CHAPTER ONE:
The Cactus Rose is parked on (Boros III) and actively hiring crew for contract hauling steel parts.
Apply to botdroid LEON dr549, probably left to analyze visitors. Owner is listed as Paul Jones. [LEON is an artificial Law Enforcement Officer, dr549 is a phone number for the landing pad.]

The forward ramp darkly gapes ominously silent, tattered crime scene tape drifting. Word on the street is the previous crew disappeared, following a rumor of oldtech. No one has been in or out.

Onboard, they left scattered notes:
1 – On the workbench is a sleek prototype skinsuit for a small person, under it, “Rio said he hid the map in the catacombs.” [catacombs you know of are 20 orbits out in a smelting furnace – Masursky]
2 – On a clipboard, “We found the old man covered in ochre,” with additional note: “Who wrote this?”
3 – A business card, fresh off the main printer, “Droid Hunters, Inc. Kathleen Philpott dr549”.
4 – Upon closer examination, there are 6 cards w names. All ‘phone numbers’ are dr549.
5 – A note on astro-nav, “where is the missing tape? we can’t link to jump without a complete map.”

RESULTS: Sylla and Randall took the Ghost Ship on a field shake-down and visited with forge workers and pilots about the constant runs out to the military builds. It seems there is a LAC carrier and two battleships being added to the 6 forts and two battleships controlled by Vera of Boros. According to chatter, it was common to deliver LAC parts for months on end. Sylla examined the advanced vacuum suit on the bench, noting a self-healing nanite ‘skin’ and several printed plastic parts. Two of these parts belonged to a physically damaged and cannibalized computer CPU.

Sylla tried a few parts to attempt to determine what the computer was and examine its function. It was a memory core from a long dead war android. The parts had been jury rigged into a self-repairing skin for the suit. The memory core answered and asked questions related to the 4k War of the Machines. She found this unwise in the extreme and disconnected everything. Randall agreed this wasn’t healthy. Upon unloading at Beau Jeste, they got a timed-email demand letter to return a computer that was borrowed over a year ago. Deposit to be returned. Signed Errol LaFallon. This was super spooky so they carefully disassembled the damaged computer, mashed the memory core into paste, threw it into the suit. Since this unit must be almost 1270 years old. It sounded like it dated from the original machine war. Added to the ‘death suit’, it could have controlled its size and repairs. It is unknown where this memory unit’s body is.

To remedy all states of affairs, they surrendered the old-tech computer to a pilot named Errol and were repaid two six ounce gold bars. He had a very heavy carry case into which he pitched the broken unit. He thanked them politely and then spat, “and I never want anything to do with Kathleen Philpott. Or any of that insanity. Please forget you met me.” He seemed under duress. Rose answered that this was Errol LaFallon the famous pilot/rimrunner. Warrant for him on the bounty-board.

They pulled out of the station, Atropos, and caught a fast-lane to the FTL rendezvous point to dodge any questions and dump the now uncontrolled nanite vacc suit into space. They found they had to wrestle it into the lock with a broom, as it ate into the rubber seal on the deck. It hadn’t eaten any metal (probe nor nylon).
Back at Boros3, they tracked down who was signing their paychecks of 5kcr. The owner is listed as Paul Jones, Tragedy Inc. Account management by SCMS, Ted James. The owner left for Mars on a 4 year round trip pilgrimage of sorts. He resembles the pilot who ran away, scruffy with a special forces beret. The account representative for Tragedy is Ted James, who has an office in Merchant Lane. He turned out to be a hustler. He sets them up for automatic cargo runs.
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CHAPTER TWO:
STATUS: The Red Rose is parked on Boros III – Owen’s Town landing strip, actively hiring crew for contract hauling steel parts. Next pickup date is in two days. This will probably mean waiting in line at the Mazursky foundry again. HINT. Story Hooks: “We found the old man covered in ochre” – note 2. “Rio said he hid the map in the catacombs.” – note 1. “where is the missing tape? we can’t link to jump without a complete map.” note 5.
HIRING FOR: Pilot, Mechanic, Hacker, Combat, Gunner

NEXT GAME: Stuck with a repair, the crew risk missing their cargo window for their second monthly run to Mazurski. Randall the pilot is sick in his stateroom with a flu he picked up on Atropos. (Wolf will be out a few weeks.) Our biologist (played by Karlina who is out a week) needs to recruit a mechanic and another pilot. Maybe even a cargo specialist. Our mechanic (Augustus) has never showed for a game (exlpanation, got drunk never came back).

Former crew was Hudson, Rio, Paul and LeonXL10. Previous employees include Malachi [gunshot accidental], AE0ne [gunshot to hard disk], Wil [suicide]

Missing during jump: PASSENGERS Vo Choi and Gypsy [with gear].

THE REPAIRS: a rubber! sheath that passes through the IS8 docking ring (map 5), goes through the deck to forward storage (map 12), presumably this is where the rubber is leaking and requires silicone repairs. Weird problem. The cable doesn’t come out in the visible ceiling space. The storage areas have been ‘disappeared’ by the passenger ramp upgrade. The areas are covered with faux mahogany panels.

THE NOTES [background] : War Droids = What did Kathleen know? She billed herself as an android hunter. Why was she seeking pre-war maps of Kos? Why did she have a live solid state memory from a war android?
Hyperspace Map = Rio hid a “Map” in the foundry. The foundry will let you fill a half-ton bin of smelting ore. One of which is hydrated ferric oxide, or FeO(OH) also known as “ochre” in which the old man was covered.

Point of the game. = > Follow The Missing Tapes:
Hell Divers in the Furnace = locate ‘special’ tape = Someone hid this

Search Tapes = Determine what makes it special = Marked 455MW

Research the fake “Kathleen Philpott”. What is her interest in Telsix? Where is she if not crew or passenger? Check cryo containers?
Map = how has it changed since IS8 maps were redrawn [from older to 4668AD (668MW)] = did it disappear?

What is this worth?

Sectors Without Numbers: https://sectorswithoutnumber.com/sector/r1EdZEfvIN6ua9liBXBT

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THE ANSWERS:

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*Mature Group Warning: This is R21-rated horror-style content, the menu includes all the horror [not a ‘safe space’], drugs, xenos, war, debt, theft, weather, apocalypse, terrorism, nuclear war, police states, asphyxiation, pirates, cannibalism, and gore. If you have ANY “sensitivities” or use the word “triggered” unironically, this is not for you.