Season 1 Episode 2 - Return To Sender

The crew find themselves in the Red Sun system at a small space station nicknamed The Boudoir due to the proclivities of its proprietors, Mister and Missus, who have a habit of flirting too much with each other and their clientele.

 

Zigg and Dandelion go to meet with Mister and Missus. They are old friends of Sev and met Sersha a few times. They were field operators for the Alliance that worked on creating the identities of their field assets. They were highly skilled at forging documents and creating paper trails for individuals that never existed. According to Missus, once Sev started asking them questions about ‘certain things’ they started their plan to leave the Alliance. They worked for the more noble aspects of the underworld for a short time and then ran from the Alliance.

 

Missus speaks privately to Gardener Dandelion. Missus asks Dandy if she has ever heard of something called ‘The Constellation.’ It was something Sev brought up once but wouldn’t talk about at the time. Dandy has not heard of such a thing other than the pictures stars make.

 

Mister and Missus were called ahead of time and have had just enough time to create new identities for all the Members of the Incentive. (Each Player gains the Signature Asset ‘Forged Papers’ at a D10)

 

Brah, Blake, Cheng, and Cain go to meet with Corvus. Corvus is the classic picture of an old ship’s engineer and talks like a Yooper. He is constantly interrupting with stories that barely relate to the topics at hand, usually a ship he worked on once a long time ago and the clever way he fixed it. He also brings up the new mining laser from Blue Sun, the AJ7200XL, and remarks that they finally figured out the self cleaning manifolds, which Corvus had thought of years ago, of course.

 

New ship distinctions

Laser cooling system

Advanced codebreakers

Spend 1 pp to create D8 decryption asset

Fancy sensor array

Step back engines to double or step up systems

 

With their forged papers and a modified ship, the crew heads to Lustrum Station orbiting Pelorum in the Lux System. The return address on the package sent from Sev to his mother is a PO box at the Alliance Post Office there.

 

Opening Credits - Chvrches - Gun

 

At the station, it is quite easy to find the Post Office. Rather than open the package from her son, Dandelion decides to pick the lock of the PO box on the return address. The attempt is successful, but is noticed by one of the postal workers.They are confronted by Judi, a short stocky woman with a Bostonian accent. She does not appreciate the attempted theft from the post.

 

After Dandelion opens the package and retrieves the 8-digit code to unlock the PO box, Judi hands them a shoe-box sized package from the back.

 

Judi is is now hated by the crew even though she was extremely helpful and reasonable.

 

The main package contained the dossiers of three people who were sold into indentured servitude out in the rim. In a note from Sev, it is indicated that they have some information that will point the crew in the right direction.

 

The second box contains something referred to as a ‘suicide box’. They are not common since they are so dangerous. They are usually used to hold valuable data or small valuables. This particular one has three keyholes. Sersha immediately puts the box in a safe in her quarters, saying it is far too dangerous to deal with now.

 

The Incentive heads out to Wavemeet, a hub town on the planet of Summerfair. In the developed areas of Summerfair, most people are miners and materials processors. The atmosphere and climate are not yet suitable for farming. There are some people that try to till the dirt, but there is very little success.

 

When they arrive, the crew splits up to find out about the people in the dossiers.

 

Gardener Dandelion, Bruh, Zigg, and Blake Head to the Tavern. There are a few fancy looking people playing cards and drinking, but the place is mostly empty in the middle of the day. The crew quickly finds out that Rhoda cut the local Mother superior’s eye, although doesn’t have any details about the incident. He says Rhoda can be found around the Loop.

 

Cheng heads to the market where he has an enlightening conversation about mining equipment with one of his old sales representatives. He learns that the new AJ7200XL Industrial Mining Laser has just been released to the market. Apparently it has self cleaning manifolds and a high speed gas extractor. In addition, the laser substrate is no longer an unstable consumable. However, the electronics that run the laser systems require a license code, forcing all new buyers into a subscription based model.

Cheng also finds out that Rhoda runs a flophouse by the Loop. Also, she really doesn’t like the convent.

 

Cain heads to the local records office, a common enough service in these areas. The corporate interests need a way to move and organize information, so they pool their resources on these government style services. Cain is able to find records of a large amount of people moving through Wavemeet. Most of them make it to a job in the region, or sell their indentured contract to one of the mining concerns. He finds solid evidence that a sizeable amount of people are being moved through the local convent and disappear.

He also finds out that the local corporations discourage outsiders from interfering in the area by mandating a 200% tax on all commerce done with outside currency. This is a common tactic in company towns, but is usually between 10-50%.

Cain also creates a list of shell companies that seem to be used to move the money and people around that they shouldn’t.

 

The crew heads to the Loop, the transit hub for the entire region. There is a ring of rail lines around the space port. Tracks spiderweb out from Wavemeet in a dozen directions. Around the Loop are all the normal buildings you would find in a town like this: Food vendors, offices for all the businesses that have to do with mining and colonization, medical facilities, etc. The crew finds Rhoda harassing travellers coming off the recently arrived space ships. She is discouraging them from staying at the Convent, which is the normal thing travellers are told to do. When she is confronted, she admits that she is not fond of the Convent, but won’t go into details. She also reveals that she has no idea who Sev Smith is.

 

Once it is established that Rhoda isn’t crazy or violent, the crew reveals they were sent to find her and her brother and husband. She offers them lodging for the night, saying ‘her boys’ would be in on the morning train. There is a bit of a community meal that night. Apparently, after the incident at the Convent, she is no longer able to engage in commerce in the area. Her brother and husband work a mine ‘two towns over’.

 

When pressed about the incident at the Convent, she reveals that the mother superior essentially tried to kidnap her and her brother. It would have worked, but they left her husband behind. She refused to go and when they wouldn’t let her, she slashed at the Mother Superior with a knife out of instinct. She and her boys were able to escape, but no one has listened to their story. Her boys were barely able to get one of the more desperate mining concerns to pick up their contracts. The Convent made sure that no one would ever buy hers, and she is therefore unable to engage in commerce with local currency.

 

During dinner, the crew inquires as to the life story of the recently hired Tony, a local found by Blake to provide some extra protection. He tells a brief and sad tale of a boy who grew up hungry but loved. When tragedy struck and he lost his Mother, he took what work he could. It turned out he was fairly good at looking tough. He never wanted to hurt anyone, but he doesn’t really have any other skills.

 

The next day, the boys come in and eventually explain the rest of the story. Anton explains that he did spy on Rhoda in hopes of getting her away from the life of crime. The information he gathered is being held by Theodore Thompson back on Ariel where it all went down. He will provide the information you need to make contact if you deal with the Mother Superior, who they suspect is facilitating the slave trade in the area.

 

The crew shows up to the convent. Gardener Dandelion is greeted warmly by the sisters in the yard. Several of the crew claim to be looking for work. There is a terminal in the convent and one of the sisters will help them.

 

Gardener Dandelion wears a wire and confronts Mother Rose. The Mother Superior openly admits to ‘plucking weeds’ in order to encourage ‘those who bear fruit’ to thrive.

 

Zigg grabs a woman's ass and is escorted off the premises (D6 Unwelcome). Once off the premises, he proceeds to grab two women at once. The complication goes up to D8. The women have a brief spat about what to do, eventually leaving Zigg outside the gates as they walked back in, having banned him from the area.

 

Zigg, in his persistence and desire to help the crew with their mission, sneaks back into the convent and briefly looks for incriminating papers in the Mother Superior’s office. Failing in this task he decides to seduce her when she returns.

 

When the door eventually opens, Zigg dramatically clears the large desk of all its contents. He rips his shirt open and strikes a pose. The older woman, without missing a beat, locks eyes with him and advances. Without words, she kisses the unsuspecting Zigg on the lips. His next memory is waking up in the ship’s infirmary with a throbbing headache.

 

The crew transmits the recordings and other evidence gathered on Summerfair to the appropriate channels. Shortly after, the Mother Superior is transferred away and the slave trade on Summerfair abates for a while.

 

The crew also buys the contracts for Jesse and Anton. They are provided with a bit of cash to go make an honest living somewhere else in the Verse.

 

Closing Credits

The Byrds - Turn! Turn! Turn!