Clan Price

**Clan Price** was a pirate clan of Twin Moon founded by Josia Price and his crew on the *King Trace's Revenge* in the early 25th century. The clan earned their seat at the Liberty Table less than a year after their formation and was succeeded by Clan von Ironclaw when Price became Pirate King in 2423.

## History

### Background

When Saw Trace was elected Pirate King in 2419 his first mate, Herrik Venture, took his seat at the Liberty Table; Clan Trace subsequently became Clan Venture in accordance with Twin Moon tradition. Josia Price, Trace's ward and lieutenant, expected to be named first mate to Venture, only to be overlooked in favour of Venture's favoured goon. Price was further angered by Venture's departure from Trace's samaritan ways: he refused to give to the poor, acted like a brigand, laughed in the face of the desperate, and mistreated Price's own ward Cyrus von Ironclaw.

Tensions between the two men eventually erupted into hostilities, during which Price knocked Venture to the floor with a single blow; such an act against a captain - one that sat at the Liberty Table no less - was punishable by "walking the plank", Twin Moon's infamous euphemism for vacuum ejection. Price was spared such a fate only by the affection King Trace held for him; instead of death, Price was stripped of his clan and exiled to the outskirts of Libertalia, a slum that would likely claim his life within a matter of weeks. Despite Price's pleas, Cyrus decided to join him and was also stripped of clanship.

### Formation

Price and von Ironclaw sought shelter at a refuge camp, one that would eject them come morning. As they sat eating stale bread, Price made a bold vow: not today, not tomorrow, but someday, he would claim a seat at the Liberty Table with Cyrus as his trusted second. Cyrus reminded him that, since he was clanless, Price could never sit at the Table; Price countered that, while rare, it was possible to create a new seat at the Table as a reware for a great, daring feat in Twin Moon's name. The issue of clanship was quickly solved: the two men founded their own clan in that very moment, one that would carry Price's name and personal emblem.

To commit a great deed, Clan Price needed a ship, a crew and a target. To recruit a crew, Price all but needed to convince any number of his fellow clanless to join him in his endeavours; only a few answered the call: the Stark twins, Dayna and Devin; rogue quantum Data; and former H.N. ranger John Goff. All sought to reverse their fortunes and find clanship, if only to leave Libertalia behind.

### Rise to Power

With a crew gathered, Clan Price now needed a ship; Price turned to his good friend and fixer Benè, who had also grown tired of Venture's brigandisms, to fulfil this task and find a suitable target. Benè found several suitable options, including two light combat cruisers and a few frigates; Price, however, gravitated toward a rusting merchant vessel called the MV *Goodfella*. This earned heated retorts from Benè, who proceeded to list the ship's many flaws: low-yield pion engines, a rusted interior, dented hull and a piss-poor roemer drive that could barely jump five light-years. Price nonetheless chose the *Goodfella* as his ship, believing that understatement was necessary for the feat they were about to attempt.

#### Theft of the *Goodfella*

   The MV *Goodfella* was docked for maintenance at a remote Herschel Nations shipyard just a few light-years from Oppenheimer.

#### Preparation

The daring deed that followed took the form of the "*Roger W. Young* Heist", in which Price and his small crew attacked and robbed a transport vessel, the eponymous MV *Roger W. Young*, carrying corporate bearer bonds bound for various casinos. Numbering less than 10 hands, the crew of the *King Trace's Revenge* aimed to steal more than 50,000,000 credits worth of bonds; a pittance compared to more infamous heists, but an astonishing feat for such a small vessel.

The assault would not be easy; the *W. Young* was equipped with six layers of kinetic barriers, while the hull was coated in several metres of ballistic armour, a layer of epoxy that repelled artillery fire, and radiation shielding. Its cargo hold was reinforced with addition layers of shielding, while its command deck was comparatively unprotected. While it had no armaments, the *W. Young* was protected by five vanguard vessels crewed by deadly corporate security, who also patrolled the halls of the *W. Young* itself. Despite impassionated arguments from their fixer Benè, captain Price decided that his clan would assault the *Young* and steal its cargo; his crew, who had come to respect their captain, acknowledged that their situation was life or death and agreed to join him.

#### Heist of the *Roger W. Young*

In cycle 29, 2421, less than a year after their formation, Clan Price was prepared for their first - and greatest - heist and intercepted the *W. Young* on its regular bond transport. Using Goff's still-active ranger code, the *Revenge* forced the *Young* to halt under the pretense of an inspection; obeying Goff's request, the crew of the *Young* disabled the inner shields, allowing Data to hack their systems and control their roemer drive remotely. Once the link was firm, the *Revenge* jumped, forcing the *Young* to follow it; they landed two light-years away in orbit of a hypergiant on the verge of going supernova. The jump was trivial for the *Revenge*, whose crew was accustomed to the rigors of FTL travel; the crew of the Young, however, were mostly disabled and put up little fight.

Clan Price had less than an hour before the vanguard vessels would track their signal and docked the *Revenge* at the *Young*'s cargo hold; inside they found mounds of bond chips, each worth thousands of credits. While hauling their prize, Price discovered a corporate treasury chip, which alone was worth more than the entire haul. Clan Price subsequently abandoned the loot and escaped with the treasury chip.

Upon returning to Libertalia, Price demanded a seat at the Liberty Table to the amusement of many captains, but ultimately King Trace forced Herrik Venture to move over and make room for a new seat. Price thus became the youngest captain in Twin Moon's history to sit at the Table.

### Final Years

In 2423, King Saw Trace died under mysterious circumstances; a Great Parlay was subsequently called to elect his successor. Initially reluctant, Price decided to run after being encouraged by his crew, who, like him, believed Twin Moon needed new blood in order to survive a changing galaxy. Despite receiving jeers, Price won over several captains with his "Robin Hood" ideology, which he believed could make Twin Moon a major power within the Settled Systems. As a result, the first rounds of voting were deadlocked between Price and Herrik Venture, who secretly began plotting to erase Price from the picture.

## Members

* Josia Price - captain
* Cyrus von Ironclaw - first mate
* Data - quantum, navigator
* Dayna Stark - soldier
* Devin Stark - soldier
* John Goff - general systems
* Benè - fixer