Back to Tobia

On 1107-008, the Varikuur and its two support ships the Silver Nemesis and Ghostlight were ready to leave the system of Shekerleb in the Corellan League. Having collected information on the various polities across the sectors of Trojan Reach, Beyond and as best they could the Vanguard Reaches, the Varikuur was about to push on into uncharted space.

However, in order to ensure that the information got back to Tobia in time for the Deepnight Revelation to make use of, two fast couriers were sent back to Tobia, via Floria and the Outrim Void.

The fast couriers are 200t craft with Jump-5 and capable of 5g thrust, designed to take messages as quickly as possible across long distances. The jump-6 variants are slightly quicker, but too cramped for the sort of long journey that was required in this case.

Scout Ship Logs

1107-007: Shekerleb / The Beyond / 1214

We’ve been given the task of heading back to Tobia with the mission update. Our target is to reach Tobia by 1107-137, a journey of almost five months with little time for R&R on stops. We’ve done similar missions before, but not of quite this length. Our plan is to get back home as early as possible.

1107-014: Salin / The Beyond / 1417

It’s a 13 hour trip into the main world, a small dry world with barely any atmosphere, and a thin river running around the world’s equator. The star port here is a sorry excuse for a trading post, in the middle of the small town of Brokkenfield,  population maybe ten thousand people. Most of the population is human, though we spotted a few Vargr and Aslan amongst the inhabitants.

There’s meant to be an old Ancient’s site down near the river (called, imaginatively, The River, by the local population), a subterranean ruin that is mostly either flooded or filled with silt. Several people tried to sell us trinkets which were supposedly from there, but they looked fake to us.

At least they sold refined fuel here, but the only other ship was an old liner which didn’t look like it was capable of leaving any time soon. It was being used as a bar/brothel by the locals, and seemed the only place to have any sort of quality control on the beer and food.

We left 016, heading out to jump and leaving the system early 017.

1107-021: Wi / The Beyond / 1720

Wi isn’t much of a world, a small rocky moon around a gas giant which uses to be a military fortress since before the Long Night. It has been abandoned and repopulated countless times in the intervening centuries, not always by the most civilised of folk.

Most recently it was a pirate base, and several of them are still here, though sealed and hidden away in the tunnels and ancient weapon silos beneath the surface.

The star port is controlled by the Corellan Navy, who hold it to prevent anyone else from taking advantage of it.

The port itself is reasonable, though a hodgepodge of systems and facilities raided from other places which has only just begun to be replaced and upgraded by the navy.

Whilst we were here refuelling, there was a brief alarm as some of the inhabitants tried to break through to the surface to escape, but they were repelled without the gunfire coming close enough for us to here it.

1107-031: Lehahnu / The Beyond / 2120

The world’s have got worse since Salin. Another moon with a small outpost, this time a corporation running secret experiments, no doubt some activity in the sub-surface oceans beneath the moon’s frozen crust.

Whatever it is, it’s provided Lehahnu with a big B class port which itself has a population bigger than that of the research centre here.

We were kept away from anything interesting, and the security around the place is tight. At least there were decent corporate hotels, though we think all the rooms were bugged.

The Republic was obviously interested in what a couple of Imperium couriers were doing here, and several charming young men were available to wine, dine and I guess provide other entertainment during the night.

Though on the surface everything was stable, there was an undercurrent of tension here, as if everyone was waiting for something to happen. The news is either about the Sred*Ni or the Aslan, and though the Republic doesn’t want to admit it I think many people are terrified.

1107-040: Tellus / The Beyond / 2518

At last another real world rather than a half arsed frozen moonlet. Tellus has barely a third standard gravity, a little bit of liquid water, and enough atmosphere to breathe – if you lay on your back in a valley and don’t perform any physical activity.

The star town here is another over provisioned industrial park, this time with multiple different companies all undoubtedly working on things that can’t be researched within the borders of any civilised nation.

The security in most of the research buildings was greater than on most banks, and the orbital defences are impressive and somewhat paranoid around the high port. Speaking from experience, it is highly recommended not to be sarcastic towards space traffic control.

1107-053: Indarin / The Beyond / 3015

This is the first Florian world that I’ve been to, a small desert world with a thin atmosphere with a high sulphur content. The star port is well maintained with some good facilities, but the sight of the short Barnai and tall Feskals is always odd, and makes me somewhat uncomfortable.

1107-61: Flora / Trojan Reach / 0213

Floria itself is the home world of the Florians, a smallish dry world with reddish deserts with patches of green in places. It’s the most populous and high tech world we’ve seen for a while though, so it was a welcome relief to finally arrive here. Being able to make use of some of the ‘luxuries’ of the ISS offices is definitely welcomed.

We’re leaving a copy of our records here in case we don’t make it back to Tobia, but our plan is to head straight across the Outrim Void, through Tyr, Blue, Wildeman and up to Tobia.

1107-076: Forandin / Trojan Reach / 0716

The sixth world of Forandin is a Jovian world, relatively plain and boring, but well outside the star’s jump mask. It was quick and boring, though we got pinged by the Florian naval base soon after we came out of jump. We have a few tweaks to the jump drive that need to be taken care of, but hopefully that shouldn’t take too long.

1107-089: Janus / Trojan Reach / 1216

Janus itself is a tidally locked ‘twilight world’, with a thin strip of land around the terminator that is actually habitable. There were small fleets of refugee ships here, demanding to land on the planet, but the Imperium military industries were refusing to let them land. Heading to the gas giant was easiest, though I got the distinct impression that not all the ships were as they seemed, and a couple followed us until we accelerated away at speed. We only had a partial tank of fuel, but it was enough to reach Tyr.

1107-100: Tyr / Trojan Reach / 1518

Tyr was an interesting choice for us to have made, and unlike the other systems we headed straight into the High Port. I had a definite feeling of being watched here by too many eyes – most of them well armed. The Tyrian Lordships promise a degree of safety, but they also support several pirate groups that are more than willing to attack defenceless targets. The world was still recovering from an attack by the Glorious Empire a few weeks ago, so everything was still on high alert.

We paid for fuel with Imperium Credit, and left as quickly as we could.

1107-110: Thebus / Trojan Reach / 1919

Thebus is a lightly populated world with a star port that is too big. Large parts of the port feel as if they’re unused, built back at the height of the Empire of Sindal, but now reduced in importance and usage. The world is small, with a thin atmosphere, and though much of the surface is green – it’s a sort of off putting yellowish colour that makes it look diseased. Which much of is it given the biological weapons used in the war.

There were several yachts and their armed escorts docked here, no doubt rich nobles looking to hunt the no-doubt endangered species that survive on the surface amongst the ruins. Personally, I wouldn’t want to stay here any longer than necessary. We purchased the fuel we needed and fled.

1107-119: Blue / Trojan Reach / 2421

Blue is a small world of dying grasslands and drying seas, with a large proportion of its water locked up in its giant ice caps. Like Thebus, it also has an oversized star port, but this one feels spacious rather than empty. Apparently the ruined cities are a good tourist attraction here, and are biologically safer than those of Thebus. It has a few good restaurants, and the hotel looked reasonably price and good quality – at least the restaurant there was good. Not high class, but nothing to complain about.

There were ‘new’ episode’s of Tobia Uncovered! being streamed, our first hint that we are actually getting close to the Imperium.

There are supposedly lots of refuelling options in the oort clouds here, but most of the charted ones are already claimed by pirates or factions which don’t class themselves as pirates but who are probably just as bad. If we’d been here in the Varikuur, I wouldn’t have worried, but for us refuelling at the star port was the safest option.

1107-129: Wildeman / Trojan Reach / 2819

Wildeman is just as odd as it’s always been. The main world is a satellite of the first gas giant Pan, but refuelling at Pan is never recommended. Things happen beneath the cloud layers of that world which nobody understands. Instead we settled into the orbital dockyards at Ashiga Highport and refuelled there.

As expected, we were accosted by the Listeners who hounded us for donations to their cause. I have no intention of chasing ghosts, or helping others do the same, so we ignored them as best as we could.

This is our last stop before entering the Imperium again, not quite a year after leaving Tobia.

1107-139: Fist / Trojan Reach / 2918

We haven’t actually come to Fist – nobody ever does. Well, not unless you can afford the Cr50,000/week berthing fees. Instead we stopped at Dore, a moon of the fifth world of the system. The prices here are sane, and it’s also where all the actual traders hang out, so most of the star port hotels and entertainment is here.

1107-148: Tobia / Trojan Reach / 3215

Finally we jump out in the Tobia system. Tobia itself was hidden in the jump shadow of the star, so we had to make a 100Mkm trip across the system to reach the main world. The sight of glorious Tobia made for a welcome homecoming. Truly one of the shining beacons of the Imperium in the Reach. Twenty billion people soon gets boring though, so in a few months we’ll probably be want to be out in the black again, but for now we can put the ships in for a well-overdue overhaul get some R&R – after we’ve delivered our final reports.