Borite / Sindal (Trojan Reach 2219)
Kesperziaiepr, Urien, Eirene
The Mine Expedition, Borite Countryside
019 (Harrier, Week 2, Day 4) 1105, Imperial
When the members of the crew have assembled, Earrod and Administrator Ura relay that they will head back to the nearby stables in order to gather enough mounts and supplies for everybody. They don't even make a comment about the number of people who are coming out to check the pumps at the mines. After all, they will happily remind, with Oghman spies potentially out there: more guns in a potential fight is better. After a few hours they return to the ship with more of those thin-furred, four-eyed horse-like mounts, with saddlebags and packs heavy with the materials for making camp. The supplies to make a fire, tenting, a bed-roll, and other material that helps to make the journey easier. This includes a rather thin, dry, crispy bread that Earrod strongly suggests you soak in tea or warm water before taking a bite.
The first of you to ignore that advice may very well come away with a chipped tooth for your trouble.
The journey out into the countryside takes two days. Earrod advises that normally it'd be one day by direct horse ride, however with the belief that sabotage might be afoot, he wants to take a more circuitous route to avoid potential scouts or slaver parties that might be watching for just such a repair expedition to head out for the mines. At the cost of more time spent traveling, you are able to take in more of the greenery and thin grassland, and rolling hills, of Borite's surface. heading out of summer, the air is relatively cool, and when on open ground its almost enough that the more sensitive among the expedition might opt for long sleeves. But otherwise, clear skies in all directions mean that the night is spent under a clear, starry night sky to enjoy while gathered around a campfire before bed.
There are a few troubles, of course. A slightly slower pace means that when you get nearer the mine, it is late enough that you need to bed down for the evening to avoid working on the pumps in the dark. So you bed down in sight of the mines, with the warm glow of Borite's two suns cast over the whole scene as they sink below the horizon.
On the morning of the third day, you head into the valley where the mines are.
The mining operation itself is rather unassuming when you first see it from a distance. You approach it on a dirt road that is visibly worn and pressed by truck tires and wagon wheels, winding through a long stretch of woodland until you reach a box valley. Earrod explains that the path you have taken is even more secretive and circuitous than the route the minors take to avoid being observed from the air - though the miners typically need no more than a half day's ride. And when you arrive in the box valley, you have trouble initally spotting the entrances to the mineshafts hidden among the woodland. Ten entrances are hidden among the trees, clearly camouflaged to be hidden from above or at a distance.
As for the pumps, there are ten in total and they are spaced out across the valley in such a way that, as Earrod suggests, if he were to take one half, and your ship's maintenance technician the other? The two 'groups' can split the valley in half and meet at the far end when they are done. The pumps are located near the mouth of each mineshaft, in wooden bunker-like structures that are mostly buried save for the camouflaged rooftops and the air chutes that allow ventilation. There is no lighting in these 'bunkers' meaning that the best visibility is achieved during the day with the door propped open, and even then it pays to have a flashlight at hand.
And the sabotage is not subtle. When Urien draws out one of the first of the air filters, it smells absolutely putrid. A smell so overbearing in the small space that anybody in the bunker-shack needs to go stand outside and give a few minutes to let the space air out, or risk tasting breakfast a second time. And when coming back in, you can tell it wasn't a clever method: urine and knives. Somebody very clearly soaked the output filters in urine, and slashed the tubing for the intakes to make the pumps lose air pressure. The lack of air pressure meant an increase in temperature as the pump up-cycled to try and make up for it, heating those same filters with the ambient heat of the pump's engine. Had the miners not thought to turn the pumps off before coming back to town, it could have led to the engines being burned out with stripped parts.
You have everything you need for the pumps to replace it, but its upsetting work all the same. And something best done with gloves and a cloth bandana over your mouth and nose.
Earrod has the same experience, rushing up and stumbling up the steps, coughing and waving his hands in front of his face as he comes back up under the open sky. He looks pale and a bit sickened from the whole experience, and insists on taking a few minutes sat on a tree stump to smoke his pipe before - with a dark green bandana over his face - heading back into the shed to resume the repair.
But beyond this? The next two days pass uneventfully.
Urien and Earrod leading the rest of you down the respective sides of the valley, trekking from one mine shaft's pump to the next with tools and other supplies in hand. The evening of that first day, you all are able to retire to camp - this time set up in the valley, even just inside the mouth of one of the mine shafts if any of you insists on doing so. After a meal of vegetables and light meat boiled into a stew - some of the last fresh provisions that Earrod brought along for the venture - the work continues the next day as before.
And finally, with work finished on the fourth day, you head out of the mine through the more 'official' and worn path at Earrod's suggestion to give your mounts an easier time after the last couple of days of riding rough overland.
But one thing that stands out as you leave, at least to Urien after a second glance, is tucked away in a patch of trees near the mouth of the valley.
You almost miss the legs of the tripod, hidden among the branches of a fallen tree. But when you peer closer? You can see it. A simple black, metal tripod tucked away in the shade. A curved radar dish atop it spins slowly and silently. Around it, the grove of trees is dark and silent. If you listen, you can hear the chirp of small birds and the scurrying of wildlife. Despite what you can see, the wildlife would tell you that you are alone. So that would mean whoever set this up is either gone or have been laying low and hidden away for some time now.
Borite / Sindal (Trojan Reach 2219)
Rhane, Mahan
The Reclaimer's Intent, Borite Downport
019 (Harrier, Week 2, Day 4) 1105, Imperial
When you explain the plan for Krrsh to spend some time in low berth, he seems to whilt a bit. After all, any spacer knows about the betting pool that tramp freighters run when they are taking on passengers for such a lodging. But he seems to understand the logic: if he was lying about the fuel deposit in deep space, then this would be the surest way to see him pay for misleading you. So he follows you down to the low berths during a period where Dazl is outside walking around the perimeter of the ship, and in quick order he's prepped and in one of the low berth pods.
What follows is two days spent fruitlessly looking for a vendor who might be willing to buy your cargo - and having little luck.
One thing of note, almost lost to you in your time spent heading to the coachhouse in order to make use of their phone to call out to potential vendors - with the helpful suggestions of the barmaid - you almost miss that the bodies of Dazl's deceased crew go missing. Each of them over the course of three horus on the first day. And if you look around, there is no sign of Dazl, either. If he is taking them, he comes and goes seemingly before you might be able to catch sight of him. And you can't shake the feeling that it might be deliberate.
But being ever willing to carouse and make associates, you find that Aman Coxand-Robarn, her husband Chrone Robarn, and their associate Selly Jenker have all rented quarters in the coachhouse that you have been making calls from. So you are able to approach them and ask if they would join you for meals and socializing. An offer they happily accept - Aman and Chrone with more chipper enthusiasm to start, than Selly to start. But even despite Selly's reservations to start, the four of you find good company to share tea and stories until you are able to tastefully broach the topic of finding a buyer. It is then that Aman presents the fact that, like her father, she is fully literate despite not having been seen with a book in her hand since she landed back on the planet. And she is more than happy to use her native familiarity to assist in finding a buyer.
On the third day, Dazl returns from out of the wilderness with stains of dirt and grime on his arms, face, and shirt. The shirt he was wearing is clearly stressed and torn at, and when addressed he only gives a simple nod and grunt before trudging aboard the ship to make use of a refresher in an otherwise unclaimed stateroom. When that is done, he seems to return to relative normalcy based on his behavior in the short time that you've known him thus far.
And on the fourth day when the buyer Aman arranged for you arrives with his trucks, as well as some supplementary horse-drawn wagons, you can set to work unloading the cargo. Something that Aman, Chrone, Selly, and Dazl all happily help with. It is when you have loaded on the last of the industrial goods, with the petrochemicals having been the first things unloaded for safety and efficiency, that you see a ping on one of the master control terminals down by one of the doorways into engineering. A sensors ping, a high-strength transmission. But by the time you access the terminal, the transmission has finished. It was fast - it lasted no longer than the minute it took you to be notified of it and get to the terminal.
Somebody broadcast on a powerful transmitter. But you can't tell from where, to who, or what was said. The sort of transmission that would make a Navy signals expert proud, clearly.