Chapter 1: Little Girl Lost

Your group has been together for about three months, having come together quite by chance, answering an ad for a crew to make a simple mail delivery. With this mundane assignment complete, you are in the starport of the planet Fureden in the Rudradase subsector, looking to drum up some business, perhaps a few passengers, or maybe a cargo run. You are about to retire to your berths for the night when Sylvia hears a sniffle. Turning, she sees a small human girl, about 10 years old, with reddish-blonde hair and red-rimmed ash-grey eyes. She has obviously been crying and even now seems on the verge of tears.

Sylvia raises her goggles over her head and kneels down so that she can talk to Rayshel face to face. She takes the badge in her hand and scrutinizes it. "You're a little young to be traveling all alone, don't you think?" She cocks her head to one side. "How about you run away with us? You can be a part of our space pirate crew."

Rayshel produces a holograph of her mother, an attractive blond woman of about 40 years of age. You quickly locate an Amanda Petersen whose image on file matches that of the holograph. Her address is down port, about 36 klicks from your position.

There is a number, but calling it elicits no results. There are no apparent news mentions of a lost girl, or of Michael or Amanda Petersen.

"Anyone want to split a cab?" Sylvia makes her way to the starport entrance and sticks out her thumb, trying to flag down a cab driver.

"How about we first talk to the guards if they have seen either the child or the mother and notify the starport personnel?", Aleksis states when the near the starport entrance, and with a shrug he adds, "Even if only to cover our behinds to prevent kidnapping charges later on."

With that said he looks around for the nearest security office and moves towards it.

"Say fellows", the former diplomat says as he nears a security office or group of guards, "Have seen this woman enter the starport?"

The security office is easily located. Security wants to take care of the child, but Rayshel refuses, breaking into tears when they try to separate her from you. Frustrated, they relent, releasing her into your care with the intent of seeing her returned home.

You summon a taxi from the starport to Rayshel's home. It is getting dark as you arrive. The home is surrounded by yellow crime scene tape and there are two armed officers standing guard out front.

Sylvia stops at the sight of the armed guards. She looks around to see if she can spot a side door or entrance.

"This is an active crime scene," the guard replies. "All I can tell you is that the homeowner has been killed."

The officer checks a datapad. "Yes, the individual has been identified as Amanda Petersen. Is this the daughter? Are you family?"

I make an investigation check to see if these are real police officers.

"No idea where the husband is; apparently they were estranged."

We don't know if the kid may be a target and you know the cops will just put her in the system and forget her.

Carlos looks at the girl, does she seem to get what happened here?

The girl does seem to understand what is going on as she is starting to tear up again.

"Daddy is on Gadolinia. He put me on the transport and said that Mommy would be waiting for me."

"Mommy's dead, isn't she?" she says in a very no-nonsense tone. Despite her tone, she is barely holding back tears.

The guard looks Carlos over. "Well, I'm not supposed to let anyone in, but... you're right. She's going to have a tough go at it. Go on in."

Carlos enters the home to find that the place has been ransacked. A pool of dried blood lies inside the foyer, with bloodied footsteps leading into the main living area. The main room is completely demolished; even the cushions have been cut open. The bedrooms are in similar disrepair, but you do manage to find a small doll, a stuffed alien of some kind.

The doll seems empty.

The return to the ship is uneventful.

As Anton takes Rayshel on a tour of the bridge, the others set out to find passengers and cargo.

Anyone trying to find passengers should roll against Carouse, Streetwise, or Broker. Roll three times (2d6), one each for middle, high, and low passengers. Add a DM of +1 for high passengers, +5 for middle passengers, and +6 for low passengers. Be sure to add your skill level in whichever of the three skills you wish to use.

Those of you looking for cargo, make a Broker or Streetwise check (remember that a skill can be rolled against at -3 if not possessed) twice; once for major cargo (a DM of +0) and once for incidental cargo (a DM of +2).

Finally, you can try to get a mail run. To try for the mail run, roll 2d6 and add a DM of +5. If the result is a 12 or higher, you can get a mail run.

You find (taking the best of the two sets of each roll) 12 high passage passengers, 17 middle passage passengers, and 17 low-berth passengers.

You manage to find 18 lots of major cargo, 15 lots of minor, and 21 lots of incidental cargo. I'll calculate the tonnage when you decide what you want to take and how much.

No mail for delivery this run.

Sylvia heads onto the ship as well. She hops into the pilot's seat.

"Sounds like we have a full ship", Alister replies via his communicator with satisfaction, "See you back at the ship"

The former diplomat set on his way to return to the ship.

It will take until the morning to load the ship and for most of your passengers to be ready, so everyone should settle in for the night. If there is nothing else that needs to be taken care of, we'll move on.

As you settle in for the night, all is quiet. Then, about 2 AM, you are rudely awakened by a voice from outside the ship. "We know that you have the child! Send her out alone and unarmed!" A look out the viewport reveals a gang of six people (four are human, two are vargr) armed with slug throwers, led by a black-haired woman who is doing the talking.

Sylvia takes one look out the view port. She narrows her eyes at the figures, tapping a finger on the glass. "Let's turn the ship's weapons on them." She crosses her arms. "This thing does have weapons?"

Sophia makes the call and within moments, the port authorities are on the scene. There is a tense moment when the authorities ask for licenses for their weapons, but they produce the appropriate documents and are sent on their way with an admonishment not to threaten law-abiding citizens. The group quickly disperses into the night. Rayshel seems to have slept through the affair. There are no further interruptions.

In the morning, the remainder of your cargo is loaded and your passengers arrive. The ten non-frozen passengers are:
1) Xinyi Jiang and her 5-year old son Peng. They are traveling as far as Antelles for pleasure. She is pleasant, while her son is very shy.
2) Tirto Cahya Hardja, businessman heading for Gadlolinia. He is gruff, but polite.
3) Gayge Aevum, young man out to see the universe and going to Antelles. He is very talkative.
4) Jahlea Harper, expectant mother heading for Gadlolina. First-time off-world.
5) Dariox Gabrelyan, serious-looking individual heading to Quiri. Keeps to himself and is very quiet.
6) Alezand Umarov, xenoscientist going to Gadlolina. He is polite and respectful.
7) Zimeon Schönberger, annoying nobleman going to Quiri. Complains constantly.
8) Briya Speropoulos, holovid star traveling to Antelles. She is (unsuccessfully) trying to stay out of the limelight.
9) Jezper McDonald, young man heading for Quiri. He seems very nervous and jumpy.
10) Lorlea Orszekhie, very attractive young woman. She seems to be at ease.

Carlos carefully studies the passengers as they board...

...but none of them set off any mental alarms.

The journey begins. While the ship is proceeding to the 100-diameter distance, I'll need someone to do the Astrogation for the jump (with a -1 DM for jump distance). This is an Easy (4+) check that takes 1d6 x 10 minutes (EDU applies). If it fails, you will have to run the calculations again, with the same modifiers and the same amount of time required.

Sophia makes the necessary calculations and the ship prepares for jump. In the finest tradition, the lights are dimmed (known as jump-dimming*) and the ship slides into jump space. For the next week, you are all alone.

It is customary for the ship’s captain to contribute Cr10 from every low passage towards a lottery in which each low passenger randomly guesses how many will survive the trip. If the winner is among the dead, the captain collects the prize. The lottery is administered by a ship’s steward. You have 20 low-passengers, so the pot would be Cr200.

During the trip, several of your passengers are quite active, moving about the passenger area and spending as much time as possible out of their rooms. On the 3rd day, Dariox Gabrelyan approaches Aleksis. "What can you tell me about Jezper McDonald? He's on your passenger manifest."

*Jump-dimming is a tradition that goes back to the early days of FTL travel. Jump drives use a lot of power and in the early days, it was necessary to shut down all non-essential systems before making the jump. Though it is no longer necessary in most cases, ships pay homage to that era by dimming their lights as they go into jump space.

When no answer seems to be forthcoming from Aleksis, the man moves on. For the next few hours, you notice him skulking about in the passenger area, keeping largely to himself.

Sylvia is spending her time watching old space telenovelas and channel surfing. She has no idea about the passengers.

The man scowls at Carlos. "What do you know about the passenger named Jezper McDonald?" he asks bluntly.

"My name is Gabrelyan. I'm a skip tracer. That man owes a significant debt and is trying to escape without paying it. I tracked him to your ship and found out that he booked passage to Quiri. I'm concerned that he may be dangerous, particularly if cornered."

"Hmm. That might work. We'll try it. Thank you for your cooperation." He goes about his business. It is only a short time before Carlos is approached by the man's target.

"I saw you speaking to that man. I'm guessing he told you that I'm wanted."

"He's a bounty hunter and he's pursuing me for a crime that I didn't commit. I know, they all say they're innocent, but I really am. I was framed for murder. I'm trying to prove my innocence, which is why I'm traveling to Quiri."

"I'll let you know if anything comes to mind," the man says, returning to his cabin. Another day passes with no issues. Zimeon Schönberger is running Aleksis ragged with his constant demands for attention. The nobleman is extremely annoying. But on day five, he doesn't come out of his cabin or make any demands. In fact, he isn't heard from at all.

A knock on the cabin door brings no response and the door is locked.