunter comes out of the smoke and stabs him in the face. Brutal.

Deiter, at his heart, is just a really smart kid who wants to know things. Also, he might have some serious lack of empathy for anyone who stands between him and the data he wants. When things go well he yells, “ASTRAL DRAGON, MOTHER-FUCKERS!” It is cute.

Playing the guys the players threaten and coerce into helping them is good fun. I see these NPC’s going through terror and anger and frustration and back again. What is just another day in a space freelancer’s life is often the worst day ever for an NPC who is being held at las-gun point and asked to hand over vital information.