Heist the Colours (OOC)

Lio will get his medi-stuff and computer from his home.
Make an errant to his 'cool drugs' go to person to get anti-rad, stims,... (I'll make a list)
Call the depot contact (concierge maybe) to tell them they are in luck and his work party will start tomorrow. He makes sure they send the right documents. If you like me to call in game, no problem. If a roll is needed, I'll roll before the call and adjust the narrative. Of course there is a chance we're not getting in that way.

If there is time left he will try to rest until the evening.

I don't mind, I am just not sure why we are doing what we are doing, especially if we are not engaging with the roleplay. But that is up to you guys.

We are now pretty stuck with (in-game) tomorrow ('morning' --at least--) so I will give a few hours for everyone else to do anything, then maybe Ronny will be woken with a (optional) shopping list of things that Abby needs for her job.

I don't think that is needed? Unless you want to do anything special.
Depending on everything else that is happening at the moment you get there, we can see if a roll is/was needed.
We won't know what you need to roll till we establish the fiction of what you are doing, so let's leave this till we know the situation.
There will be plenty of time. Remember that you are going to different planet where the Depot is. So you will also have time to call/email while you are travelling. Time to rest and prepare, too.

See page 163 for a list of common Travel Times and Distances. We can say this is a 'nearby gas giant' so something between a Far Neighbor World of a Close Gas Giant? Depending on how many Gs you are wanting to take it will take somewhere between 'a few days' and 'nearly a week' of space travel to get there. Space is big.

It might also take a few hours to get to the spaceport, and an hour or so to get off-planet. 'Bob' --your pilot-- is a bit of a hot-rod, if he is driving you to the spaceport you can turn that 'nearly 3 hours' into 'less than 1 hour' if you are willing to risk drawing police attention, but that only matter if you are in a hurry to get off the planet, which does not seem like the case (as of yet) so we can ignore these details.

Oh man... On a different planet.

How did I miss such an important piece of the story. 😩

(No sarcasm, really didn't know)

In that case it is best of we go asap, travel slowly, get there in time.
Regroup at the pickup point?
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I just reread your post and there might be some important words missing.
Is the depot on a different planet? Or is there a ''than'' missing in the redt and are we fleeing to a different planet. (That I did know)

I will take the blame for that, I sorta expected us to do more/some planing and talking sooner in the process, and the rules for space travel and time and specific details that I did not want to overload you all with till they were relevant would have come up while working out how to get there.
A bit contradictory there? Given that it will take days --at least-- rushing now to save a few hours might not be wise.

Getting off the planet --were the civil war is happening-- may be more time sensitive, but the group seems to have decided to wait for tomorrow, so we will make that work.
I would like to get the PCs together as soon as possible, so we can work together. No one seems to be too motivated to do much RP on their own. Ronny might have a reason to bring us together in the story, and we can go from there.
No, no 'than'.
You are needing to get out out of the System, or even out of the 'kingdom' that rules this System. That is why you are taking a Jump capable Ship. After you take the ship you are not going to be too welcome by anyone who might recognise it.

The Ship is not on this planet.
Not 'on', no.

The Depot is full of (again, even if small) skyscraper sized ships, ships that don't enter atmosphere. It is a massive area of space near a gas giant planet (for fuel). I don't know (though your characters would know) if the Depot is shaped like rings around the planet, or if the ships are clumped together (or some other shape that is less practical).

It is a place for storing ships that are not currently in use (mothballed) but that have not been decommissioned yet.

---

I hope that is clearer. Are there any questions?

Got it. Really missed the part that the depot is not a location on the ground.
It all makes sense now 😁.

Assumptions all round. :)

I like the vacuum idea better. Especially for stealthy or rapid "departure":)
Yes, Raf's Antique Rifle is already on the Gig in the box labeled "Defibrillators" :D
That was reference to my personal believes IRL - as sometimes all is needed is good question at the right moment and listening long enough...

But could it be working here too.... ? ;-)
To be honest: I thought all this time that the Depot is at the orbit of the current planet, and it is more like a bigger, military space station... So Bob will bring us from the planet surface to the Depot/Station... so few hours max... but that only shows how different imagination we all have:) What is very good sign.

Of course I'm ok with how it is established right now - instead:) Let's get moving then:)

That could also fit with the facts, but it would mean you need to travel a long distance to get to the 'nearby gas giant' mentioned in the first RP post. You are clearly not on a gas giant planet (I, of course, did not know that during that first post:), so their fuel source is another planet.

If we want to change the timing on getting there, we can have the Depot be around Ruby, though then that asks the question: why is it not orbiting the gas giant fuel source? I don't know that we have time to explore that question now, but we might come back to it.

A less illogical option might be that this ship is not currently in the Depot, that some have been parked nearby for some reason, but that 'reason' will complicate your mission, possibly more than you want.

I can come up with ways to make any option work if you guys need me to.

Again, I apologise for letting this slide. I really should have reinforced it as soon as we established that we were on a planet that was not a gas giant.

We have this other option you mentioned in first RP post:
" The Depot has fuel."

So to connect all the things - I think - were said so far, my idea is this:
- the Depot is not on the planet orbit, but at one of its moons. Still taking a bigger area in space of groped together ships,
- mothballed ships are grouped in 4s and docked to "emergency fuel tank and moving ships - orbital module" that have some fuel prepared in the case of activating one or more mothballed ships,
- so we will get some fuel from it, but will it be enough to leave the system and make a jump? Or we will indeed need to go for the fuel distribution station near the gas giant? Or at its surface? I don't know:) Having Bob's Gig at this scenerio could be quite useful(maybe) as it has it's own fuel scoops...
- so the journey from the planet to the depot will be longer then to the orbit... but not so long as to go for the gas giant itself...
- or the moon could have some fuel capabilities itself?

Just my ideas that came to mind. But I'm equally good with your option Vague: Depot is at the Gas Giant.

Indeed. There is enough fuel by (near? in?) each ship to allow it to power up and to get to the main fuel source.
No, you need 20 Tons of fuel to Jump (page 157).
Yes, he can fuel himself up with them, but he only has 1 Ton Fuel Tanks, and his entire Craft can fit in your 21 Ton tanks, so his Scoops can not fuel your ship, you will need to take your ship to the fuel.
Those were the options presented in the initial brief. They also are the only really viable options given the rules.

Going to the gas giant will take time to get there. This is time after you have powered up the ship and started moving it, which may alert the authorities, so being near the gas giant is a benefit (time before you power up should not draw the same sort of attention).

Or, you can go to the fuel distribution station, but official fuel costs money and they expect to be paid. You could try to forge the paperwork to get that fuel put on someone's bill if you don't want to pay the Cr11,000 for refined fuel.

If you go to the fuel station or the gas giant it will take 1d Hours (page 156, 157) to fuel up once you start. People will start asking questions about what the ship is doing. That time can be spend in the Depot, or on the far side of the planet. The choice is yours.

The Depot has refined fuel, else you get unrefined fuel which adds a DM-2 to Jump Checks.

Once you have fuel you still really need to get to a 'Jump Point' (page 157), and that can take days as well (space is big). But you might not have the option of just travelling there, you might need to engage in a chase of some sort, or some hide and seek, or something to get away, it all depends on how well things go in the earlier parts of the heist. Or you can try to jump from close to the planet and take a DM-4 to the roll, though I would save that option for if you have to, but it is up to you if that is your first plan.
Not an easy option by the book. And it does not make sense to me for a Depot to try store fuel on a moon when they have a gas giant. Gas giants are the standard way everyone gets fuel. It is assumed most systems have gas giants --even if they have nothing else-- but we can retcon that out of the first post if you guys want to not have one. If the systems has a gas giant, there would have to be very good reasons for them not use it as their Depot.

Understood. He know that too.
Sure. No problem. Everyone feel free to bring it into your part of the story if it seems relevant or interesting.
The first that came to mind was Broker:

page66 says:

The Broker skill allows a Traveller to negotiate trades and arrange fair deals. It is heavily used when trading (see the Trade chapter).
* Negotiating a Deal: Average (8+) Broker check (1D hours, INT).
* Finding a Buyer: Average (8+) Broker check (1D hours, SOC).

But Persuade also covers 'haggling':

page70 says:

Persuade is a more casual, informal version of Diplomat. It covers fast talking, bargaining, wheedling and bluffing. It also covers bribery or intimidation.
* Bluffing Your Way Past a Guard: Opposed Persuade check (1D minutes, INT or SOC).
* Haggling in a Bazaar: Opposed Persuade check (1D minutes, INT or SOC).
* Intimidating a Thug: Opposed Persuade check (1D minutes, STR or SOC).
* Asking the Alien Space Princess to Marry You: Formidable (14+) Persuade check (1D x 10 minutes, SOC).

Since he is a friend that you are trying to persuade to 'be nice', rather than a pure business contact you are negotiating with, and given that it does not seem as long a full 'Negotiating a Deal (1D hours)', Persuade probably makes more sense.

Roll Persuade and INT.
Given that he is your friend, and that you are only talking him out of Cr500, and the other details, I would say it is an easier roll than Average. At least 'Routine (6+)', and I will accept arguments for 'Easy 4+'. Unless you massively mess up the roll, we will use the Effect to reduce the cost, even on a 'miss'.
If, after taking the Effect into account, you are still unhappy, you may be able to try another tack.
I find it best to narrate up until the point where things could go wrong, then roll, and then pick up in a new post after the outcome is known. So... exactly like you did here.
As you said, this already happened 'at the time negotiation took place'. So presumably it worked out and you came to an agreement (accepting the dice).

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The whole team can work out who chips in what for what costs. You each have a fair bit of money. As with the fuel costs (you guys could pay it 10 times over), so long as you don't completely run out money, you don't need to worry about it too much. Abby is paying more for the specialised Software than you would for fuel, and she is not complaining. :)

@WhtKnt I did not post anything for Cat RP thread since you implied she was ready and there was nothing for her to do before things kick off. You are welcome to show us some of Cat's day, if you want.

Cat's day would be spent laying low and ensuring her stuff gets loaded on board.

If your stuff is larger than could reasonably fit in the car to the launchpad, with, at least, four other people, it might need to be delivered to the spaceport to be loaded onto Bob's Gig in the meantime. Raf has already done so with his valuables, you could have done the same. BunBun has not, so all her stuff still needs to be collected.

Cat's sheet is a bit sparse, so (unless you are bringing your Enemy with you) your stuff should not take up noticeable space. :)

By that I meant that this "emergency fuel tank orbital module" could have enough fuel for 4 ships... so by doing some overwriting in it... probably we could move all the fuel to our ship... and it might be just enough to have it enough for a jump. But let's leave it for now.

For the rest that you have written: I agree, probably the best position for Wilsons will be at the gas giant's orbit.

The fuel station is always an option. And I and Raf would prefer refined fuel for such important jump:)

But: we will have some fuel from "orbital module" - or wherever the ship will be initially docked. So we can take the rest from the giant gas itself - to stay low profile for as long as we can - and using onboard "Fuel Processors (20 tons/day)" we could process the amount we will be lacking. As it will be much less than 20 tones needed it will not take the whole day, will it?

That's sounds like a plan Raf could have for this:D

What others think? Do PC have estimations how much fuel could be available already on or near the ship - at the moment we will be activating it?

I also think it was the best choice in the situation:)
Routine felt just right for me.

Roll made: 7. Effect 1 - Average Success:)
She is a real team player I can see... ;)

Sure.

But I can offer a promise that a misjump won't end the game. It might put you in a completely new region of space, but that is an adventure in itself. I would prefer not to do that, as it invalidates your contacts and local knowledge till you can find a way back (or something), but that is the worst outcome I can see.
Indeed. There is some fuel near the ship, meant to get it powered up and to the rest of the fuel. There is fuel for more than just your ship, so you may be able to trick the system to give you the 'standby fuel' for other ships as well. If you sneak around and suckle at all the teats you might even be able to completely fill your ship before you power it up and make a run for it. This will still take time, but would be time before the 'unexpected powerup'. There are all sorts of options, each with their own risks.

- Buy fuel from the Depot. (very low risk)
- Trick the Depot into giving you fuel for free. (risk)
- Steal fuel from the Depot main tanks. (risk)
- 'Siphon' fuel from the other ships. (low risk, takes more time)
- Scoop fuel from the gas giant. (risk, takes time, extra time to refine)
- ??? (???:)
Yes, if you can get most/some of your fuel from a refined source you will need less time refining the fuel you scoop up. If most of your fuel is refined the Jump DM will be less (DM-1 if only half your fuel is unrefined?). We will calculate the DM when the time comes and you can make a decision if you want to keep refining or risk it. Remember, you can take your time on the Check to offset this negative, or the negative from being too close to a gravity well.
As you suggested, maybe four ships per module? With a weeks worth of fuel to get each working and to the gas giant? So 1 Ton at your 'orbital module' of which you are supposed to take a quarter? It should be easy enough to take the whole 1 Ton without raising any immediate alarms. If you want to ferry fuel from other modules you will either need to convince Bob to do it, or get a Craft of your own, or take your ship to neighbouring modules (which will definitely raise all sorts of alarms).

I probably should have read that before posting. I can change my post if need be. But it seems logical that you don't want to be caught hanging out together with your heist crew hours before it's happening.
I think Ronny would think of these 'risks' because of his spy experience.