Scene One: Interdicted Space, between Quadrants III and IV of the Yami Belt

Darkspace is cold, dark, and there is barely any atmosphere to speak of. There are notable amounts of scanner interference, and physical debris.

The Objective is for the Parindra 2 to disable an Abhva ship (the smaller the better), board her, and ply the navigator with the persuasive spiritualist magics of Captain Chabra. In truth, there are a number of incorrect assumptions at the foundation of this plan.

24 hours travel from of the orbit of the Independent Beltworld of Mahendrak (the leading edge of Quadrant IV), the Parindra 2 is…waiting, having taken up close position to a jagged asteroid to disguise its scanner profile. Passive Scanners examine the proximity for hostile presence.

Less than a day later, they have a promising contact. Using a stealth approach, they engage in an extended game of cat and mouse with the vessel (a Pretya Marauder), eventually closing to point blank range undetected.

Scene Two: Interdicted Space, between Quadrants III and IV of the Yami Belt

A Pretya Marauder at Point-Blank Range

Combat is…brief. Gunnery Chief Mala disables the Marauder with one shot, blasting through the hull to crater the atomic powerplant that enables the vessel to travel under its own power.

Scene Three: On-board the Marauder; which is cold, dark, and there is barely any air to speak of. It is also “hot” in at least one respect.

The Captain, Gunnery Chief Mala, Gunner’s Mate Goff, and Engineering Chief Vãhakah are the boarding party, taking the docked corvette inside the Parindra 2 as a boarding craft. Gunner’s Mate Goff, having overindulged while in port, stays with the boarding craft.

Based on the size of the Marauder, standard crew is likely somewhere between ten and fifty. Chief Mala is still bruised and bloody from wounds dating to the last adventure that he has still not sought treatment for. Nonetheless, easily provoked, he’s the first one through every door and passageway. This will turn out to be an unwise decision.

The boarding craft nestled snuggly over the hull breach inflicted by Chief Mala earlier, the three crew jump down onto the engineering deck of the Pretya vessel. Captain Mala and Chief Mala are in EVA rated armor, but Chief Vãhakah is made of sterner stuff (literally, Vãhakah is of the Savant Caste). Having never been on board an Abhva ship before, Vãhakah doesn’t notice that while the air is thin, it is neither as dark nor as cold as expected.

A brief firefight breaks out between the privateers and the engineering crew of Pretya (Hungry Ghosts) that are attempting repairs. Chief Mala dispatches them with his glitter cannons, taking minimal psychic damage in the process (the Pretya possessing terror based mental attacks).

Advancing through the ship, Mala encounters a captive Janya in what seem to be officers’ quarters. When the Janya begins acting erratically, Mala stuns her, too. She is left behind in the quarters, and the privateers advance to the bridge.

There, the command staff of four or five Makara officers (there isn’t enough time to be entirely clear). Once again, Chief Mala is first into the breach. Unlike the easily dispatched Pretya, however, the vicious talons of the crocodilian Makara, plus Mala’s previous injuries lead to him being severely injured and unconscious within moments of entering the bridge. Chabra and Vãhakah pull him to safety, and retreat back to the relative safety of the officer’s quarters, and the unconscious Janya hostage.

Captain Chabra still hasn’t noticed that while her magics may be persuasive, they’ve never been tested on someone who doesn’t speak Jangla before. Plus, which of the five Makara on the bridge was the navigator?

Setting:

The Circuses at Hanuruha (early enough in the day that the matches are non-lethal, late enough that there is still a boisterous crowd). Captain Chabra, Gunnery Chief Ns. Kashi, and Gunner’s Mate Aelig Goff.

Ns. Chabra and Kashi are vaguely discomfited by the spectacle of violence in the background, and the pescatarian street food enjoyed by the spectators. The Kravyad battle-witch Goff is made of sterner stuff. Conversation ensues.

“The repairs to the Parindra are complete, but we only have about half the complement of crew that we need. I’ve managed to get an Operation Chief and an Engineering Chief to sign the articles, but we’re still down a chief navigator…besides the captain.”

“We’re going to need a new name for the ship, you know. We don’t want the naval designation listed on the new letters of marque, I suspect the Governor-Admiral of Betwa will have some objections.”

“We can’t hire a full crew until we get the bounty of a combat action. But we’re not likely to survive a combat action until we have a full crew.”

“So what can we do?”

“Steal one? No, hear me out. Crew is at a premium right now because of the Abhva running slaving operations in the interdicted space been quadrants three and hour of the Yami Belt. So, we stake out the space, and follow a smaller vessel back to their stockyard. Discretely.”

*laughter*

“Well, discretely for us, anyway.”

“It’s a five-thousand metTon ship. It’s just coming out of Dockyard in the new configuration; we’re at half crew, and the half we have is still getting to know their shipmates; and we’ve never worked together as an integrated command staff before.”

“Shakedown cruise?”

“aye.”

“aye.”

Note:

Said shakedown cruise did not result in any damage, but did reveal the limits of non-stealthship “discretion”.

Scene 5: Interior, MSN Parindra

(In the access shafts between the Hangar Deck and the Gunnery Deck)

Captain Goff comes aboard the Parindra with a handful of warriors to assist Mala and Chabra in their efforts to subdue the Kravyad pirate interlopers. She attempts to intimidate Lieutenant Guellec, and fails. Mightily.

A firefight breaks out between the privateers attempting to leave the hangar deck, and the pirates disassembling the ships weapon systems on the gunnery deck. Captain Mala has two engineers still out on the propulsion deck. Captain Chabra is down to three gunner’s mates from his ship. Captain Goff has brought along four of her own warriors from her ship.

On the other side: Lieutenant Guellec and a band of 8 Kravyad roughnecks (half of whom are armed with anything more lethal than a spanner).  A minute into the fight, and the Kravyad pirates have disabled the seven reinforcements the Janya have brought with them.

Captain Mala, blazing away with a pistol in each hand, takes out the “unarmed” pirates, although he takes his lumps while doing so. With Captain Goff’s help, the two Captains disable the remainder of the Kravyad boarders, while Captain Chabra employs his spiritualist magic to aid his allies.

Lieutenant Guellec, unfortunately for our heroes, concedes the fight and makes a speedy retreat towards the bridge.

Scene 6: Interior, MSN Parindra

(Onboard the Vatya’s Vengeance, parked on the Hangar Deck; in the ruins of the Parindra Propulsion Deck; among the powerless consoles on the Control deck)

As the Parindra continues to fall in its failing orbit, the privateers coordinate a speedy repair effort.

Captain Chabra, back aboard his Vatya’s Vengeance coordinates stripping the Radium Drive and the lifeblood fuel aboard into the Parindra Engineering section / Propulsion Deck.

Captain Mala and his engineers perform the critical (and terrifically difficult) task of reassembling a Radium Drive powerplant that was field stripped under duress, stabilizing the Radium X fuel, and bringing all of the above back online.

Captain Goff and her warriors are jury-rigging connections on the Control Desk, to get the ship underway as soon as propulsion is available.

Happily, everyone succeeds in their assignments, and the Parindra begins the long, slow trip back to the Free City of Hanuruha.

Scene Four: Interior, MSN Parindra.

Dark, Cluttered, Eerie.

Captain Chandra and Mala boarded the Parindra, while Captain Goff maintains a defensive perimeter aboard the Sulas Tine. Captain Mala’s two engineering crew take up positions on the engine deck to start assessing the damage, while Mala, Chabra, and Chabra’s security detail of four advance towards the bridge. Halfway there, the privateers encounter hostile entrenched Raksasa pirates. An attempt to parlay commences, but initial attitudes and relative offensive capabilities render the Kravyad resistant to Chabra’s attempts to suborn mutiny.

Scene Three

The Gilgit Debris Field (Cluttered with debris, Signal interference, Slowly accelerating towards planet)

The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria (Marru, Vatya’s Vengeance, Sulas Tine; under captains Mala, Chabra, and Goff respectively), having identified the MSN Parindra in the graveyard of Janya and Abhva ships in an unstable orbit above Gilgit, move to intercept the Abhva Gunship which has just detected them. The hope is, the ship can be destroyed before it gets a chance to call for help (and likewise before the Raksasa assault shuttle full of hostile pirates that is currently docked with the Parindra has too much time to ready a defense).

Luckily, the aggressive nature of the Makara captain for the Gunship lends itself to this strategy. All three privateers spread out under the direction of Captain Chabra, pursuing an envelopment strategy against the larger and more heavily armed gunship. Captain Chabra, himself an ace pilot draws the fire of the Gunship, Captain Goff brackets the Gunship with her own fire, and Captain Mala takes advantage of the frenzied Makara by lining up his shots carefully (and accurately). While the privateers suffer some minor damage, the ending is never really in doubt as the privateers leave the disabled Gunship accelerating towards Gilgit even more quickly than the rest of the debris field.

Now, to board the Parindra, and restore her powerplant before she becomes a smoking crater on the surface of Gilgit…

Scene Two: The debris field in a decaying orbit above the burning Gilgit hiveworld.

Scene One:

A bustling Outcaste café on the Admiralty base on Betwa, “Eat at Jalal’s” asynchronously blinking courtesy of a photonic display on the outer wall. Inside, the smell of curried vegetables and crisp seafood protein. The high caste visitors currently consist of Captains Chabra and Mala, who are faintly pink with discomfort. Captain Goff sits in close council with her contact, Maruf Kazi of the Stone Brotherhood. Unlike her companions, she is not the least disconcerted by the dietary habits of secular Outcaste culture.

Maruf easily passes along a secondhand tale of the battle of the recently discovered Gilgit Abhva hiveworld. Unfortunately, due to the battered nature of the 2^nd gen Navy ships used in the assault, many hands were lost in the battle that eventually did result in the central hive being breached and evacuations off the cold, dead world beginning. Pointed questions from Captain Goff tease out the segment of the debris field most likely to hold intact ships, and navigation details to enable close approach courtesy of Empyrean sail (a close approach that will drop the privateer flotilla practically on top of the debris field before orbital or planetary observers of the Abhva persuasion have a chance to spot them). Finally, some operational details of the MSN Parindra, and the MSN Vrisakapi, aging Light Cruisers whose powerplants could not sustain the intensity of the battle.

Now, to get to Gilgit before the MSN returns, or the Abhva sanitize the debris field on the way out…

Wakal, Capital City Landing Fields

Prologue:

The Marru is unloading it’s salvage of silicate power cores from the Makara WarCruiser, for delivery to the Warlord. Local rumor puts the minor colony world of Gomal formally in the “no longer extent” category, as the population has been slain or enslaved, the extracted resources captured and stolen, and the resource extraction machinery destroyed. Captains Kashi and Chabra might have more to tell of that story, but they keep their semi-successful exploits to themselves for the time being.

There are also rumors of an attack squadron of Abhva Gunships and Warships operating in the space between Betwa and Wakal, in sufficient strength that two 5 kiloton privateer vessels may be insufficient threat. It may be time to engage the local underworld for resources, and assistance.

Scene Four: The Free Market of Wakal

Kashi and Chabra work their local contacts to get an introduction for the shotcallers of the Stone Brotherhood, the organization behind the regional organized crime. The contacts lead them to Prashir Mir, the hijra bootlegger and fixer in the local market.

Luckily the captains’ hearty constitution allow for the free flow of conversation (and ‘shine), which gets them the rich personal backstory of Prashir, as well as a description and location of the Stone Brotherhood capo on Wakal, Rasel Sarkara.

That conversation is a bit touch and go; but Captain Chabra plays up his leadership qualities, and Captain Kashi trades on his reputation for living up to his word. They’ve established a (n elementary) relationship of trust with the Brotherhood, manage to upgrade the personal arms and armor of their crew, and obtain an introduction to Aelig Goff. Aelig is a fierce privateer in her own right, and is on Wakal offloading the spoils from her last several successful hunting adventures.

Now, if they can just talk her into partnering with the two high status Janya. Aelig is not just Kravyad , but ban-draoidh: one of the feared Raksasa furies who posses witchcraft. And Aelig’s reputation for savagery precedes her.