When You Die, Can I Have Your Stuff?

This session marked a major milestone for our team: we earned our own ship—an important moment for any spacefaring crew. The Garnette, a Type-S scout ship, is a classic design within the Traveller setting.

As is often the case, the parts of a session that take the longest to play are the shortest to summarize. We spent a good chunk of time acquiring our individual vacc suits. Gabe purchased a TL-10 Improved Vacc Suit, adding self-sealing material, magnetic grapples, and a helmet light.

The featured image for this session shows our pilot, Zem, pondering over some of the items we discovered aboard the ship once we unlocked it.

326-1102… cont.
We made our way back to Blanca’s, and the boys told her we’d killed it. Whatever it was. All I know is we put enough holes in that street to lose a streetcar in. Blanca said she’d been lookin’ around for Bernadette while we were out huntin’. She checked her comm, and the last ping showed her on the south edge of town.

We set out right away to go look for the lost captain. With all the weirdness goin’ on in this town, there was no tellin’ what shape Bernadette might be in. The location turned out to be a big ol’ refrigerator bulk storage place. It was nice and cool inside—a good break from the heat. Odd thing was, the door was already open when we got there.

We searched the place pretty good. In a back corner, we found a woman’s body. Zem checked and, sure enough, it was Bernadette. Last of the Garnette’s crew—dead as a doornail.

There was a whole mess of casings from her snub pistol scattered around. Whatever got her, she didn’t go down without a fight. The boys said it was that same creature we supposedly killed. Me? I ain’t so sure we ever actually killed anything since we set foot on this rock. But Coop made me promise: if he started shootin’, I’d shoot the same direction. Least I could do.

We got the bodies back to Blanca. Poor lady was heartbroke. Must’ve known Bernadette a long time. She started makin’ funeral arrangements for the whole crew.

While she was busy with that, Zem tried seein’ if he could pull anything useful off Bernadette’s busted comm. He didn’t find much on Sorrel, but he did manage to snag the password to unlock the Garnette.

Blanca held a little ceremony that evenin’. The Jonkeereen came out, and a few townsfolk showed up too. Weren’t much of a service, but Blanca put out some food and it was good to say a proper goodbye to those poor folk.

After we laid ‘em to rest, Blanca let us in on a little secret—turns out, Bernadette wasn’t the real owner of the Garnette. Ship actually belonged to a woman named Mercedes Karamaka. Blanca said Mercedes was retired now, used to be a legendary hunter. Wasn’t interested in kickbacks or nothin’, just loaned the ship out. Blanca figured we might as well operate the ship ’til Mercedes turned back up.

So we went out to take a look at our new ride. The Garnette’s a Type-S scout ship, and she sure shows her age. Coop said she could use a full refit, and I can’t argue. Some of the panels looked older than me and the rest of the crew put together. The turret up top had been swapped out for an antenna array. Inside was clean, though—old, but well kept.

Instead of a ship’s locker, they’d installed a wine cooler. No kiddin’—enough wine in there to drown a whole mess of sorrows. Not exactly practical, but we sure had spirits to celebrate with. And instead of a droid bay, there was a mighty fine galley. Not stocked with much food, but it looked like a nice place to relax. Still, I’d’ve rather had the escape pods and probe droids.

All in all, it ain’t exactly the kinda ship I’m used to, but I ain’t one to complain about a gift—specially one that can get you across the galaxy in comfort.

There were some odd panels along the walls, too. Coop popped one open and found coolant and water tubing that didn’t seem standard. We opened a few more and even found a snub pistol tucked away in one.

Off the bridge was a cluttered little planning room, full of scraps and ancient hunter notes. Real cryptic stuff. The sensors had been upgraded too—military-grade, hardened against EMP. Tough enough to take a punch and keep tickin’.

Zem and Mitch started gatherin’ up the old crew’s personal effects while Coop and I looked over the ship’s maintenance and condition.

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328-1102
Took us a couple days to clean out the ship and get her in shape to fly. We cleared out the clutter. Coop and I spent that time learnin’ the ol’ girl inside and out. She’d been through plenty—laser fire, maybe even a missile hit once. All of it had been patched up or buffed out over the years. Probably been rebuilt stem to stern since she left the yard.

She had character, though. Everything worked… long as you knew where to hit it.

Zem and Coop dug through the logs and found a note hintin’ that Sorrel was in Caledonia, doin’ some kinda work for a group called Fuller Experimental Mining—FEM, for short. They found other strange entries too. Turns out the old crew visited Egypt, Glisten, and District 68 often. But some of those entries showed movement without a jump signature. Kinda odd.

Zem thinks maybe they found a wormhole or some such nonsense. Me? I figure they just hitched rides on bigger ships.

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329-1102
We left Callia in our new ride and headed for Overnale, hopin’ to find some water for the engines. It was a strange feelin’, havin’ our own ship. Or close enough. Nobody tellin’ us where to go or what to do.

Forty-two years old… and I’d never felt that before.

Freedom. Complete freedom.
And lemme tell ya—
That’s a scary thing.

338-1102
We made it to Overnale. I’d been studyin’ some survival techniques, but maybe all that excitement back on Callia rattled my brain—I just wasn’t retainin’ much of anything.

We docked at the starport. No weapons or armor allowed at this place, so we arranged to swap out our vacc suits for ones that actually fit. Cost us a pretty penny, but I like livin’, so I’d call it money well spent.

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340-1102
Picked up some cargo headin’ for Aki. Buyin’ vacc suits ain’t cheap, so we figured we better make some credits on the way.

We did a hot refuel at a gas giant—Zem did his thing and filled up the tanks smooth as silk. I lent a hand with the sensors, of course, but that man’s got magic in his fingers when he’s flyin’ a ship.

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349-1102
We made it to Aki and dropped the cargo. Picked up another nine tons of shipping freight headed for Caledonia.

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353-1102
Tried another hot refuel—this time, it got a little rough. Truth be told, that was on me more than Zem. I just couldn’t see my way through with the sensors to be any real help. Dinged the ol’ girl up a bit that trip.

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362-1102
We made it to Caledonia. Small place. Not real hospitable, either. With those two stars burnin’ half the system to ash, there weren’t much here that was hospitable.

I arranged for the cargo to be offloaded while the rest of the crew went lookin’ for Fuller Experimental Mining—that’s where the logs said Sorrel was workin’.

Didn’t take long to find their office; the port ain’t that big. Receptionist looked up Sorrel and told us she was over on Calefaction, workin’ a mining facility. Problem was, Calefaction’s tucked up real close to the star. Unless you had a shielded ship, knew the right flight path, and had FEM’s permission, you weren’t likely to make it there in one piece.

Sorrel’s note sounded scared—real scared. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the ship to talk things over. Radiation near Calefaction is no joke. Flyin’ in was possible… just not smart.

We decided to stick around and gather some intel on what we were facin’. I went with Coop to see if the mining company was hirin’, and what workin’ for FEM might be like. Turns out, the miners don’t leave Calefaction often. Folks sign on for year-long stints, and the pay’s good enough to make it worth their while.

Mitch and Zem hit the local waterin’ holes. Between us, we pieced together a clearer picture: Sorrel was out at a remote site, not near the main landin’ hub. Calefaction itself is a hellhole. If you get caught on the sunward side, you’re fried in seconds. The main facility’s the only place you can land without bein’ cooked.

Security was light, though. So at least there’s that.

We called it a day, not rightly sure what our next move was. Just knew it sure wasn’t gonna be a walk in the park.