Some ten days shiptime, and approximately five years Calvary time, after their departure from Calvary the Old Speckled Hen arrived in the outskirts of the noticecably quiet Triffid system. No in system traffic appeared to be present, however scans did pick up a distress beacon from a lifepod floating adrift within the system.
As Interstellar law requires responding to any distress beacon, Captain Chavez ordered a rescue intercept, and some hours later the crew found themselves nervously pulling on board a one man sleeper pod with a noticeably tall and thin occupant. After some discussion, Dr Querido was called to help wake him, although it transpired her doctorate was in Xenolinguistics and Sociology and therefore possibly not as helpful as it could be. Nonetheless, she noticed the large red button marked "Press here to awaken occupant" and duly pressed it, waking Ugo Sardini, a young merchant spaceman who rapidly informed his rescuers that his ship had been destroyed by in-system hunter/killer drones.
Immediately calling the bridge, the Marquis of Ravenscar learnt that three fusion signatures had been picked up throughout the system, one swiftly turning off an intercept course but the others apparently looking to make contact with the Old Speckled Hen in around 12-14 hours. Captain Chavez decided to push the ship to its full 2g accelleration, and gave the order to secure the chickens, the goat and the passengers.
Both drones accellerated above 2g, and Ugo informed the group they were capable of up to 16g and so were likely merely taking the most fuel efficient intercept path, rather than cruising at maximum accelleration. With hours to go before their destruction, the crew reviewed their options, particularly taking account of their own lack of escape pods or fitted ship's gun. Careful calculations revealed no possibility of outrunning the drones or evading them.
Over the next few hours, the Marquis established radio contact with the drones, and managed to convince one's semi-smart onboard computer that the distance was too great for a likely intercept so causing it to abandon the chase. The other drone, now with only a few hours to intercept, continued relentlessly however. Contact with Triffid ground control was made, but proved unhelpful with ground control (an entity named Twilight Pearl) merely confirming its inability to provide assistance and wishing the crew a pleasant stay in Triffid in unusually formal terms.
Desperate to find some means of throwing off their pursuer, the crew scoured the ship for materials and created a decoy vessel. A fragile construct made of mirrors, sheeting and internal struts designed to look as much as possible like an object much larger than it actually was. The Marquis EVAd to finalise it, and Captain Chavez inserted the Old Speckled Hen's transponder to make it more convincing. Meanwhile, Ugo and Lt Higson-Smith moved the water from the hydroponics section to the airlock, preparing to dump it in their assailant's path. The decoy was launched, the Old Speckled Hen was fully powered down with all sitting in vaccuum in their vacc suits, and after some initial uncertainty the drone chose to pursue the decoy - not however before launching a speculative sub-missile to intercept with the Hen's projected flight path. The crew launched the water out of the ship, together with other spare supplies, in the hope of triggering the sub-missile early by impact with ice crystals and debris. The plan worked, the Hen suffered only minor damage, and some hours of silent running (so as not to realert the drone) later the Hen came into orbit with Triffid.
With Captain Chavez remaining in orbit with Velasquez, to check the damage to the ship and to take care of 315 (now issued with a touch screen computer in place of the tool kit it had somehow appropriated) respectively, the remaining crew took to the surface of Triffid. Exhaustive contamination checks were implemented, with an armed ground crew entering the vessel to check for possible contaminant life forms. The Marquis, on spotting a rat, chose to open fire on it with the ground crew therefore following suit, much expended ammo later the landing vessel was a little scuffed, and the rat nowhere to be seen.
Outside, the crew were greeted with drinks and sweets to refresh themselves by apparently friendly locals, dressed simply in plain brown and black clothes. A local guide introduced himself, and was hired by Higson-Smith, and it was explained that the colony housed a small Bwap population (who manned ground control comms among other duties) as well as Vargr and native sapient plants. On discussion with the locals, it became apparent that locally there was great concern with protecting the fragile native ecosystem, an attitude which was quite unusual within the Imperium. The starport itself was a blasted piece of open ground on a small island, with one other ship landed (the Dandelion) and in the distance a small town of around 40 buildings. Moving through the dense and humid air, the group strolled to the local (and only on the island) town, where they were once again greeted in friendly fashion and were given free drinks in the town bar - the Lotus Leaf, home to domino sharps, what passed for local toughs and indeed generally the mildest starport scum the party had ever really encountered. Enquiries around the starport also identified a potential buyer for the Hen's cargo, a local noble and government representative, the Baroness Alkorta.
After settling in, the crew explored local trade opportunities, discovering that a cut price shipment of assault rifles and ammunition was available having been salvaged from a pirate vessel which had been destroyed one year previously but which had left the hunter/killer drones in system. The guns were useless on Triffid (where flechette armed shotguns were more useful for what were essentially peacable farmers needing to shoot at little beyond minor pests), but would sell at a good price on Slough. Enquiries as to the local political situation revealed that the planet was ruled by a hereditary nobility, and that it was populaced primarily by Abjurers operating a humanist enclave with a deep concern for protecting the native sapients - many of whom lived on reservation areas which humans were not allowed to enter and others of which lived in free zones where limited contact was permitted. Deciding to take a trip to see the local colour, the crew chose to visit a free zone and see the natives.
The natives, tree like creatures with limited mobility and a very slow metabolism, lived in roofless clay structures and showed signs of herding and agricultural activities as well as limited use of tools such as sticks and pottery. A ziggurat-like clay structure, occupied the centre of their habitat, believed by locals to be for religious purposes. The Marquis, seeking to communicate, stood for half an hour until one approached and stood for another half an hour while it explored his form with its outer appendages. On his trying to similarly explore the native, it shuddered and withdrew, making for a strangely unsatisfying contact. Shortly thereafter, however, Higson-Smith was contacted by an unknown spacer unconvincingly seeking to pass herself off as a native and eventually claiming to be (together with two compatriots not present) part of the crew of the Esmeralda, Ugo's old vessel. Ugo quietly informed Higson-Smith that they were nothing of the kind, and it was concluded they were survivors of the pirate vessel which had left the drones at large. Not revealing that they had penetrated the pirates' ruse, the group left matters inconclusive promising to consider helping them offworld.
Returning to the starport, the crew checked the shipboard Imperial library database and found that the pirates were wanted for a range of crimes, including crashing an asteroid into an inhabited planet. Noting the seriousness of the offences, and Ugo wishing revenge, they notified starport securty (apparently one woman. the pump and cheerful Veronica Gibernau) and the Marquis was sworn in as a deputy with powers to assist in the capture of the pirate survivors.
The Dandelion was also approached, but her crew appeared more concerned over exactly which crimes had been committed and did not seem particularly outraged.
Later, the crew were again approached, this time by a spacer by the name of Raul Baiano (a Portugese name) who evidently bought passage from world to world, making his living along the way. Along with two associates, he wished to ship a ten tonne cargo on a no questions asked basis to Slough for a price of 200,000Cr. On enquiry, he finally revealed it was an illegal shipment of local lifeforms for General Tavarez's private zoo, but noted that laws vary planet to planet and argued that spacers should not consider themselves bound by pecularities of local law and custom such as Triffid's onerous native life protection legislation.
After some internal discussion, the crew notifed starport security of this approach also, and were informed that the offworlders would be working with local help and were asked to assist in their arrest also. A retired spacer, a tall and apparently elderly African woman referred to as Binta, was brought in from a remote island, spoke with each member of the crew and confirmed (on what evidence was unclear) to the local authorities that the crew's account was wholly honest, and with this confirmation it appeared that the local authorities had full trust and confidence in the Hen's crew.
Accordingly, their first few days on planet having found them local trade contacts, contacts within the government and security service and a good grasp of local conditions, the crew readied themselves for assisting in the arrest of violent and probably armed criminals and interplanetary smugglers...
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