Back at New Holland:

The crew can return the Holy Idol, or they may decide to return it later.

The Notorious are in the news again since they were in space combat. But there is other news that may also interest the crew of the Notorious. A black ship has attacked a moon in the Lebanon System. Parts of an important historical archive have been destroyed. (Now is the time to remind the players that they forgot to wipe the whiteboard at the library.)

The description of the attack and a video sequence reveals that it was the Death Quartet. This is important news at New Holland, since the Death Quartet were responsible for destroying the Church of the Holy Landing Place and stealing the Holy Idol.

Jump calculations:

From the calculations of the Navigator of the Notorious the crew learns that it is most likely that the black ship only has a jump-2 capability. This means that it will take the black ship four weeks to go to Gettysburg. (E.g. Lebanon -> Elizabethtown -> York -> Hanover -> Gettysburg)

The Notorious must reach Gettysburg in three weeks to arrive at approximately the same time. (Since the news from Lebanon is one week old.) This is only possible if they use their long-jumping capability that Jewel Frye installed. Then they can make a 3.46 pc jump. That is a jump-4 on the map, but only in the shortest direction. (E.g. New Holland -> Elizabethtown -> Carlisle -> Gettysburg)

The best route may be to pass through the Lebanon system to find out what the Death Quartet might have learned and to see what has happened to the library and their new friend Robert Warper. If the Death Quartet are on their way to Gettysburg, then the Notorious will have an opportunity to pick up some friends at York that may (or may not) want to help them. Then the route would be; New Holland -> Lebanon -> York -> Gettysburg.

At Lebanon (at the library moon of Annville):

Robert Warper is injured in his legs but otherwise fine. He says that he will recover in 2-3 months. The damage to the library isn’t that bad. No irreplaceable documents have been destroyed.

The Death Quartet found the same information that the crew was looking for. They did this without the help of Robert. (If the whiteboard wasn’t wiped, then let Robert tell the crew how much this helped the Death Quartet.) Robert got the impression that the Death Quartet then would leave for Gettysburg.

Lebanon -> York:

This is the first time that the Jump-3.46 is tried. (If Jewel Frye is part of the crew, she will handle it.) The chief engineer will run the programs that Jewel provided. No cargo is allowed in the cargo hold. Part of the jump field will be within the cargo hold. It is not recommended to enter the cargo hold during this jump.

There are strange sounds in jump space that the crew hasn’t heard before. Sleeping is difficult. On the third day the ship starts to vibrate strangely for one hour. On the fifth day there is a whistling noise for three hours.

If someone in the crew enters the cargo hold or looks at jump space, they will notice that jump space does not look as it usually does. The person looking will get a strange feeling that the jump field is looking back.

The Notorious does not exit jump space on time. Two hours late, the ship exits at the correct spot in the York system.

At York:

At York they meet their old friend Captain Harry Moonblaster. His ship, the Nomen Luni is repaired. He will happily help finding the weapon and trying to get the bounty for the black ship. There are seven other ships from the LFTS at York, but only three with the J-3 capability that is needed to get to Gettysburg in one week. All those three ships, the Iron Caramel, the Moog Five, and the Imaginary Nebula will gladly help. The captains of those ships say that they will not say no to some adventure and an opportunity to help a fellow LFTS crew. The huge bounty on the black ship and the unknown value of the salvage of an old war ship with a legendary weapon also helps.

Nomen Luni Q-Ship QQ-75336G1-400000-80000-0 MCr619.0378 700ton
 batteries                          1      TL=13 Crew=9
 Fuel=252, EP=42, Agility=2, Emergency=3, Cargo=122

Iron Caramel - Aux QY-42323D1-240000-40003-0 MCr270.4198 400ton
 batteries                     1     1   1 TL=13 Crew=8
 Fuel=132, EP=12, Agility=1, Emergency=2, Cargo=84, Rooms=16

Moog Five - Yacht YF-32337E1-200000-30000-0 MCr311.81665 300ton
 batteries                          3      TL=13 Crew=9
 Fuel=111, EP=21, Agility=3, Cargo=17

Img Nebula Liner RF-62323E2-040000-40005-0 MCr388.3797 600ton
 batteries                   1     1   1    TL=13 Crew=9
 Fuel=198, EP=18, Agility=2, Cargo=167, Rooms=26

Starship Notorious QT-52334E2-200000-50003-0 MCr326.2755 500ton
 batteries                           2   1  TL=13 Crew=10
 Fuel=170, EP=20, Agility=1, Emergency=3, Cargo=92

At Gettysburg:

The simulations of the dense and chaotic asteroid field in the Gettysburg system marked one part of the asteroid field as 80 % likely to be the right location. In this location there are five larger asteroids. The largest of these asteroids is called Slomp.When the LFTS ship gets closer to Slomp, they are met by the black ship and three pirate ships. The pirate ships are, the Love Jumper, the Carnival, and the Brother Louie. (Bounty 3 MCr, 1.5 MCr and 1.2 MCr respectively.)

Love Jumper - Merchant MG-42222C1-040000-40004-0 MCr197.4132 400ton
 batteries                         1     1   1 TL=13 Crew=8
 Fuel=88, EP=8, Agility=1, Emergency=2, Cargo=168, Rooms=16

Carnival - Merchant MG-42222C1-040000-40004-0 MCr197.4132 400ton
 batteries                      1     1   1 TL=13 Crew=8
 Fuel=88, EP=8, Agility=1, Emergency=2, Cargo=168, Rooms=16

Br. Louie Q-Ship QT-64335E2-840000-40004-0 MCr563.8815 600ton
 batteries                   1     3   1    TL=13 Crew=12
 Fuel=210, EP=30, Agility=3, Cargo=16, Rooms=20

Black X-Ship XX-2125BG1-C00000-06000-0 MCr277.2063 200ton
 batteries                      1      TL=15 Crew=6
 Fuel=62, EP=22, Agility=3, Cargo=6, Emergency=5

The black ship stays in the background. The first battle will be against the three pirate ships. (Resolve the battle with a rule set that the referee is comfortable with.) After a while, the three pirate ships will be disabled or destroyed. The LFTS fleet will be lightly damaged.

Final Battle:

The LFTS fleet is slightly damaged. Can all five ships still participate? Only the black ship is left. But what a ship this is. The bounty of the black ship is now MCr 30.It will be almost impossible for the LFTS ship to disable or destroy the black ship. The black ship on the other hand is slowly destroying the LFTS ships. Another tactic is urgently needed.

The nice ending:

The LFTS ships coördinate their fire at some spots of the black ship that looks weaker. This will eventually lead to a critical hit and the black ship explodes.

Then the Notorious and any other still working LFTS ship can go looking for the graviton ship that they eventually find in a canyon on Slomp.

The epic ending:

If the crew of the Notorious kept the Holy Icon, then they can go looking for the graviton ship during the final battle. They find it in a canyon on Slomp and explore it. The ship is in good shape. They can try to power it up. It works. There is still fuel in the tanks and the power plant is not broken. But maneuver drive is broken, and the ship cannot move.

The crew of the Notorious sees dead crew members. They notice that the graviton weapon seems to be intact. At the bottom of the gun it looks like one piece is missing. It is about the size of the Holy Icon. Powering up the gun will result in error messages. In the log, some of the 150-year-old error messages can be read.

Error: Ejecting the alien core. Critical level reached.

If the crew try to insert the Holy Icon, a new message appears.

Note: Core replaced. Graviton-gun online.

The remaining LFTS ship the lures the black ship into the sight of the graviton gun. The gun fires and the black ship is blown to pieces.

After the battle:

The LFTS ships help each other back to the starport where they can get some basic repairs. At the scout base they can get better repairs or be helped to a system that can repair the damage.

The bounty of MCr 35.7 for the black ship and the pirate ships can be claimed at the star port. It is divided between the LFTS ships. The salvage rights for the graviton ship is registered at the starport. It cannot yet be determined what is it worth.

END of SEASON – 2

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