22-Feb-19
5 xp awarded
Session notes:
Mr. Kord put together the team, making them partners in a mercenary startup. Their assets included military surplus and a small operational fund. They are charged with reclaiming the Granddaughter Raven and her crew. The Raven is a blockade runner, fast, well armed, and possessing a decent cargo capacity.
The targets were part of a mercenary company under Mr. Kord’s patronage. They went rogue, and Mr. Kord wants have a discussion with them. Naturally he’s reclaiming their ship. The reward for recovering the ship is an straightforward exchange of the The Three Legged Dog of Norway (see below) for the Granddaughter Raven. In addition, there are bounties for the crew.
After taking inventory of their available gear, the party set out for Limossos, a desert world belonging to Colm. Limossos is home to three settlements: Paphos, The Bazaar, and the Kibbutzem. Paphos is the Colm colony, sitting on the shore of one of the few lakes on Limossos.
1000 miles away lie the Bazaar and the Kibbutzem, also located near water sources. The Bazaar is an unsanctioned pirate colony with shifting leadership and no real law. It is a place to find just about anything – for a price. It is thought that the Bazaar is a good place to start the search for the Granddaughter Raven and her crew.
The Kibbutzem (plural of Kibbutz) lie 50 miles away from the Bazaar. It is actually a federation of several small, well defended colonies founded by a militant Jewish sect. They are the breadbasket of the Bazaar; in exchange, they get goods that they could not produce themselves.
The company opted to land in Paphos and travel to the Bazaar via a rented aircar. The rental agency understandably forbids travel to the Bazaar. The party disabled the gps system and flew to the Bazaar. Parking in a structure, they disembarked, only to discover some would-be thieves heading their way...
The ship:
The ship the company was given is named The Three Legged Dog of Norway, registered on Colm.
It’s a Bronco class scout / picket, common with mercenary companies and smaller system defense fleets. The Dog, as it is often called as a shorthand for its much longer full name, is 37 years old. It has seen service in the both the Colm Navy and Colm Defense Fleet before being acquired by Mr. Kord.
Toward the end of the war, the Navy and many system defense fleets divested themselves of their Broncos; prior to the war, 317 were constructed. The vast majority were commissioned for the Colm Navy, though 27 went to Colm’s system defense fleet and 38 were sold to other systems. Their intended role was long range patrol missions, especially picketing for capital ships.
At the time, the largest warship in the Colm Navy was a light cruiser, which, together with 3 destroyers and 2 frigates, comprised the Navy’s fleet. The Broncos seemed ideal for this small peacetime fleet. The realities of war quickly rendered the Broncos obsolete.
The initial battle of the war wiped out Colm’s fleet. 43 of the Broncos were destroyed in that engagement; the remainder saw action in a few skirmishes, but proved too vulnerable to fighters. Another 32 were lost before they were relegated to system defense fleets. The Navy retained a mere 12 for use as long range scouts.
While Broncos are designed for long range missions, they’re not built for comfort. Their cramped bunkroom is designed for 9; it can be hot-bunked for up to 3 additional crew if necessary. Its 5 ton cargo bay can carry up to 2500 man/days of food, giving it a maximum independent operating duration of approximately 275 days.
In practice, crews were rotated every 20 – 45 days, depending on the mission. Even 20 day rotations were hard on crews. A 45 day cruise was considered the maximum practical duration due to degraded operational efficiency. This proved convenient: 1 ton of food is sufficient for 55 days, leaving room in the cargo bay, which was often used for morale boosting recreational purposes.
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