Running Traveller - Part 5: Session 2
A small run-in with the bureaucracy, and other matters
The crew of The Dot Over Yonder have seen enough of the nothing that is the planet of Pixie, and decide to head to Metron which was the original destination of Talas, the previous sole owner of the ship. On the way they stop over at Hunk, a system comprised solely by a disc of asteroids and a nebula and populated by billions of people.
Immediately after disembarking at the primary trading outpost known as Ten Towers, Marvel is slapped with a fine. It seems like previous years of bar fights, small riots, and associations with illegal activity has flagged up enough problems that they are required to pay restitution before departing. Hunk being a civil bureaucracy makes this difficult however, and after taking a decent run at deciphering the mass of paperwork, Marvel determines their fine to be somewhere about 6000cr.
Meanwhile, extralegal entrepreneur Krylon is looking for some trade goods to speculate on. Spotting some very well priced body armor, he purchases three tons of it and has it loaded. By this point Marvel's fine situation is clearer, and together the crew determines the actual fine to be precisely 8111cr. With some forgery, Krylon nudges the paperwork to say 811cr, which Marvel happily pays.
The crew also spots the bounty board here and unfortunately while many of the bounties pay well, they are all quite far. Except for a familiar face: Truk Duggular, who previously had a bounty for a modest 18kcr, is now wanted for 42kcr and dead or alive. This catches the crew's interest, so they pack up and head to Harmony and pursue Truk.
Arriving at Harmony, Krylon sells the body armor for a very plump return. The purchaser of the armor turns out to be a professor about to embark on an expedition for some sociological research down on the planet, a strict and pre-industrial society. The professor, Orgus Day, offers to hire the crew to provide protection for a small renumeration, which they accept.
Referee Notes The bounty generator placed a bounty where Truk already was, and it was higher and dead-or-alive, so it made sense Truk had gotten up to more misdeeds in the weeks since.
Also due to travel, illness, family, and games-being-shipped, the next entry in this series may not happen for a while!