Session 0a Summary
We finished up character generation by playing a variant of Fate Core's Phase Trio, based on discussions about the Phase Trio on the Fate Tabletop RPGs Discord server.
We discussed the structure of Port Rails, the space station above the capital city of the planet Gaia in the Torrin system.
Episode 4
Scout, Dwabit, and Deli needed to impound the small Salaran merchant ship Lullaby from a parking orbit; _Lullaby has stayed there too long with no communication response to traffic control.
The shipowner is Wolk Jammer, whose shuttle is docked at the station hub. He and his engineer Blair Coiny took the space elevator to the capital city 3 weeks prior.
The crew had to hook up their tug to the Lullaby and take it out to the impound yard on Castillo where it will not be a hazard to traffic.
Captain Martinez told the crew he had meetings all day and the crew could handle the job on their own.
The standard process in these situations is to try to hail the ship in case anyone is still there, and if no one responds, put the hook and move it.
Before heading out Deli tried to reach Captain Jammer on the planetary comms system, and gets no response. She leaves a message regarding the steps needed to reclaim the ship and info regarding ferry services.
The crew set out on the NED Tugboat. As they approached the Lullaby's parking orbit, they noticed a pipe-scooter floating nearby.
Deli hailed the Lullaby while Dwabit maneuvered the Tugboat as close to the Lullaby as he could, and Scout got into his EVA gear in preparation to hook up the Lullaby to the tug.
Deli's hail was answered by a person who was obviously not used to communicating over the radio. The person identified herself as Shelley Bowers. She appeared to be a young woman, possibly underage, and was scared because no one had come out to the ship in the two weeks since she got there.
Dwabit smoothly maneuvered the Tugboat to within kissing distance of Lullaby.
Scout did what Scout does and maneuvered over to the pipe-scooter to check it out before heading to the Lullaby. He discovered it appeared to be tricked out with pink stickers and the colors of the teen "gang" known as the Blackadders. He continued on his path around the Lullaby to make sure nothing else was weird.
Deli used the Port Authority override to get into the Lullaby's system so she would be able to use that ship's systems to track Shelley and to talk directly to her. She convinced Shelley to get her suit and helmet on, and to go to the airlock so that they could get her off the ship and over to the Tugboat.
The Tugboat's proximity sensors notified Dwabit that another ship was maneuvering towards them. The ship had its transponder turned off, an illegal act. Deli notified PA Dispatch about the lack of transponder and then tried contacting the new ship.
Dwabit did a focused scan of the new ship and noticed it was powering up its beam weapon system.
Scout aborted his careful survey of the Lullaby, and quickly went directly over the top and into the open airlock facing the Tugboat. He started pressurizing the airlock to get Shelley out, who was standing on the other side of the inner airlock door.
Assuming that the new ship was targeting the Tugboat, Dwabit quickly maneuvered behind the Lullaby. Deli used her control of the Lullaby to blow its airlock evacuating all the air from the ship, throwing Shelley into Scout, who grabbed onto her as they were both quickly forced away from the ship.
The new ship fired their beam weapon targeting the Lullaby, which ruptured its hull and caused a failure of, the reactor containment system. The Lullaby blew completely apart; the Tugboat, Scout, and Shelley avoided most of the blast. The new ship turned and escaped into the traffic around Port Rails.
Dwabit circled the Tugboat around and picked up the pipe-scooter, Scout, and Shelley, and they returned to base.
When they docked in the PRPA hangar bay, Captain Martinez was there to bring Shelley to her parents, waiting in the PRPA Chief Administrator's office. Deli noticed that his usual bluster was disturbing Shelley's composure, she forced him to allow her to join them in the office. Martinez capitulated, but will now try to diminish Deli's role in the organization, and possibly get her fired.