Section 3: Travel to the Discovery

Things Wilson will reveal, if asked:

• He is a bit nervous because of the losses of Pioneer III and Pathfinder. He will tell players about the lost ships if they press.
• Discovery is one of the most advanced ships in CDC's fleet, and the crew is top-notch. Wilson and Tredd have been working together for 14 years.
• His scar and Blue Star for Gallantry are from an accident aboard the frigate UPFS Solaris. In FY 91, while on routine patrol in the Araks system, there was an accidental explosion and fire. Wilson, the chief astrogator at the time, rescued two unconscious crewmen from a compartment before it was sealed and the air was evacuated, extinguishing the fire. Badly burned, Wilson spent two months recovering in a hospital on Groethe Station, the UPF fortified space station at Hentz.
• He had two brief combat encounters with Sathar during SWII. Both were in FY 89 while he was assigned to the assault scout UPFS Shooting Star during the siege at Outpost #1. Both times, his ship was part of a small force dispatched to drive off lone Sathar blockade runners.
• He had a third combat experience, this one in FY 94 as skipper of the Solaris. In the Gruna Garu system, he engaged and defeated two pirate corvettes trying to capture a freighter. Solaris destroyed one vessel and disabled the other, which was boarded and captured when militia reinforcements arrived.
• His work for CDC has included some ground-based exploration of Alcazzar, development of new star routes to the Rim from Fromeltar and Kisk-Kar ("We'll beat those Capellan Free Merchants at their own game!"), and a couple of other things that he cannot discuss. These unmentionables include secret exploration of the New Streel and Pan-Gal systems without those mega-corps knowledge, and work on developing faster methods for astrogation.

Your shuttle arrives at Yolen Station two hours after liftoff from the surface. CDC maintenance robots pick up your gear and hurry off. Wilson leads you to a docking bay observation deck. Through the window, you see a sleek spacecraft, looking vaguely like an assault scout. The Cassidine Development Corporation logo is visible on the wing, and the word "Discovery" is emblazoned on her bow.

Several beings in spacesuits bearing a mix of CDC and Yolen Station logos are walking in magnetic boots on her hull, with activity centered around her port engine. You see a spacesuit-clad Dralasite emerge from an access panel on the engine. Wilson waves through the window. The Dralasite waves back, then closes the panel.

A large launch appears from a large airlock on the side of the docking bay, and floats lazily to Discovery's cargo door. Two robots, directed by a Yolen Station technician, begin to load containers aboard the ship from the launch. Wilson says, "There's you gear, folks. You'll be able to get at it when the cargo hold is repressurized. Let's get aboard and get you situated."

The PCs get enough time to find their bunks and trade quick conversations with their crewmates. The NPC dossiers have personality profiles. Use them to role-play some conversations. Braeme has a standing challenge. He will play chess against anyone for a wager of 100 Cr. Wilson is not above a little poker (when he has time), especially if two or three people would join in. If you wish, actually play a game of chess or a few hands of poker, with you as Braeme or Wilson (keeping in mind that Wilson won't have time to play cards right away, he has a course to plot).

Wilson announces that it is time to get underway. The PC's strap themselves in as Yolen Station's computer pilots Discovery out of the docking bay. Wilson takes over the controls when they are clear of the station. They begin to accelerate away from the station at 1 g.

It is assumed that soon after Discovery gets underway, Frabok (or the PC backup pilot) takes the controls so that Wilson can continue his course calculations. The PC's will now find out about the full nature of their mission, if Wilson hasn't already told them. Try to reveal this in conversation with one of the crew.