The log has been going on for a while, and it may be a lot to take in at once. If you want to jump in and not have to read everything up to the current log, this summary gives you a week-by-week breakdown of the major story beats. Just read up to where you want to start.
And if you want to go back and see the details of the weeks you missed, the logs are still there.
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Derek Kodai is the new owner and Captain of a starship, the free trader Grayswandir. He and his crew (Saahna Denan, Gunner; Varan Hort, steward; Jami Wistina, engineer, and the non-human from Vega, Do’rex Kapan, pilot) are in an area of space just outside of the Imperium, the primary human political entity in the galaxy. The area is known as the “Hinterworlds.” It is located between the Imperium, the Solomani Federation (another human entity), and the K’kree and Hiver federations (both alien entities). The area is a mix of smaller, independent entities and unaligned planets.
The political situation is volatile at this point. The Emperor has recently been assassinated by a high-ranking noble who has claimed the throne by right of assassination. His son claims to be the Emperor, but the “Moot” (the “Senate” of the Imperium) has named another high-ranking noble as Empress. The son responded by disbanding the Moot. The Imperium is descending into a civil war, and the other political entities around it are trying to take advantage of the situation. Our crew is happy to be away from the Imperium and away from it all. However, Derek is optimistically convinced that everything will work out well.
Just before their first Jump, a former Naval officer (Dr. Milansa Korvusar) approached him for a job. She offered to pay for a long-term passage when he told her he wasn’t looking for a doctor, claiming she “wanted to retire and see the galaxy.” Unable to resist a guaranteed passage every trip, he accepted.
Cargo is loaded, passengers are booked, and the Grayswandir prepares to travel to Fugitak.
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The crew spends the last few days on Venad, then Jumps towards the planet Fugitak.
015-021 1117
They arrive at Fugitak, a planet with a tiny population and an unbreathable, hostile atmosphere. The only colony there is home to only a few hundred people and mostly underground. While spending a (reasonably dull) week on-planet, Derek is approached by someone who asks him to deliver a datastick to someone named “Jestin” at his next destination. Not seeing any reason not to do so, he agrees.
Derek and Saahna resume their relationship. The two of them have been on-again/off-again for some time. Derek wants their relationship permanent; Saahna likes to be with him on board but away from him while on-planet. This is a significant point of contention between them.
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After arriving on the planet, Boilingbrook Derek delivers the stick, only to be told there is no data. It was a test to see if he would do what he was asked without breaking his confidence. He is told that he “might” be contacted later. Later, several crew members expressed displeasure that he apparently got them involved in something without consulting them.
The next day he is contacted by someone who wants him to plant a “bug” where he delivered the datastick. He is promised that he will get another high-paying passenger if he does. Saahna and Varan seem to be angry with and avoiding him, so he avoids talking to the crew about it.
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Derek plants the bug, but only after telling Jestin what he is doing, and does so with Jestin’s approval. He does not tell the crew (though he consults with Dr. Korvusar, who he seems to think is somehow involved), as Varan appears irritated with him for some reason. Saahna has, once again, broken things off.
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The ship winds up with a full passenger complement for their next Jump. One of their passengers is an Imperial Knight who insists on throwing his weight around (even though they are outside the Imperium). One is a local “blogger” (well, the 54th-century equivalent; a “live-net” celebrity); the passenger they got for planting the bug. The last turns out to have booked passage under a false name; he is really High Minister Trakon, a high-ranking member of the ruling council of Boilingbrook. Trakon is travelling incognito to his next destination to sign a trade agreement.
There are immediate problems. The Knight (Sir Gortor) doesn’t like the live-netter (Shelly Tharis) because his daughter, Jaya, is a fan of hers and won’t listen to him. He also dislikes Minister Trakon.
The crew is also unhappy because Derek has made yet another deal without talking to them. He reveals everything, delivering the datastick to Jestin and later planting the bug, which gave them Shelly as a passenger.
The crew somewhat grudgingly accepts this, saying that they would have agreed with the decision. But, they would have preferred that he let them know what was happening instead of dealing with a trip where everyone was angry at each other without them knowing why.
Saahna and Varan also reveal why they avoided Derek during the week on Boilingbrook. They studied for new positions on the ship; Saahna now qualifies as Navigator, and Varan is now qualified to replace her as Gunner.
Since everyone is trying to be open with everyone else, Dr. Korvusar reveals why she was insistent on travelling with them too. She isn’t retired; she is still active-duty Navy. Computer models have shown that the current civil war will likely lead to the collapse of the Imperium and a “Long Night.” This ship had been identified by those models as something that could become a “torchbearer” (though everyone on the crew keeps referring to it as an “ember”) that can “carry the ideals of the Imperium” and, somehow, change the upcoming Long Night into a “Short Dusk.”
Everyone is dubious about this, knowing enough tropes to reject a distinct “chosen one” narrative. As they talk, Derek notices another bug similar to the one he planted, but this one is on his ship.
Derek immediately reacts and discovers that Sir Gortor was attempting to break into Minister Trakon’s cabin while they had their discussion in the crew lounge. Derek confronts him, and Gortor informs him that he is acting under the orders of the Emperor. He is there to prevent the treaty from being signed and plans to assassinate Minister Trakon.
Derek refuses to help, and Gortor turns a gun on him. Saahna, who has followed Derek upstairs, shoots and kills him. They then discover that Gortor’s “daughter” is actually a robot tapping into the ship’s systems. They destroy it as well and take Gortor’s wife into custody.
After explaining the situation to Minister Trakon and Shelly (who was a “distraction” in all of this; keeping “Jaya” locked in the cabin under the excuse that Gortor was keeping her away from Shelly both prevented anyone from spending enough time with her to realize she was a robot and gave her time to start hacking into the ship’s systems.
Saahna reveals one final secret. On Boilingbrook, she met a former Marine colleague, one looking exactly as he had 20 years ago. That person was part of something called “Operation Spoilsport,”; a secret program keeping troops in cold sleep and their ships hidden in deep space, far from any star. These ships would emerge in a time of crisis and keep the Imperial Order by any means necessary. Someone has activated these ships.
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Given that they are now involved with the Embers and the Spoilsports, the crew (some begrudgingly) decide to support the Embers. After all, the Spoilsports aren’t likely to be too happy that they ruined the plan to kill Trakon. They agree to help.
In exchange, Trakon tells them that the treaty he is signing is to create a “Joint Economic and Defense Initiative” among several planets, allowing them to gain strength in the Hinterworlds (at the expense of the Imperium’s influence in the area).
He offers a subsidy contract to the Grayswandir. Boilingbrook will pay 20% of the ship’s monthly expenses if the Grayswandir will occasionally carry passengers or cargoes for them. They agree to do this.
Even so, Shelly is afraid to go back to Boilingbrook as she fears what will happen if the Spoilsports come looking for her. Minister Trakon says he will have her protected. Still, Derek offers her the now-open position of Steward on the Grayswandir. She accepts.
The Grayswandir arrives at Kupakii, where they find a light cruiser waiting for them. The cruiser asks how their trip went, then asks for Sir Gortor. When efforts to misdirect them fail, Derek tells them what happened to Sir Gortor.
The cruiser immediately opens fire on them, damaging the Grayswandir. Then the Boilingbrook cruiser Skesis’ Eye reveals itself, running silent near the jump point, and opens fire on the other ship. It flees.
The Skesis’ Eye escorts the Grayswandir into orbit. It even sends crews over to repair the damage done in the attack. Then, the Grayswandir lands on Kupakii.
There is a period of tension after they land. Scout Commander Winters, the Imperial representative on Kupakii (which is an Imperial client state), is angry at the crew of the Grayswandir. While they “technically” responded correctly to an armed threat on their ship, the local administration supports Sir Gortor’s actions. Only the intervention of Dr. Korvusar (who apparently has more influence than Derek realized), Minister Trakon, and the threat of a Boilingbrook cruiser in orbit prevent her from executing Derek and his crew for killing an Imperial Knight. She lets them go but clarifies that they aren’t welcome on Kupakii.
The next day Derek, Saahna, and Shelly go to another city north of the starport to meet someone named “Elijah Green,” someone they were told to meet by Jestin. Unfortunately, they cannot find him or anyone who knows him.
Derek also meets with Minister Trakon and Mayor Moraz, the ruler of Kupakii. They both thank him and the crew for helping Minister Trakon and tell him that the Grayswandir and its crew will always be welcome there.
Derek mentions his conversation with Winters, and Moraz becomes angry. Imperial rule and the lack of respect the scout base has for the locals were the significant impetus for him to sign the treaty with Boilingbrook. They both tell him that another Boilingbrook cruiser will be arriving soon with a squadron of marines and that the political situation on Boilingbrook will change very soon. The Grayswandir may be unwelcome now, but that will change soon.
Derek spends the rest of the week in semi-isolation, wondering what the mood on the planet is and not wanting to expose himself or his crew to more problems. The only person he really talks to is Gavin Hars, a bartender.
During one visit to the bar, he is confronted by an alien who accuses Derek of avoiding him because he is non-human. The alien, known as a Jarishki, stalks off.
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Later, the Jarishki shows up in Derek’s room with a gun. The alien calls Derek an idiot and then reveals himself as Elijah Green. Derek and his entire crew were under surveillance by the Scouts running Kupakii. Derek had led the watchers right to him. He tells Derek that the group he represents wants nothing more to do with him or the Grayswandir and departs, but leaves behind a note indicating how they might get in touch with him again in the future.
At the final crew meeting before departure, Derek discovers that the rest of the crew has been having a great time. The locals outside of the starport are quite happy to see the change in the local political environment. Varan especially seems to have made a close acquaintance. Gavin tries to create an intimate acquaintance with Shelly, but she seems less interested in him.
The crew gets a final visit from Minister Trakon before they leave. Varan brings his new friend Carma with him as a last-minute passenger. Derek suspects she was asked to join them by Commander Winters. Commander Winters also sends a pair of ships to “escort” them to the Jump Point. The Skesis Eye follows them as well.
Commander Winters contacts them as they prepare to jump and tells them not to return to Kupakii or “there will be consequences.” The Skesis’ Eye calls in almost as soon as she disconnects and tells them that by the time they get back, “things will be different around here” and that they will be quite welcome. Derek comments on how complicated their lives have become, and the Grayswandir jumps to Gimisapun.
The week in Jumpspace starts off somewhat tense. Derek calls the crew and shows them the note “Elijah Green” left for him. Everyone is initially irritated, but they calm down once Derek reminds them they were all under surveillance while on Fugitak. Saahna relates how she was continually harassed by Security the entire time she was on the planet. Only Varan doesn’t seem to accept that explanation.
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The ship arrives on Gimisapun, and after landing, Derek finds himself involved with Kona Ranis, a local belter. She needs someone with space experience who isn’t a local to help her with a problem. Derek doesn’t want to get his crew involved with yet another situation but offers to help her on his own. They leave the asteroid housing the starport and travel to a small rock in an eccentric orbit, where they find a light courier’s crashed remains. Derek takes the cargo the courier was carrying while Kona files salvage rights on the ship itself. Derek finds the remains of the courier’s pilot, who has hidden a small notebook. He takes the notebook but doesn’t mention it to Kona.
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Kona introduces Derek to an Information Broker, an Hiver who has Derek call him “Radish.” Derek asks Radish for help finding out more about the Spoilsports and the Torchbearers/Embers. Radish states that it will take some time to get this information, longer than the Grayswandir will be in-system, so Derek provides them with the next few systems along the Grayswandir‘s route.
Derek says goodbye to Kona, with whom he has become surprisingly close. He rejoins the crew only to find they are angry with him again. His helping Kona gain a ship has further-reaching implications than he had realized. There are also problems with their passengers. One is a high-ranking official of the local government who seems to be fleeing with a suspiciously large amount of cash. Another is a senior member of a sector-wide corporation with questionable business ethics carrying a bio-engineered life form. It will be a fun week in Jumpspace.
But things change early in the week. Derek talks with Saahna and Varan and finally uncovers the root of the problem. He had been somewhat isolating himself because he felt he had to keep his responsibilities as the Captain away from them. They had stayed away from him back on Boilingbrook as they took the certification tests they had hoped to surprise him with.
Everyone had thought that the others were rejecting them for some other reason and were hurt because their friends were staying away from them. Realizing that they had been misinterpreting what the others were doing and making things worse by not addressing it directly, they could patch up their differences. The mood on the ship improves considerably.
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The crew’s new mood is tested when the bio-engineered life form they are carrying has an emergency that requires its crate to be open, and it escapes into the ship. Fortunately, it is more interested in eating snacks from the dispenser than harming anyone, and they eventually recapture it.
The Grayswandir arrives at Tlianke to find the system crowded and themselves unwelcome. The Tliankeans had ambitions of expansion into the sector, while the Imperium was busy with the Civil War. Then, Boilingbrook beat them to it with their establishment of what is being called the “Hinterworlds Alliance.” As the Grayswandir broadcasts Alliance recognition signals, they are immediately considered unwelcome.
Tlianke is forcing all ships that do not have “Preferred Trader” status to dock at their highport, which is very overcrowded. Additionally, they require the Grayswandir to undergo a rapid turnaround, which is more expensive. Derek is forced to pay transfer and freight charges for all passengers and cargo to get them to their destinations on the planet and has difficulty making trades because of their less-than-friendly status. He decides not to search for passengers and suggests no longer carrying them.
Everyone tries to make the best of it, but it causes Carma to reach her breaking point and demand that Varan take her back to Kupakii. He refuses and sends her back on her own.
Jami contacts some of the locals, who let them know that not everyone is as happy on Tlianke as their government likes to present them as being. They ask the crew to carry several tons of cargo for them, offering to pay 10 times the standard rate and to get them Preferred Trader status for their next stop. Derek agrees after being assured that the cargo is neither illegal nor dangerous (they are merely “bypassing normal distribution channels”).
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Cargo on board, the Grayswandir jumps towards Girar. Derek discusses his plan for delivering the contraband cargo. Tlianke is orbited by a field of rocks and debris–a planetary ring in the process of forming–that the locals call the “Glitterbelt.” When they leave in a week, the ship will enter the belt, then go to the surface, trying to disguise itself as a piece of falling debris. They can then deliver the cargo and escape before the local authorities arrive.
Doctor Korvusar warns them that their contacts on Tlianke were not as careful as they could have been and is concerned that news of what they are carrying will reach Girar before they leave. She suggests selling the cargo, claiming they never had plans to deliver it, then repurchasing it and making the delivery at the last minute. She also suggests that they continue to carry passengers, so they will look less suspicious.
During the stay on Tlianke, Shelly had a now-regretted night with Varan. She wants to forget it, but Varan continues pushing her for a relationship. Derek is forced to tell Varan to back off, raising Varan’s anger again.
Otherwise, with no passengers on board, the week is quiet.
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The Grayswandir arrives at Girar and finds a much better welcome than they had received on Tlianke. They quickly learn why Girar is an Amber Zone and a “Puzzle World”; the reflecting ice crystals in the Glitterbelt flash in a hypnotic pattern that some of the crew, most strongly Shelly, are almost unable to look away from. Between that and the common meteor falls, most of the population lives underground.
Derek finds a bar to do business and finds they are affiliated with the same organization as Jestin. He learns that that organization directed the clandestine contacts to them on Tlianke. They can point him to a local broker who will purchase his contraband cargo and deliver it for him.
Derek starts to use the bar as his base of operations. Then, Tlianke Security shows up (Girar is a colony world of Tilanke), asking him about the deal he made on Tlianke. Derek tries to play it off as if they had no intention of delivering the cargo and showing the (suitably doctored) record to prove it. Security leaves, but the bar owner asks Derek to leave, as she does not want any more attention from Security.
Saahna tells Derek that Varan is still harassing Shelly and that he needs to make him stop. She then leaves with Jami and Shelly for a “girl’s week” elsewhere. Derek confronts Varan, who is angry that Derek is not supporting him. Varan is further angered when he gets his own visit from Security.
Feeling isolated, Derek contacts Doctor Korvusar and shows her the notebook from the Solomani Courier on Gimisapun. She quickly determines it is in simple code but just gives him some hints and encourages him to decipher it himself. Derek can do so and discovers that it is a list of contacts, pickups, and deliveries; apparently, the courier was carrying a few cargoes he didn’t want his superiors to know about.
The crew gathers for the pre-lift meeting, and everyone tells of being visited by Tlianke Security. Apparently, Security is suspicious but can’t prove anything since they sold the cargo, and the broker was apparently able to cover her own tracks.
Shelly is still avoiding Varan, who, in turn, is being overly formal and distant from everyone. Derek hopes he will calm down once they are back in Jump.
The Grayswandir prepares for lift. Then, the crew discovers that Girar has given them a contaminated fuel load. Almost all of his passengers want to cancel their passage because of it. Derek uses Tlianke’s regulations against them to save one pair of passengers, and Jami manages to get enough of the fuel run through the purifiers to allow them to lift.
As the Grayswandir is leaving, it passes the Fesarius on the way in. Derek and the other Captain exchange some words, and the other Captain indicates a possible chance to talk instead of attack the next time they meet.
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In Jumpspace, Derek and the crew confront the passengers they were able to save and learn that they were approached by Tlianke and promised a better arrangement for themselves on Gashuiimi if they caused as much trouble for the crew as they could get away with. Derek manages to get them to agree to be reasonable, and the week in Jumpspace will hopefully be quiet.
Then a corrosive agent and a neurotoxin are released from a cargo container that had gone undetected by sabotaged sensors in the airlocks. Quick thinking manages to save the ship, at the cost of some of their life support and the air-raft, but Derek and Shelly are both severely injured.
The Grayswandir is damaged, and Shelly requires more treatment than she can receive on board. The Grayswandir will have to land at Gashuiimi, even though it too is part of the Tlianke Hegemony, agents of which may have just tried to kill all of them.
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The Grayswandir has a rough exit from Jumpspace, resulting from jettisoning the mass of the air-raft while in Jump. They are intercepted by an SDB from Gashuiimi, which takes Derek and Shelly on board to get them to treatment more rapidly.
Jami reveals that one of the Grayswandir‘s Zuchai crystals cracked on the Jump exit and will need to be replaced. Do’rex has taken temporary command of the ship and authorizes repairs, plus treatment for Derek and Shelly.
Finally, Derek wakes up and finds that he has been given Rejuve treatment, a semi-illegal, very high-technology treatment that literally rewrites the DNA in his cells to repair them. The treatment was only available to them because of the crew’s status as a “preferred trade partner.”
When he awakens, Derek is visited by Tlianke Security–TliSec– who questions him about the Stetons. He finds out that Tlianke thinks the Stetons are scheduled to be executed as organ donors because of their supposed attack on the Grayswandir. His attempts to dissuade them prove fruitless.
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Derek immediately tries to find a way to rescue the Stetons, who he feels are innocent. With no other good ideas, he sends out a general comm for “Friends of Elijah Green.”
Meanwhile, despite her earlier hesitance, Saahna has suddenly decided that she wants to be with Derek. She proposes a Contract. Derek, though surprised, agrees.
Derek and Saahna are contracted, but as they are leaving, they are intercepted by several individuals identifying themselves as “Friends of Elijah Green.” They talk and later have a meeting that the rest of the crew appears uninterested in. Their new contacts reveal that the crew of the Grayswandir has been classified as an “Aleph-level Asset” by Jestin Former, back on Boilingbrook, and that they are willing to attempt to rescue the Stetons from being organ donors, in exchange for whatever information they might have. Everyone agrees.
Saahna wants to spend more time with Derek, and they leave for a resort far to the south. The resort only has periodic access to the local network, allowing them to spend more time to themselves during their Contract Week. Derek is concerned about taking care of the ship’s business, but Saahna convinces him that the trade he worries about doesn’t require constant attention.
The two spend some time at the resort. Derek starts to realize that maybe he doesn’t have to constantly monitor everything for the Grayswandir for them to continue to be profitable. Then, on one of the excursions from the resort, they encounter someone who gives a thinly-veiled threat that they, and any Imperial interests, should stay away from Tlianke’s plans for the Hinterworlds. The person delivering the threat immediately seems to forget what they said. Derek and Saahna think he may have been controlled through a Cyonic Implant, something far beyond the tech level of Gashuumi.
They then learn that the rest of the crew has been interrogated by TliSec about the Stetons, who have “somehow” escaped their prison. Since no one besides Derek and Saahna knew about the plans, the rest of the crew couldn’t reveal anything. Still, the two of them were now warned about TliSec’s interest and knew that they would likely be questioned as soon as they left the resort.
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Derek and Saahna were intercepted as soon as they cleared the border of the resort and forced to land nearby. They and the air-raft were searched by TliSec, but they found nothing. They were allowed to leave, but Derek found a sensor had been planted on the air-raft. He tossed it overboard, and they decided that there was nothing they could do before leaving the system.
They are contacted by the “Friends of Elijah Green,” who want them to exfiltrate a pair of their agents from a Fungus Barge off the coast of the main continent. They are told that the Stetons are safe and that they will receive what intel they had once they retrieve the assets. Derek agrees.
Returning to the hotel room they had left almost a week before, Derek finds a message from Radish waiting for him. It confirmed what he already knew about the Embers and the Spoilsports. It asked for the planned route of the Grayswandir to continue providing updates.
He and Saahna proceed to the crew meetup, but things do not go well. Both Shelly and Varan bring someone with them, and Varan becomes quite confrontational, actively turning his dislike toward Derek and Shelly. Shelly leaves, followed by Do’rex, and Jami and her companion leave soon after. Derek is upset by the situation but cannot do anything about it.
The next day, Varan brings his companion on board with him. This quickly becomes problematic as she tries to force her way onto the passenger deck. Then, as the Grayswandir is heading for its Jump point after picking up the assets they had promised to, she and Varan go to the Passenger Deck and pull guns on Shelly, demanding to see the Stetons.
Derek confronts them, only to find that a ship three times their size but showing no transponder is now following them on a parallel obit and demanding to speak with Evel, Varan’s companion. She is quickly out of her league, and Derek takes control of the conversation. He learns that the ship following them is a Solomani Cruiser, and Gashuumi COACC has no idea who they are. The other ship leaves, and the SDB COACC sent out to support them contacts the Grayswandir, offering full support. They even provide the “Preferred Partner” transponder settings they had not received previously. The Grayswandir jumps for Mupikaa, knowing that the Solomani ship will arrive before them.
The week in Jump is tense. Derek has to deal with angry passengers and angry crew members. He is able to deal with most of their concerns, but one fact remains clear. Varan is a problem. He has to decide if he will support his oldest friend or the rest of the Grayswandir‘s crew that he has endangered.