Traveller: Sinharaja Sector (in-character thread)

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Nils approaches the meat slowly and nods at the ape, then lifts it to his mouth and pretends to take a bite and tosses it back to the apes.

He then attempts to walk past them slowly keeping his head down.
 
'Maybe we can go around via the jungle?'
 
Trip lowers his weapon and approaches the meat like Nils. He pantomimes eating and them continues on with Nils.
 
I watch skeptically from a safe distance.
 
Volodimir remembers having the drill sergeant - a guy with a noble's title, but who had, at this rank, already risen to the level of his own incompetence - telling them that the bow is an universal, trans-sophontian, level of communication.
So he bows to the biggest ape, and proceeds with trying to find a way around the apes.
 
The huge fanged, horned apes watch with caution as Nils and Trip pass with submissive postures. The largest ape looks pleased that his dominance remains unchallenged.
 
I do the same as the others now that it appears safe.
 
As the sun rises, the heat and humidity in the jungle becomes uncomfortable and you can feel your bodies becoming dehydrated as you lose bodily fluids through your perspiration. On the bright side, the noises of the night have calmed and you only occasionally hear the trill of a bird and an answering call. After a while you arrive back at the fork in the road and the backside of the battered, weather-beaten sign that indicates which is the scenic route and which is the service road to Sivananda Saraswati Memorial Starport. Per the sign, the starport is only one kilometer beyond the huge tree trunk that blocks the service road.
 
‘Hella yay, let’s space this bloody Junglehole,’ I say.
 
Nils pants from the exertion and nods at Eloise's suggestion, then looks down the road.

"Yeah...time to leave"
 
"Well well. We're not dead yet. The day is full of surprises. " Trip mumbles as he walks with Nils
 
Aside from an ominous slithering sound and an unpropitious hissing here and there in the dark, dense jungle on the side of the service road, your walk is tiring but uneventful until you arrive at a rusted chain link fence and gate. The fence and gate stand about 10 feet high and are topped by barbed wire. The gate is padlocked and the lock is rusted from disuse, lack of maintenance, and exposure to the elements. Perhaps a hundred yards beyond the gate you see the tarmac of the starport and a couple of small starships. One looks to be a tramp freighter and the other a yacht belonging, no doubt, to some moneyed visitor to Xenochrophis. The freighter's boarding ramp is extended and you can see a light burning within. The yacht looks to be sealed up tight.
Yamada-Ozawa 200-ton merchant.jpg
Fuddrucker 200-ton yacht.jpg
 
"Okay, that freighter will obviously involve fighting past the crew. We're exhausted and I don't want to kill anybody else. However can we break into a yacht without damaging the doors too much. Don't want to find out we've busted an airlock and vent our atmosphere a few seconds after we leave this place.

And then there is starport security....what say we get in and casually inspect the yacht first?"
 
"I still have a pile of credits, we look like we could be a private security team. Maybe we go for the yacht? Can anyone pilot it?" Trip asks.

Trip stares at the two ships awhile longer and then adds "The merchant ship looks to have weapons capabilities. Anyone know how to use those? Wanna bet the yacht is faster? Richies tend not to worry about money so much as time. "
 
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‘I can handle it no problem,’ I say and see if I can pick the gate lock while staying out of anyone’s line of sight in the yard.
 
"Can you bypass an airlock security system or just manual locks?" Trip asks.

"If we can't find a way into the Yacht the choice is obvious. Anyone a sniper? I can probably get up close with my SMG without drawing attention. As soon as shots are fired we're going to have to move and get off world quickly. Another option is just try to buy passage. Everyone needs money."
 
‘I can handle it no problem,’ I say and see if I can pick the gate lock while staying out of anyone’s line of sight in the yard.
Unfortunately the lock is so old and worn it essentially no longer has any moving parts as its interior mechanism has all but fused due to oxidization and time. It looks like you'd need to break it off the gate.
 
Is there anyone who can see the lock being broken?
 
I look around to see if anyone can see me or if there are security cameras. If not I bust the lock open with the butt of my pistol.
 
The nearest building is several hundred yards across the tarmac. There are butterscotch colored lights mounted along the perimeter and near the buildings but nothing actually on the tarmac as they would interfere with departures and arrivals. The sky is still more grey than blue due to thick cloud cover and it feels like a heavy storm is brewing. You don't see anyone around.

The butt of your pistol easily, albeit loudly, shatters the old padlock and the gate squeaks on its hinges.
 
Nils looks around for a bit to see if there is any reaction to the noise. If not he will head in, slowly approaching the Yacht.
 
Volodimir hands Nils some police ID papers. "In case they don't want to open the door to just anybody".

At least I think they were on me.
 
Volodimir hands Nils some police ID papers. "In case they don't want to open the door to just anybody".

At least I think they were on me.
I seem to recall you or someone else in the group taking the IDs.
Nils looks around for a bit to see if there is any reaction to the noise. If not he will head in, slowly approaching the Yacht.
Nils doesn't notice any activity, although the light is still on inside the tramp freighter and as you get closer you can hear monotonous, thumping pop music, the kind popular with the teen set, with inane boy-girl-love lyrics sung in a foreign language, probably Hindi or maybe Awadhi or Bhojpuri. You don't see anyone but it sounds like someone is working somewhere up the ramp in the freighter's belly. The yacht is about 50 yards past the freighter.

Is Nils proceeding to the yacht?
 
Trip will find cover in the brush and cover Nils with the assault rifle.
 
Nils doesn't notice any activity, although the light is still on inside the tramp freighter and as you get closer you can hear monotonous, thumping pop music, the kind popular with the teen set, with inane boy-girl-love lyrics sung in a foreign language, probably Hindi or maybe Awadhi or Bhojpuri. You don't see anyone but it sounds like someone is working somewhere up the ramp in the freighter's belly. The yacht is about 50 yards past the freighter.

Is Nils proceeding to the yacht?
Nils halts considering his options and gestures for Volodimir and Eloise to approach him, noticing that Trip is providing cover.
 
Volodimir follows Nils at a distance of at least 10 meters, but closes upon seeing the invitation. When he reaches the freighter, he briefly wonders whether the lyrics in the unknown langugage are celebrating boy-girl love.
The Awadhi and Bhojpuri speakers had a terrible reputation back in the corps!
 
You suddenly hear a loud clanking, as of a hydrospanner hitting the deck, originating from inside the freighter, followed by a stream of fluent cursing in several languages. Piecing together the bits you comprehend, it appears the gist of the matter is someone's female parent copulated with a plumber's wrench and someone, possibly the same person, defecated in discrete portions and somehow turned it into a not-altogether-spaceworthy freighter, as it seems repairs are needed to a porcelain throne--indicating the possible presence of royalty, though it may also be a euphemism--or the freighter's crew runs the risk of depositing fecal matter throughout the cosmos. Or something of that nature--it's hard to be completely sure. Someone's rectum has definitely been pierced, that much is clear.

Meanwhile all is quiet at the yacht. As you've gotten a bit closer you can see its exterior lights are on, but that's standard operating procedure overnight on a starport tarmac as anyone returning would have difficulty locating the starship in the dark. Given the lack activity, your best guess would be there is either no aboard, or just a skeleton crew, as you doubt anyone wealthy enough to own the yacht would sleep aboard it with luxury accommodations just past Lowtown at the other end of the tarmac.

Simultaneously, far across the tarmac at the starport buildings, you see what looks to be a changing of the guard, or at least some going off duty while others report for duty. They're far enough away, a couple of hundred yards, that neither you nor they can make out details without some sort of scopes or binoculars. The movements are orderly and routine; nobody seems to be in any particular hurry. It could be that anyone looking for you does not consider a trip through the jungle as a viable route and perhaps effort and attention are largely directed elsewhere. Maybe.
 
Nils leans in to speak to Volodimir and Eloise.

"Alright the Freighter might have a crew we can take unaware and fast or we could pretend to port authority or similar. The Yacht might have no crew but we would have to break in and we might set off alarms, maybe damage the air lock breaking in and so on. Which do we go for?"
 
"I'd suggest we take the papers of the poor policemen, and wave them around holding a thumb over the picture while knocking on the door for a consultation about a possible stowaway they might not know have climbed on their board", Volodimir whispers back. "Also gives us the opportunity to ask them how many people are on board."
 
"I'd suggest we take the papers of the poor policemen, and wave them around holding a thumb over the picture while knocking on the door for a consultation about a possible stowaway they might not know have climbed on their board", Volodimir whispers back. "Also gives us the opportunity to ask them how many people are on board."
"Right let's do it, you know how to be authoritative commander I've seen it before" he says to Volodimir smiling slightly.

"You in Eloise?"
 
Trip has the rifle aimed in the direction of the freighter but looks back and forth between the guards and freighter. If the rifle has any magnification he'll try to make out if anything has changed with the guards.
 
‘Sounds like a solid plan to me,’ I say. I hide my pistol in my clothes.
 
Nils heads over the the ramp and makes a clang with his shotgun against the metal to get the crew's attention and then shouts.

"Anybody in there? Looking for a Nedjer Colzak. Come out son, you're in violation of border law"
 
Nils heads over the the ramp and makes a clang with his shotgun against the metal to get the crew's attention and then shouts.

"Anybody in there? Looking for a Nedjer Colzak. Come out son, you're in violation of border law"
To be clear: is this at the yacht or the freighter?
 
Nils heads over the the ramp and makes a clang with his shotgun against the metal to get the crew's attention and then shouts.

"Anybody in there? Looking for a Nedjer Colzak. Come out son, you're in violation of border law"
You hear a loud clank and the sound of spurting water followed by a vile observation about bestiality and the practitioners thereof, then boots trudging down the ramp. "If you're not here to help, then fuck off!" says a smiling, grime-covered mechanic garbed in dungarees.
gettyimages-171356567-170667a.jpg
 
"Watch who you tell to fuck off pal. Show him the papers" Nils gestures to Volodimir.
 
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