Smoke still curled against the horizon as the Celestial Princess settled on its landing struts at Port Sultane, the only major settlement on Aidah. Just hours earlier, its crew had escaped certain death, first from the ruins of Kanergi Ekta, and then from the precarious jump through drill space. But now, as the repurposed smuggling frigate docked for fuel, repairs, and the first real food they’d tasted in months, the air carried something more dangerous than decay or desperation—politics.

The spaceport’s quiet hum of commerce had been shattered by coordinated explosions, sending plumes of fire into the sky and panic through the ranks of the local authorities. Even as their ship refueled, Jarek, Jun, Daniil, and E-20 raced from the landing pad to a nearby fuel junction under siege. Smoke and laserfire laced the air as Jarek’s fists cracked bone and crushed windpipes. Daniil scrambled down scaffolding toward the exposed explosive rig, and E-20—heedless of her own safety—plummeted from the elevated platform like a gleaming steel comet. She hit hard, sparks skittering across the ferrocrete, but rose, undeterred, already scanning the device.

The enemy moved in squads, masked and armored, their weapons trained on the fuel pumps and anyone foolish enough to get in their way. Jarek moved with brutal clarity, turning warning shots into funerary salvos. When two of the saboteurs tried to flee, they found themselves caught between Jun’s pulsing psi-rifle and a wall of telekinetic force. Flesh tore, bones cracked, and the trench stank of ozone and blood.

E-20 and Daniil bent over the bomb, tools whirring, fingers steady. There was no time for hesitation—only precision. In the end, it was Daniil who severed the right wire, and the flickering red light died in silence.

Above them, Cassian coordinated the operation from the bridge, feeding warnings over the comms, watching the skirmish from the safety of the ship’s eye. Konrad, deep in the ship’s systems, intercepted comm chatter and detected the most troubling development yet: a strike craft descending from orbit, sent by the Ascendant Will, the warship belonging to the Triumvirate Ascendancy.

When the smoke cleared and the fuel lines resumed their stuttering flow, Jarek and Jun stood sentinel beside the pump while E-20 and Daniil monitored the refueling. The Celestial Princess had not yet completed her intake when port authorities shut the pumps down entirely. The Syndicate’s attack, while thwarted in part by the crew, had left the spaceport limping and paranoid.

The gratitude of House Sultane came not in the form of a wreath or a medal, but an invitation to dinner.

The Sovereign Heir of Aidah, Caelan Sultane, greeted them not with words, but with a raised glass. He stood like a prince from a long-dead empire, golden embroidery catching the overhead lights, flanked by military officers and administrative elites. Around the long dining table, the crew of the Celestial Princess found themselves far from the rusted hallways of arcologies and prison camps—bathed instead in fragrant steam, polished crystal, and dangerously opulent civility.

They wore hastily purchased finery. Cassian in a commanding navy ensemble that lent credibility to his newfound rank. Jun, a chitinous black rifle slung invisibly over her shoulder, dressed like a priestess of lost truths. Jarek’s frame barely fit his tailored suit, and he looked seconds from either exploding into violence or laughter.

The meal was decadent, the conversation pointed. Caelan Sultane was charismatic in the way of practiced men: he spoke of civilization with the reverence of a missionary and the arrogance of a conqueror. His compliments to the crew’s heroism were wrapped in the implication that they were, by their nature, tools to be wielded.

Jarek, when prompted to recount the events of the attack, obliged with the unflinching honesty of a soldier who had no need for metaphor. “Snapped one’s neck. Crushed another’s spine. Took a shot, gave better back.” There was no embellishment—only anatomy, momentum, and the memory of blood. Sultane’s guests shifted uncomfortably, but one of the Ascendant Will’s officers—Aric Voss—seemed intrigued.

Jun, ever the diplomat, softened the edges of Jarek’s violence, couching it in strategic necessity and valor. Between her polished phrasing and Jarek’s raw presence, the table found itself forced to accept that the crew had not just defended the port—they had saved it.

It wasn’t long before the Sovereign Heir made his true request.

The Syndicate, once the de facto rulers of this colony, now operated as a resistance against Sultane’s claim. They threatened to reactivate a terraforming protocol—a planetary refresh wave that would render the colony uninhabitable. Sultane believed it was a bluff. Or perhaps he feared it wasn’t. Either way, he needed someone to find them. Someone unknown to the locals. Someone expendable.

He offered a reward: full resupply of the Celestial Princess, parts, fuel, stores, and—after Jun and the others negotiated with surprising finesse—an upgrade to the ship’s systems and a substantial shipment of trade goods.

Sultane watched them as they considered. “The Syndicate believes this world is theirs,” he said, swirling his sapphire wine. “I’m here to remind them who it truly belongs to.”

Jun exchanged a look with Jarek, whose jaw was still tight. Cassian gave a slow nod. Konrad, E-20, and Gray had already begun assessing the logistics. They were not beholden to House Sultane, but they could not ignore what was at stake. Genocide disguised as ideology. A civilization hanging by rusted threads.

If the Syndicate truly held the means to activate the terraforming refresh, they had to be stopped. Or at least understood.

And if Sultane was lying—well, they’d dealt with tyrants before.

They accepted.

As the dinner concluded, Caelan Sultane raised his glass once more. “To new alliances,” he said, and behind his smile, the crew saw the hunger of a man who mistook control for power.

They returned to the Celestial Princess later that evening, beneath a sky washed in city lights and stars too distant to care. The ship—scratched, scorched, and humming with new possibilities—awaited them.

They had made their first bargain in the wider galaxy.

And already, it tasted like blood.

Session Notes

  • Opening Mention of Recap

    • The session begins with talk about how the next recap might incorporate earlier poetic recaps from previous sessions.
    • A poetic summary of Session One is briefly referenced.

  • Extended Recap of Session One

    • The group was held in a prison colony on the planet Kinergi Ekta, forced into labor.
    • Characters Jun Minh, Jarek Thorn, Cassian Vrye, Konrad Paxt, Grald “Gray” Camrin, and Daniil Rylenor seized a chance at escape when sent to investigate a mysterious signal in an abandoned arcology.
    • They traveled through a pine forest, found a derelict outpost, and fought reanimated, zombie-like creatures.
    • The group discovered rusted laser rifles in the outpost and found a derelict grav-truck in a garage. Daniil managed to repair it.
    • Continuing onward, they outmaneuvered a surveillance drone by hacking its telemetry to circle elsewhere. This allowed them to avoid a horde of the transformed.
    • The arcology itself was in ruins, full of abandoned belongings and signs of a deadly outbreak.
    • Using an elevator bank, they found a merchant frigate on the rooftop: the Luminous Run.
    • A small droid, E-20, emerged, explaining the ship’s abandoned state.
    • The group managed to power the frigate’s systems and took off from Kinergi Ekta, leaving the prison world behind.

  • Ship Renamed to Celestial Princess & Journey After Escape

    • After escaping, the group renamed the Luminous Run to the Celestial Princess, sometimes jokingly calling it other names.
    • E-20 remained on board to assist; it revealed the ship’s smuggler features, including stealth drives.
    • The ship traveled to the perimeter of the old system and made a jump through drill space.
    • The party explored a derelict outpost near a system’s edge, gathering dwindling food supplies and dealing with low fuel.

  • Arriving in the New System: Ada/Aidah

    • The system contained two potentially habitable worlds: Astra (toxic conditions, uncertain environment) and Aidah (colonized to some extent).
    • While investigating, they picked up transmissions indicating a noble house—House Sultane—had made claim to Aidah, and a vessel called the Ascendant Will was in tense negotiations.
    • The party, low on fuel and food, decided to land on Aidah for resupply rather than risk the toxic planet.

  • Landing at Port Sultane

    • They approached a spaceport referred to as Port Sultane on Aidah.
    • On arrival, they had to provide a ship name (Celestial Princess) and declare a captain (Cassian Vrye).
    • A port inspection team, led by a woman named Tessa, boarded the ship, examining it for safety.
    • The Celestial Princess’s outdated design intrigued the inspectors, but they found no overt illegal modifications at first glance.
    • Midway through the inspection, distant explosions rocked the spaceport.

  • Attack on the Spaceport

    • Explosions occurred near the perimeter wall of Port Sultane.
    • The party saw laser fire and discovered a group of armed attackers planting bombs at fuel junctions.
    • Tessa and her team quickly disembarked, while the party prepared to defend their fuel pump and protect the ship.

  • Characters Splitting for Combat

    • Cassian remained aboard the Celestial Princess, monitoring communications and preparing the ship for possible emergency lift-off.
    • Konrad tapped into local radio chatter, confirming multiple assaults on fuel pumps and the presence of a group called the Syndicate.
    • E-20 and Daniil jumped or climbed down toward the fuel junction to deal with the bomb. Jarek and Jun Minh also converged on the attackers.
    • In the trench by the pump, a hostile threatened to destroy the fuel junction in 30 seconds. Jarek and Jun Minh engaged them.

  • Bomb Disarmed; Syndicate Attackers Neutralized

    • Jarek killed two of the attackers with brutal efficiency. He sustained some laser fire but remained active.
    • Jun Minh used telekinetic weaponry, lightly injuring one attacker.
    • Two more Syndicate members attempted to shoot Jarek but were dispatched when he rushed forward, snapping necks and overpowering them.
    • Daniil and E-20 succeeded in disabling the planted bomb, using their Fix and technical skills.
    • During the skirmish, other explosions went off elsewhere in the spaceport; the Syndicate inflicted damage before retreating.

  • Aftermath of the Attack

    • The party secured their immediate vicinity, preventing fuel pump destruction near the Celestial Princess.
    • Local security forces eventually arrived, capturing some Syndicate members elsewhere.
    • A large ship from orbit (“Ascendant Will”) deployed additional armored troops, but the attackers had mostly fled by then.
    • Because of damage across multiple fuel pumps, the main fueling systems were shut down, leaving the Celestial Princess only half fueled.

  • Meeting Port Security & Temporary Stand-Down

    • The port officials praised the party for preventing a major catastrophe.
    • Tessa informed them there would be a delay in refueling due to multiple pump failures.
    • House Sultane representatives offered the group a stay in a local hotel while repairs were done, awarding them brief medical attention.
    • The group agreed, though they maintained caution about leaving the ship unattended. They locked its systems to prevent theft.

  • Discoveries About Aidah and Local Politics

    • In their hotel suite, the party researched Aidah’s history.
    • The planet was partially terraformed before the Scream centuries ago, using advanced nanotechnology that periodically reactivates and threatens to undo existing settlements.
    • A group called the Iron Syndicate once controlled much of Aidah. House Sultane, led by Caelan Sultane, forcibly claimed the planet about a year prior.
    • The Syndicate is labeled as criminals by House Sultane, but they retain loyal supporters among the planet’s inhabitants.

  • Invitation to Dinner with Caelan Sultane

    • A formal summons from Caelan Sultane arrived, inviting the crew to dine at the top suite of their hotel.
    • The party dressed for the occasion, purchasing suits or outfits to appear more respectable.
    • E-20 was considered a legal person on Aidah, so it could attend if desired.
    • The group was wary but saw it as an opportunity to secure refueling and supplies.

  • Formal Dinner & Conversation

    • In a large dining hall, Caelan Sultane hosted the party along with a few House Sultane officers and one lieutenant commander named Arik Voss.
    • They served multiple courses, and Caelan asked about the attack at the spaceport, prompting Jarek to recount the violent details of killing the Syndicate attackers.
    • Jun Minh supplemented the story, noting Daniil and E-20’s role in disarming the bomb.
    • Caelan shared background on the Triumvirate Ascendancy, describing it as a rising power far from Aidah, tying his house to a broader empire.

  • Caelan’s Offer

    • After the formal meal, Caelan dismissed his other guests and spoke privately to the crew.
    • He expressed appreciation for the group’s combat capabilities and quick thinking.
    • He revealed the Syndicate’s threat: they claimed they could trigger the terraforming nanites prematurely, destroying the city’s infrastructure (and possibly killing inhabitants).
    • Caelan was not certain how real this threat was but insisted the Syndicate had threatened to unleash it within two weeks unless House Sultane abandoned the planet.
    • He offered to hire the crew as fresh outsiders whom the Syndicate might not recognize, tasking them to verify the Syndicate’s capabilities and prevent the forced terraforming reset.

  • Negotiating Payment & Agreement

    • The group negotiated for thorough refueling, restocking of life support stores, and an upgrade to the Celestial Princess in exchange for undertaking the risky mission.
    • Caelan agreed to cover the costs of fully replenishing the ship’s supplies (noted as very expensive) and proposed allocating resources for one starship modification or equivalent valuable goods.
    • The crew tentatively accepted the offer, concluding that refusing might jeopardize their ability to depart safely.
    • They secured an understanding that House Sultane would outfit the ship properly as soon as the mission was complete.

  • Session End

    • The session wrapped up as the party ended negotiations with Caelan Sultane.
    • They had a clear goal: stop the Syndicate from triggering catastrophic terraforming, aid House Sultane, and earn the supplies plus an upgrade for their starship.
    • The group planned to learn more about the Syndicate’s leader and the technology behind Aidah’s dangerous nanite wave in order to prepare for their next steps.