Introduction

I don't like to  say this but I felt this weeks session didn't go well, and that people have lost interest. If you want to play something else just say so. 

I know that some of you have IRL issues currently that may be distracting, and that this weeks session was something of an 'in-between" session, mostly to get around the hand waving that goes on in the series at this particular juncture but also to introduce a resource that doesn't exist in the series.

If you hadn't worked it out, the asteroid station where you ended up is the equivalent of a 'Darkweb Node', an Underworld Hub, hence it being highly guarded and them being secretive as to where it is. Note also that the Asteroid belt is live, they mine it, and travel through it, and all of these actions, including FTL transits in and out, serve to alter the trajectories and paths of  the asteroids, which make collisions between asteroids reasonably common, several per year, all of which serve to help protect the hub. If you don't have 'up-to-date' Nav data you could find yourself exiting FTL directly in the path of a 5km, 10km, or larger diameter rock, with disasterous consequences. Even fast moving rocks of a a few cm in diameter can cause significant damage, even with decent shields. Then of course there is the Cruiser  (any anything else lurking out in the belt). It may not be sleak and shiny like the Mekei, Ashieda, GA, and Volkov-Russi cruisers you've encountered, but just because it's very 'rustic' looking doesn't mean its not highly functional, and if it doesn't need an FTL drive because it doesn't go anywhere, then that's more space and power available for other things.

I also need to add some notes in relation to Transfer Transit and the Transit pods, and whilst I could add [GM Note] sections later in regard to these it's probably more logical to do it here. Transfer Transit's Network is highly secure and all of the data in the network is highly encrypted, after all you don't want just any body being able to alter or disrupt the transmission of neural images through the network. Each Pod has a unique identifier code that the network validates, allowing the pods to autoconnet to the network. Faking a pod ID is almost impossible and the network will autorefuse a connection from a duplicate or unknown pod ID. Pods also have 'public', "Restricted' and  'Private' modes. All of the Pods in the Transfer Transit network in Transfer Transit facilities are 'Public', that is any other Pod can send a Neural image to that pod to produce a 'Clone', assuming that the Pod is not in use ie doesn't have a person in the pod. Pods that are Restricted will only accept transmissions from Pods in the same Subnet, such as the GA subnet, whilst Pods that are Private can only 'Send' to other pods, typically a Public one. However, should you have the appropriate skills and knowledge then it's possible to disable the security protocols on a 'Private' pod meaning that it will accept connections from other Pods provided those pods make a 'direct' connection request and not a request by a Network Router (the Routers know what the designation of a given Pod's unique address is, so if you wanted to connect across the network to a private Pod, you would have to hack and change the Pod data in all intervening Routers. Pod's can only make 'direct' connections to one another if they are within approximately 5000Km although that depends on local EM specturm conditions. The more 'disruptive' the conditions the shorter the connection distance.

Now given that the pods will automatically connect to the Transfer Transit network, then if you're at a Station which has a Transfer Transit facility, the pods you are now in possession of will automatically connect. With the appropriate Engineering and Computer Acumen it is possible to connect an external terminal to a pod, which when a pod connects to the network gives you restricted access to the network. However, since you're connected to the network, if you happen to have the right skills, hadrware, and software, it should be possible to gain greater access to the network and its facilities, potentially to make deterministic data searches, based on network connection logs. Exactly how all this fits into the scenario you will have to wait till the next session to find out.

I did mention two other things in the session but I need to add a couple more in relation to the Transfer Transit 'Clones'

1) This is a Five mission although she may need an escort given she's going to be going into Alisha Reynards HQ - Why? Because if Reynard knows about the Key, then any data relating to said key and what it does is likely to be on her servers, which means an appropriately skilled person is going to need to break into the servers, and it's significantly easier to do from Inside the Security Firewalls than from outside

2) The Transfer Transit pods are designed for Human, ie Organic, Transit. Whilst Two may be 'Organic' she is kept alive by her Nanites. No Nanites No Two, so Two won't be able to go on the mission. Along the same lines it's not possible to take weapons, thus any form of body guard would need to be self-reliant.

3) Since the Clones are built from the DNA image of the source, clothing is not transmitted, thus the built clone is naked on awakening. When using the Transfer Transit facilities it is usual to order a set of clothes to be placed adjacent to the arrival pod, such that the Clone can cloth themselves.

4) In the TV Series when a Clone 'dies' ie is shot or wounded in a fatal location (chest or head) then within a couple of minutes the 'Clone' crumples to dust. The implication of this is that they are not any form of true 'organic' clone but most likely some form of 3D printed structure, possibly built from some form of Carbon and/or Carbon/Silicon Nanites. This would partially explain the 3day time limit, although I suspect this has more to do with the degradation and preservation of the originating body than anything else. That said if the clones are constructed from some form of carbon/silicon nanites then they may only hold a limited 'charge' which when it runs out results in the expiry of the clone. Note the Clones can be stunned and rendered unconscious without the consciousness returning to the originating Pod. A full return preserving memories of what occurred post transfer to the Clone can only be accomplished using a Pod. The premature death of a clone results in the orginating body awakening almost immediately with no memory of what transpired following the transfer to the Clone. This also implies that there is some form of connection between the creating pod and the created clone.

The Shawshank Redemption?

We pick up at the Itroit-11 station, a very necesary stop as the Razza is out of all food except for the hydroponic production and the 'food cubes' - they will keep you alive but beyond that they are not at all appealing. The decision is also made to refil the Water tanks and buy fuel (see below your bank account is dry after buying the maximum amount of fuel you could).

The next order of priority is to fence the shadow, and Varrick aka Griffen Jones, knows where a major dealer who would likely buy the shadow is located [GM note: there are two factors to this 1) his identity as Griffen Jones, wanted by the GA for the Hyadum-12 bombing which killed 15,000 people, and 2) The fact he's ex-GA. He also knows that the GA pretty much turn a blind eye to the trade in Shadow as it serves to placate the population and keep them 'happy'].

Resupplied the Razza makes the jump to Udront in the Albari sector in search of the dealer. Enquiries in Udront take them to Quens where a deal is made to trade the Shadow for cash, although Boone makes a complete hash of the negotiation, resulting in a sale price below market norms. They jump to Neukot to make the exchange.

Next on the list is getting hold of their weasily fixer, Talbor Calcheck. From information discovered when they were on Tahines-2 (see session log 30) they knew that Talbor was in the Predon Sector most likely in Yaph. Further information gained since suggested Yaph-11 as the most likely location. Jumping to Yaph-11 is doesn't take Emily long to confirm that Talbor is indeed resident here, on on of the more exclusive levels of the station.

Docking yet again under false authentication, Portia and Ryo make their way to Talbor's residence. As they approach the entrance, they can hear raised voices coming from inside, the door is partially open. Entering the hallway, they can now make out Talbor and somebody else arguing from one of the interior rooms. It appears that Talbor is trying to explain that the reason this peron hasn't been paid is just down to a 'clerical error' and that if he's given a chance he can 'sort it all out' and get them their money. It would appear that the other party isn't at all happy with the situation and is likely to find a more favourable outcome, by extracting it from Talbor's hide.

Portia enters followed after a short delay by Ryo. Portia finds a 'giant', a 7'+ somewhat skinny hulk has Talbor by the neck and has hoisted him off his feet and pinned him against the wall. Portia tells him to let Talbor go. The lump tells her to 'Piss off'. Portia tells him he may want to think again. As he catches sight of Ryo, his brain whirs, he puts two and two together and drops Talbor, high tailing it out of the door.

As Talbor recovers he says "Hey Portia, what a pleasent surprise, what brings you to these parts?". [GM note.. okay brain failure.. I can't remember Portia's response..] After a certain amount of one sided conversation and Ryo grabbing hold of Talbor, which is more than sufficient for him to agree to accomany them, they head back to the Razza and depart the station.

Once on board the Razza it's time to get some information from Talbor. [GM note whilst Matt mentioned the Far Horrizon job and the White hole device, which he had nothing to do with, Mikei approached you directly, nobody actually mentioned the Dwarf Star setup, so you failed to learn something specific in that regard!]. When they mention "Aleshia Reynard" Talbors response is "Corporate Elite, Business Magnate, Venture Capitalist, Ruthless Criminal, Bad News, stay away from her."

Portia asks him how they get to her. Talbor responds with "You don't. Her HQ is a fortress. She never leaves, She only ever travels by clone!"

At this point I was forced to do a little explaining, as nobody remembered the Transfer Transit episode from earlier in the Game, and how people use it to travel places without ever leaving where they are. Re-read the introduction for more information. The basic upshot of this is that in theory if she gets out by Clone, then it should be possible to get in the same way.

Talbor notes that "not just anybody can get hold of a Pod, Transfer Transit are circumspect in their dealings." However when pushed he admits he knows somebody that might be able to supply legitimate pods.

At Talbor's suggestion they head to the Oshalt system, and dock at the station at Oshalt-2. This station permits the carrying of Side Arms and small weapons, although the consequences of damage to the station and 'unprovoked' attacks appear to be severe. Talbor, accompanied by Portia, Boone, and Ryo,  heads for the 'Infinite Drop' bar on one of the upper levels. People look around when they enter but nobody actually does anything untoward. Talbor approaches the bar and orders drinks. Boone asks for a milk. The bar tender asks him if he's serious. When he says 'milk' again the bar tender just looks at him. Its one of those "you think you're being funny or clever looks' but he's probably heard it a  thousand times before. Talbor also says tha Mr Shawshank would like to see Mr Halsey. Talbor hands people their drinks, including Boone his milk, which hasn't been within several light years of a cow, and moves to a table, suggesting people take their seats.

After about 10 minutes a waitress comes over and asks them to follow her. She heads towards the office at the back of the bar, opens the door and suggests they go in. As they enter the manager gets up from behind his desk and greets Calcheck. He asks him what he wants. Calcheck says that his compatriats need to purchase some equipment. The manager asks Calcheck if he knows where to go. Calcheck says he does. They head out of the bar and down several levels to a more service orientated area, one dominated by smaller company office suites. Calcheck heads for and enters the offices of "The Minature Pincher Trading Co".

The reception area is dominated by a half round reception desk behind which stands a reasonably attractive receptionist with a 'bar code' tattoo on her neck. They correct surmize she is an Android. Talbor again says Mr Shawshank to see Mr Halsey. The android check her console screen, then gestures to the door to her left "Please go in you're expected."

They enter the room, another functional office suite. Two armed guards stand on the far side of the room. Another execuative/admin type gets up from behind his desk and greets Talbor. He then asks him a series of questions "Battleship? Nickname? Designation?" Talbor responds with New Jersey, Black Dragon, BB-62. The exec seems satisfied with Talbor's answers. He moves to the back wall of the office and places his hand against one of the panels causing it to drop slightly inward and then slide sideways. Beyond is a small room which leads to an elevator. The exec gestures to the elevator "Mr Halsey is waiting for you."

The elevator descends 3 levels before opening into a larger office area. Off to one side standing by a large bar is another exec, although he appears to be much older and more rugged than the previous 'office type'. "Talbor nice to see you again. Now what brings you and the Razza to my door" Its obvious he recognises Portia, Boone, and Ryo.

Talbor says "my compatriots are in the market for some Transfer Transit pods". Halsey says "They're difficult to come by." Talbor asks if he has any. His response suggests he does. Portia asks "How much?" Halsey responds with 650 thousand each.  Talbor suggests that they are in need of at least 3. Halsey looks at him, then says "As it happens I do have 3 pods." Talbor asks how much for all 3. Halsey says "As its you I can let you have all 3 for 1.5 million". Talbor says "done".

Halsey then asks if there is anything else. Now I was expecting people to enquire about other things at this point but nobody did. It even took a prompt for Hannah to ask about the potential for future business. Halsey responds by saying "As its you Miss Lin then should you want to come calling use the name Miss Romanov, with the ship being the IronHawk, its designation Stange Tales, and its issue 135 " [GM note obviously no Marvel Geeks amongst you.]

Halsey then says "If there's nothing else, I'll send you the Nav data and Authentification code by data burst when you undock. The code is valid for 21 hours."

They return to the Razza. As the Razza undocks they receive a burst data transmission from the station. It is encrypted but is unlocked by using the phrase given to Portia. The burst contains Nav data for an FTL exit point within the outer asteroid belt of the Draaddell system, and an authentification code. The Draadell system is 4.5ly away which means the Razza will need to use it's maximum FTL capability to reach the system inside the 21 hour window for which the code is valid [GM note: again nobody commented on this...]

Exiting FTL into the Draaddell asteroid belt, they find a Cruiser class ship approximately 15Km from their exit location. The cruiser hails the Razza "This is Commander Altman of the Pincher Corporation Cruiser Pravlin. You have 60 seconds to transmit your authorisation code or we will open fire."

They transmit the authentication code provided. The Commmander confirms that the code has verified and transmits a set of Navigation data for the Asteroid belt, including the location of the station. It takes a little over 3.5 hours to reach the station, which is actually built into an Asteroid.

[GM Notes: some notes about the station. First the docking fees here are twice what you would normally pay, but you don't need to pay any bribes to hide your identity, and they seem very well aware that the ship is the Razza and of who the crew are, with one side note. They advise that Griffen Jones, if he is aboard should stay aboard the ship, as there are some significant questions and rumours circulating as to exactly who he really is and who he really works for.

The station also appears to be fully equipped with both ship repair and ship building facilities. They have the capability to supply both fuel and water and at better rates than you've been getting elsewhere. The station also has a full suite of other typical facilities found on other stations. Side arms are permitted with the usual caveats about unprovoked attacks, and damage to station personal, structure, or property.

Note also that once you dock, they request payment for the pods and the refit of the room and the installation of the pods]

House Keeping - Dates and Fuel

	Event	Date	FTL Jump Distance	Fuel	Fuel Remaining	Water Remaining
	Arrive Itroit-11	2672.343.13	N/A	N/A	883,020	27,695(26,000)
	Depart Itroit-11 for Udront	2672.343.18	34ly	68,000l	1,282,620	52,000(26,000)
	Arrive Udront-3	2672.352.08	N/A	N/A	1,214,620	38,518(26,000)
	Depart Udront-3 for Quens	2672.352.13	3.5ly	7,000l	1,214,620	38,518(26,000)
	Arrive Quens-3	2672.353.10	N/A	N/A	1,207,620	36,822(26,000)
	Depart Quens-3 for Neukot	2672.353.18	7ly	14,000l	1,207,620	36,822(26,000)
	Arrive Neukot-1	2672.355.13	N/A	N/A	1,193,620	33,508(26,000)
	Depart Neukot-1 for Yaph	2672.355.15	27.3ly	54,600l	1,193,620	33,508(26,000)
	Arrive Yaph-11	2673.002.12	N/A	N/A	1,139,020	22,799(26,000)
	Depart Yaph for Oshalt	2673.002.15	14ly	28,000l	1,139,020	22,799(26,000)
	Arrive Oshalt-2	2673.006.05	N/A	N/A	1,111,020	17,019(26,000)
	Depart Oshalt-2 for Draaddell	2672.006.12	4.5ly	11,250l	1,111,020	17,019(26,000)
	Arrive Draaddell	2672.007.17	N/A	N/A	1,099,770	** 14,485(26,000) **

Incidental Expenses (Bribes/Inducements/Payoffs) : cr11,700

3 off Transfer Transit Pods : cr1,500,000
Room Refit and Installation Fee : cr 117,000

Docking Fees: cr67,270

Note: After buing 90days decent rations and refilling your water tanks, you only have enough cash in your back account to buy 399,620l of the 492,970l  required to completely refill the tanks. This leaves you with cr4 in your bank account.

Selling the Shadow brings your 'cash at hand' to 5,009,300. Having paid all the relavent expenses from cash, by the time you get to Draaddell your cash at hand is cr3,313,330

New Skills

As explained at the start of the session I've added two new skills to the skill pool, and allowed each of you to either have one of them or both at 'half rolled level'. You all chose the single skill option.

Everybody has either or both of these to some degree or another, it's just some people are a lot better at it than others, as identified by their bonuses (or potentially a natural talent).

All Skills in the Palladium system are 'roll under percentile' skills. Now with both these skills both the PC and the NPC they are bartering/haggling with both get to roll, the lowest roll wins, and the outcome gets adjusted in favour of the winner by the difference between the two rolls. There are 4 exceptions to this, 2 for 'success' and 2 for 'fail'. A critical success (01/02) gains an additional 10% beyond the normal range in favour of the winner, whilst a major success (less than 10% of skill) gains an additional 5% beyond the normal range in favour of the winner. The opposite is true for critical failures (99/00), and Major Failures (a fail by more than 20% of skill). Thus Matt's roll of 97, being more than 20% above his skill (50) meant that the selling price was adjusted down below its normal range minimum (cr360k) by 5%, hence cr342k per case.

Bartering

This is the ability to either trade one or more goods for another, or to trade services for goods or goods for services, without the use of any form of cash. It is the ability to weigh what goods are worth and therefore the relative values of trading them. It can be used to Haggle but at a 20% skill penalty Base Skill 20% +5% per level of experience.

Haggling

This the ability to 'negotiate' a better price for somthing you want to buy or procure or sell. It can be used as a subsititue for Batering but at a 20% skill penalty. Base Skill 20% +5% per level of experience.

	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
IQ	3%	4%	5%	6%	7%	8%	9%	10%	11%	12%	13%	14%	15%	16%
MA or PB	5%	6%	8%	9%	11%	12%	14%	15%	17%	18%	20%	21%	23%	24%

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