The Albatross

Current Holder: The crew — docked at Rangi Station above Dinon I, having flown in from the outer rim of the Dinon System after cutting the ship free of Chae-gul 147 over Katha IV and jumping straight out by vortex drive; before that at Furosuto Supaia Spaceport on Katha V (a detour made under a system-wide lockdown); arrived in the Katha system from Peric IV D by way of Santo Jin's Station over Peric III (a drop-off and pick-up) and a drive jump into the system between Katha and Katha IV, with a cargo of mining equipment

Origin: Seized from the Kinetic Logistics Compound on Thides III

Overview

An older, heavily modified transport the crew stole from the Kinetic Logistics Compound on Thides III — and, for the first time since Processing II, hard, portable proof of everything they’ve seen. Its passenger interior was gutted for cargo, with unfamiliar modifications bolted on near the engines. In the cockpit, Six found alien technology wired directly into the navigation computer, with coordinates logging a recent jump straight into the planet’s atmosphere — bypassing the orbital satellite net entirely. The drives that did it are illegal vortex engines, the kind normally found only on large military vessels, that punch holes into hyperspace without a gate.

The hull itself is a Horizon Aerospace ST-160 — an upper-medium-tier starship built for atmospheric landings, the kind of ship companies buy when they want something a step above bare-bones without paying for a luxury yacht. This one has been stripped of that comfort and run hard: passenger fittings torn out for cargo, unfamiliar modifications bolted on near the drives.

The rear compartment held blocks of alien technology — “bricks” a technician was still wiring when Six ambushed him — rigged to external detonator lines that ran down the gangplank. Six spotted the wires on the way in; the crew reeled them inside before they could be triggered. Ronin Sanchez flew the hull out of the compound under fire, dodging biological blobs on the climb, and set course for MacMillian Station IV with the prisoner aboard.

Properties

• Hull class: Horizon Aerospace ST-160 (upper-medium-tier, atmosphere-capable), older and beat-up; cargo-converted; bolt-on engine modifications.
• Propulsion: illegal vortex engines — gateless hyperspace jumps.
• Navigation: alien-integrated nav computer; last jump logged directly into atmosphere.
• Cargo: alien “bricks,” formerly rigged to external detonators (now defused).
• Aboard: the crew, plus Marlo Petrak — prisoner turned probationer turned volunteer.
• Current status (Session 12): docked at Rangi Station above Dinon I in the Dinon System, after a blind jump out of the Katha System from Chae-gul 147. Still carries the legal federal transponder registered to Shackleton Magellan, left on through Katha, so Furosuto Supaia Spaceport and Chae-gul 147 both have the ship by name. Marlo Petrak is aboard as crew.

Appearances

• Session 3 (Session 03 - Buckle Up Motherfuckers) — Scouted, boarded, and stolen from the Kinetic Logistics Compound; flown off-world as the crew’s new vessel and their first solid evidence.
• Session 4 (Session 04 - The Case of the Missing Courtesan) — Lost. Flown home on the last of its thrust fuel, hailed en route by Julija Borja and ordered in under transponder. Shackleton Magellan used the three-hour flight to fit a covert Stealth Tracking Gizmo to its transponder relay and to work out what the Alien Navigation Device in its nav computer actually does. On arrival it was impounded and quarantined at Docking Bay 36 on the Marshal’s order and locked down by Holger Graeme. When Shackleton later pinged the tracker, nothing answered — the hull had already left the Thides System, taking the alien navigation device, the illegal vortex engines, and the hold of alien technology with it.
• Session 6 (Session 06 - The Albatross Takes Flight) — Recovered and christened. Named the Albatross during the four-day transit; hull patched; Corwin II raid and escape.
• Session 7 (Session 07 - The Goodwin Contract) — Refit and grounded at Aethel Starport. The Corwin autopilot seizure exposed as a hijack via a comms-array attachment; answered with the Autopilot Kill Switch. Biometric entry re-keyed by Marlo Petrak. Talked past The Montgomery with a fast transponder activation; inspection promised and skipped. Provisioned with twelve days of rations; fuse capacitor bought for the third airlock button; Rock Lavey’s medbay upgrade blocked on finding a starship engineer. A coded transponder — the ship’s biggest liability — is the payment on The Goodwin Contract.
• Session 8 (Session 08 - A Crappy Plan Comes Together) — Docked on the public pad throughout. Ronin Sanchez stayed aboard for the initial city scouting. Marlo Petrak is unmentioned all session and presumably aboard.
• Session 9 (Session 09 - Snakes on a Catwalk) — Registered. Roselyn Monroe installed a legal federal transponder beneath the hull an hour after the handoff and registered the ship as the Albatross under Shackleton Magellan’s name. Bamboo Union workers loaded Firetemic Cargo Crates into the hold for the run to Peric IV D.
• Session 10 (Session 10 - Six Shooters and Four Arms) — Carried the Firetemic Cargo Crates from Aethel to Acheron’s Rest by the gate route, six days in hyperspace. Shackleton Magellan found that the former mess hall holds a compact alien jump drive storing energy on the scale of a dreadnought’s capacitor array in about five yards by four; a direct hit while it is charged would destroy the ship and everything near it, and it takes roughly four hours to power up after a jump. The cargo bay doubled as a sparring floor. Restocked with food and water; left on the pad with Marlo Petrak aboard.
• Session 11 - The Cost of a Clone’s Life — Lifted from Acheron’s Rest to a hidden pad on Harding Roberts’s land, carried crates and two clones to Santo Jin’s Station over Peric III, then made a blind jump to the Katha System, four days in transit.
• Session 12 - That Would Be a Mistake — Came out of its blind jump clear of ships waiting at the Peric gate, sat out The Katha Lockdown on pad twelve at Furosuto Supaia Spaceport, and was hull-scanned and searched there with the cargo unfound. At Chae-gul 147 Six cut its docking locks and stabbed a tracking beacon off its hull, and Shackleton Magellan took it to the edge of the Dinon System by blind jump (The Chae-gul 147 Breakaway). Gained a bumper sticker and a fuzzy jellyfish for the console.
• Session 13 - Albatross Security LLC - The Zenith Job — Parked in orbit off Rangi Station with the last rations eaten. A supply drone delivered a 25-credit MRE crate to the outer airlock, and the crew left her for the planet.
• Session 14 - Iced Tea — In orbit off Rangi Station while the crew worked on Dinon I. Tim ruled her sublight drive reactionless, with a minuscule fuel top-up every so often; The Albatross - Ship Sheet was published for the crew.