Alone Among The Derelicts (Day 3)

Just another day stripping the bones of derelict starships on the outskirts of the Lost Republic. Maybe this time, we can make some money.

    I got a chance to play a couple of rounds of B. Everett Dutton's hack of Alone Among The Stars this past week while I was on vacation. Record of play for Day 3 is below.

Ellen Schwarzschild, company log #389. Derelict: Terran Experimental Vessel Cressida. Four blips.

    Most of the Cressida is crunched. Looks like a fast freighter. Only way in is through the airlock in the bridge. Most of the tech is standard, worthless, especially as trashed as it is, but a little bit of poking around turns up an unopened bottle of '62 Chateau Picardo in a hidden compartment under the captain's chair. I can definitely get Two Credits for this stuff.

Crossing to the main airlock, just below the bridge. Whole place is torn apart. Looks like another grenade, like on the Augustus Shining. Someone blew this place up on purpose, explosively decompressed the main deck and left everyone to die. What could have gone so wrong that someone would have decided to vent the ship? Gives me the willies. Poking around, I find a mostly intact vacc suit. Very vintage. Very desirable for the jet-set crowd. Definitely could get Two Credits for it.

There's more to the ship, but the explosive decompression in the main airlock has me scared. I'm not sure I want to know what went wrong here. Packing up the wine and the suit, I hurry back to the ship. 

Nothing chases me. Nothing emerges from the darkness or tries to eat me. I'm safe for now, and I'm four credits richer for it as well. Calling it a day.*

AutoNav gave me another prompt to think about: What do you think of the Salvage Corporation you work for? 

Very funny, AutoNav. No way I'm falling for that one. That's bait.

But honestly, Allied Interspace isn't the worst corp to work for. I'm still alive. That's something.

Currently, I've got enough credits to live for another 6 days. I've recouped my losses and I'm making some headway. Only seventy-seven thousand credits worth of debt left to pay off!

This is Ellen Schwarzchild, captain of the LaVerna Class Ol' Rusty, signing off.

- + -

*So, I realized that if the game is going to have an insta-death card draw (or at least a loss of all currently collected salvage card draw per House Rule #1,) then it needs a "Bug Out" option. So, House Rule #2- You can bug out early, call it a day and leave the rest of the ship unexplored, as the more rooms you explore, the more likely you are to draw a joker.