# High Law and Low Justice, Part 5



## Maerdwyn (Aug 10, 2005)

Continuation of last thread


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## DrZombie (Aug 10, 2005)

Gwydion sits in the bar of the TAS, staring at his drink. He scratches Tommy behind his ears and swirls the ice-cubes in his glass, lost in thought.

_Hmm. Unemployed again. Never used to happen when I was still a scout. Maybe I should give them a call, see if they need any freelancers. Maybe not. See if I've got any new messages._

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his battered portacomp. With a few taps he accesses the virtuaweb and checks his mailbox for any job-offers.


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## Wilphe (Aug 11, 2005)

Ruzz'koff sits back and reads the commendations, _"Money, medal and some egg salad. Someone must like me; enough to impress the folks back home anyway,"_ he looks around the group, his tail in a contented sway, _"Does anyone have any especial plans? I hear they are looking for some sort of mission outside Imperial space, that tickle anyone's fancy? Or do you just want to enjoy a quiet retirement dodging Nellsian assassins?"_


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## Seonaid (Aug 11, 2005)

Ktarle sits back after reading her note. _Wow,_ she thinks. _Even after all that, I didn't expect . . . Huh._ She looks at the others. "I'd be very interested in tracking down this virus they've found."


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## Wilphe (Aug 12, 2005)

"I'm sure you would. It needs to be done, I'm equally sure that there are extremely good people out there doing right that now and that we don't have anything better to contribute. Because they don't know anything we don't..." he leaves that statement hanging in the air.
    "Same reason I don't suggest we go after NC. There are better people doing it and we don't have a special edge. We do have motivation though," he grins slightly.


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## Seonaid (Aug 12, 2005)

Ktarle thinks about his reasoning. She is reluctant to admit he is right. "I can't help but feel personally involved in all of it. I don't know." She shakes her head in a very human-like denial and looks to the others for their responses.


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 15, 2005)

As the discussion progresses, the group settles more directly on Ruzz'koff's line of reasoning.  Their lawyers, who feel that for those who are unwilling to simply retire to a quiet life somewhere in the Witness Protection Program (In a expected turn, two of the younger members of the group each change their minds about that:  Tomas decides that he has had enough excitement for some time, and opts out.  For Saanath, the chance at becoming someone more important to the Imperium than a farmer on Kansas outweighs his desire to go home just now) getting as far from Dukh and Daramm as possible is the next best thing, convey those intentions to the Scouts.  

A few days later, they receive a reply.

[Sblock]
Dear Friends:

It was with great pleasure that I learned of you interest in our venture; The Emperor is in great need of people of proven character to help build a stronger and more vibrant future for the people of Gateway.  I am not at liberty to describe more about the destination of this mission until you commit, but I can share some relevant information.  

First, you will need access to a starship capable of at least a 3 parsec jump, and that ship will require a crew that can operate self-sufficiently in a variety of capacities that could include anything from developing trade routes to facilitating interspecies negotiations to any in a wide range of miscellaneous tasks.  The ship should be armed, as the region you will be traveling in is not as settled as you may be used to.  

The scouts will provide any necessary training for you, either here on Dukh, or en route to your destination (if there is room for such a teacher aboard your ship).  Additionally, we would ask that a Scout who is somewhat familiar with the region also be included with your crew.  

Compensation for your efforts will be generous, including a per incident fee, and a percentage of commercial trade or contracts facilitated, and you can rest assured that your actions in this endeavor will be to the benefit of the hundreds of billions of Imperial citizen who call Gateway home.

Should you remain interested, I will put you in contact with a scout in the Dukh’s starport who will aid you in procuring a ship and join you on your mission.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

							Sincerely,
							Tjoyia Theoklitos
							Imperial Scout Service​ [/sblock]

****************************

Gwydion is about to put his protacomp away in disgust (finding only old messages advertising off-world jobs that he has no hope of reaching while the embargo is in place) when a new message arrives from an old superior.

[sblock]


> Gwydion:
> Just found out you were on Dukh - I wa under the impression you were somewhere coreward of here.  Anyway - I 've got a mission that's got your name written all over it.  It might even include a trip or two to your homeworld on Glen Murdoch.  Come into the base and I'll fill you in.
> 
> Tjoyia




Tjoyia Theoklitos must be about seventy by now, and has been with the Scouts twice that long, to hear her tell it.  She too old for the field now, but he been at the base here on Dukh for the last few years, receiving her promotion about the same time as you left active service.  Every time you see her it seem like she's got a mission for your, active service or no, which is one reason you haven't stopped in to see her since arriveing on Dukh yet.  Effectively, Gwydion knows he just been called back to service; all that remains is the paperwork the Tjoyia has probably already started filling out for him.
[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Aug 16, 2005)

With a half grin on his face Gwydion gets up and nods to the barman.
"Told you I'd get lucky one of these days, Jim. You ain't done with the scouts till they are done with you. Come, Tommy, we've got a job to do."

He takes the grav-shuttle to the scout-base, seemingly lost in thought, alternately grining and frowning as he relives his time with the scouts.

An hour later he stands before the doors to the scout base. The building isn't as posh as the navy buildings close by, but it has a style unique to the scouts.

He enters the hall, and resolutely walks to the desk, crossing the emblem that is mirrored by the tattoo on his arm. 

_Here we go again. And I have a feeling I'll be in the scouts for a little longer now._

He grins at the receptionist. 

"Hi. Name's Gwydion. Tjoyia is expecting me."


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 16, 2005)

Gwydion is shown in Tjoyia's office (much larger than her last one back on Econdora, and the Senior Scout greets him casually, as if it was just earlier this morning that she had seen him last, rather than a few years ago.
[sblock]

"Gwydion, great, great.  Here are your reactivation papers," She holds them out to him in one hand( signature page on top), and pen in the other.  "Good, good.  Listen, I don't actually have the mission specifics yet, but this one came down directly from the Dawn Treader.  I do know it's something over in Diamond Prince*, though.   Out of the blue, the Empereror apparently wants trade routes developed, local populations 'uplifted' and educated, and starbases upgraded all through the region   Don't know why he's suddenly got a hard-on for your little corner of space, but I know you're one of the guys for the job.  Right? Right.  

"Now I'm going to have you work with some other folks, too - good people, I'm told.  Balls of steel. They were the ones involved in that mess with the Dvonn, but you didn't here it from me, and if it gets out now that I told you, I'm coming after you, so keep your mouth shut, _capice_? Anyway, the way I hear it, they took on a Dreadnaught in a disabled corsair and lived to tell the tale. The leader's a vargr from Diamon-Prince himself, so you two should get along, "  She pauses, "Huh.  Hope he wasn't in one of the corsair bands that raided your planet...oh well.  Anyway, they don't have a ship yet, but they do have money. I'm going to have you take a shuttle out to the island they're on to introduce yourself, then you take them up to the High Port, and get one of those ships old Gavin has impounded from one of Nells' cronies.   I'll get you more specifics as soon as you're all set to go. "  She stops talkig for the first time since Gwydion stepped into the office, same old Tjoyia.

[/sblock]
*Subsector O of Ley Sector.  Gwydion's home planet is in that subsector."


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## Wilphe (Aug 16, 2005)

Ruzz'koff's nose twitches, "A J3 Starship? I hope she knows some good people because between us we could probably afford a 50 year old 100 ton Scout/Courier with _Minor Accident Damage_".
    "Still, it sounds good. What do the rest of us think?"


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## DrZombie (Aug 16, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> She stops talking for the first time since Gwydion stepped into the office, same old Tjoyia.




Gwydion winces at the barrage of words coming his way. When she finally stops to take a deep breath he laughs.

[sblock]
"Well, 't seems my future is all planned out, no? 

So let me get this straight. I'm to find these people that were involved in that mess with the Dvonn, get them a new ship, fly 'em out the the arse-end of the universe, while making sure they don't dissappear as witnesses, right?

And how involved will the scouts be, besides me? Am I gonna be a free trader with a few extra badges, making sure them traders don't do anything the scouts wouldn't like? Or will they all enlist as scouts, or what? Am I getting paid by you, by them or will I get a share of the profit? And do I buy myself in with scout money so the ship will allways be partially owned by the scouts?"

He laughs again

"You see, Tjoyia? Five minutes of service and I'm getting paranoid again. Come, give me those papers before I change my mind"

He scrabbles his signature at the bottom, and sighs.

"It's sure good to be home again. Thanks, you meddling, scheming, well, scout. You just couldn't rest untill I was back, now, didn't you?"

[/sblock]
He laughs again.

"When they finally get the nerve to retire you, let me know. I'll set you up as advisor to my father. You'll have him running errands for you in five days, and you'd love it there. Rugged, wild and beautifull. And a lot of clansmen to bully and pester."

"I've got my gear stashed at the TAS. Could you forward it to the island? I'll leave with the first flight."


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 16, 2005)

Gwydion 
[sblock]
Gwydion winces at the barrage of words coming his way. When she finally stops to take a deep breath he laughs.

"You see, Tjoyia? Five minutes of service and I'm getting paranoid again. Come, give me those papers before I change my mind"

He scrabbles his signature at the bottom, and sighs.

"It's sure good to be home again. Thanks, you meddling, scheming, well, scout. You just couldn't rest untill I was back, now, didn't you?"

She answers brightly, "Ah...You'd've put put a slug in your brain from boredom after ten more minute on this waterball if you hadn't heard from me, Gwydion, and don't try telling me otherwise.  Now, Like I said, I hear these are good people, but I don't know them.  You'll be there to make sure they keep acting like they should and don't use those balls of steel to damage our standing out there at the arse end of the Imperium. And to get word to me if things get out of hand. And to get them ba--  to get them to _court_ if the MoJ thinks their depositions aren't sufficient."  She pauses again, turning serious.  "The Scouts don't have much surplus cash right now, son.  This damn war has the whole government strapped.  (You know I love the emperor, but you can't tell me that all that cash didn't enter into his mind when he started impounding and selling Nellsian corporate ships like he's doing.  Ah well, if that idiot had just paid his tax levies like every of the Domain ruler, we wouldn't be having the trouble, now would we?)  If this were wholly a scout mission, I could authorize an appropriate ship, but the higher ups feel strongly that private enterprise is going to be the best way to get this thing done, at least until---"  She catches herself and continues with only the briefest of pauses: "Anyway, the best the other scouts i sent out for this were able to do was a percentge of the ship's profits - I think that's what you should go for.  If you and they do well at  your mission, it's more than we could pay you anyway."   [/sblock]

As they finish their discussion, she confirms that she will have his gear loaded onto the shuttle, and that Gwydion can take off as soon as he is ready.


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## Seonaid (Aug 16, 2005)

Ktarle shrugs. "I'm not too keen on the 'weapons necessary' part, but I guess that's just a safety precaution . . ." She trails off uncertainly.


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## DrZombie (Aug 17, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> As they finish their discussion, she confirms that she will have his gear loaded onto the shuttle, and that Gwydion can take off as soon as he is ready.




Gwydion smiles, nods and exits. Without much further fuss, he goes to the quartermaster for some new overalls, and says he'll pick 'em up at the starport office. He reactivates his login for the scout computer network, and while waiting for the shuttle to take him to the islands he starts downloading all relevant info on the planets he thinks he'll be visiting.
_ At least I'll have something to read on the way there._

Through the secure scout network he sends a mail.
[sblock]

Gavin you old pirate. Never did believe you went legit, but after that mess you pulled us out of on, well, you know where, I don't think they had any choice. 
Anyway, I got tired of being a happy little merc, and signed back in just to make Tjoyia shut up. I'm escorting a couple of people to somewhere rough, and she told me you had some ships for sale after the Emperor flexed his muscle here.

I need to call in that big favor you still owe me. I've got a bad feeling 'bout this one, and I think some big sharks are gonna swim our way. I need that little bit extra. I need a ship that can take as well as can give. Jump-3, at the least, and some cargo-space. And I need it at mate rate. And old corsair, or something similar, maybe. 

Anyways, show me what you got, and I'll come over to the high-port and we'll get roaring drunk. 

Cheers, 

Gwydion.
[/sblock]

_That old rascal. He'll sputter, and whine, but he'll get me something I can use._

To kill the time he looks at things as they are downloaded, sorting them and starting a cursory read on the things that pique his interest.


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## Guest 11456 (Aug 18, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

The last few weeks Trelene has spent studying. She has been studying the usual engine schematics and new theories in engineering theory. But lately she has also been intrigued by alien technologies. She has studied some of the best works on the subject and is very interested in woking with such technologies. her hopes are to find something that might improve existing engine technologies or even possibly a whole new form of drive altogether. Although she is a realist, the thought of starting her own company is appealing.

She enters the common room where everyone seems to be trying to decide on something. As the others fill her in, she offers her 'vote'. "Anything to get us off world gets my vote."


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## Guest 11456 (Aug 22, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2: Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

"Before we think about buying a ship, I want to be allowed access to its engines so I can make an accessment of their condition and capabilities. I'd also like to checkout a few other key components as well." She sits and waits for the others' responses.


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## Wilphe (Aug 22, 2005)

"Well let's RSVP this woman and see what she wants. Hopefully she has some really good ideas about getting a ship,"


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 24, 2005)

After some more back and forth between the Scouts and your lawyers, you receive a direct video call from Ms. Theoklitos, who, it turns out, is an older Solomani-looking woman (perhaps 65 or 70).  When she speaks, her voice is strong, if a little scratchy, and the words flow quite rapidly.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen; I hope that very soon we shall have the opportunity to meet face to face, but for now this will have to do as my duties here in the capital ensure that I will not be allowed to leave my desk here for the anticipatable future.  I understand that you have a number of questions regarding you proposed mission for the scouts - I regret I will not be able to go into too many details over the datalink, but I have sent one of my best men fill you as much as can be allowed.  Until he arrives, I will do my best to both satisfy your doubts an pique your curiosity.  What is it you would like to know?"


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 24, 2005)

DrZ:

[Sblock]
Before you leave her office, Tjoyia takes a call, and for once, her side of the conversation is mostly "Mmmhmm....yes....I see...mmhmm...," etc.  When she has finished, she says, "Look, it sounds like these people aren't going to sign on without knowing more first, and the navy really seems to want this vargr captain of theirs involved - he's from your neck of the woods, too.  Anyway, I still can't tell you it all, but I can give you some more.  But you - and they - will be in violation of the Dissemination of State Secrets Act if you spill it to anyone else.  So make sure they don't, right?  Good."

She goes on to outline some of the key points of the mission:

-The area of operation will include much of the Delta Quadrant of Ley Sector, which is Rimward and Trailing from where you are now (Alpha quadrant)

-That region has, under the current and previous Domain administrations, been badly neglected. Trade has suffered, as has the Imperium's diplomatic position there.  Apparently several of the region's client worlds have even renounced their ties with them Imperium, without consequence, or in some cases, without even a reaction by the Archduke.  One of those worlds is Gergigi, home planet of the groups vargr captain.  They broke formal ties with the Imperium about three years ago.  If he has been away form the planet for longer than that, he might not even be aware of the change, but that might be another way to convince him that this is worth pursuing.

-In large part, the mission will consist of helping to "right the ship" in Delta Quadrant.  Re-establishing those trade routes, or even, if possible, negotiating the return of some of the lost client states tot he fold, etc.  For these aspects of the mission you will be allowed to act as brokers between the Imperium and the local state, but cannot make commitments on behalf of the Imperium

-Another aspect of the mission may involve assembling materials and labor (or the promises of others to provide such resources) for massive planned building projects across Delta Quadrant.

"Hopefully  that's enough to grab them.  None of that should be general knowledge, but word of all that happening is bound to leak out at some point.  What I'm going to tell you now is something you cannot reveal unless you think it's the only way to get them.  No one but them can hear it (so get them away from their lawyers if you decide to tell them), and if they reveal this information publicly before the Emperor himself reveals it, I guarantee you they, and maybe you will be executed as traitors.  Got it?  Good.  So here it is:  Emperor Gavin is moving the Domain capital to somewhere in Delta.  I don't think they have actually chosen the site yet - who knows, it might even be Glen Murdoch.  But it's not only that, Gwydion.  The Emperor is deposing Marshal Nells as Archduke.  Your team's job is going to be 'tidy up' the region before the new Archduke moves in.  Understand?"

"Now like I said, this can't get out before the Emperor announces it - don't tell them unless you need to.  But hopefully there's more than a little patriotism running through that group, so if you need to, do it.  Anyquestions before you go?"[/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Aug 25, 2005)

"Madame, I must admit that we are certainly interested in this endevour. However we cannot plan further without knowing a few more details of what you intend and what, if any, sort of aid and assistance you can offer towards getting us a vessal," he pauses, realising he's doing the formal ####, which, while it might be the way the nobility and the Navy works, usually leaves the scouts cold. "What I mean is this. We don't want to sign the papers for a fat, slow merchant and end up being expected to hunt pirates, and we certainly don't want a warship if we are being expected to shuffle boxes around."


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 25, 2005)

Tjoyia brightens perceptibly with Ruzz'koff's change in tone.  "Well if that's what you're worried about, I can help you some. Short answer to you question is that we'll use good folks to their strengths out there.  There's a lot to do, and you can bet you'll be asked to do whatever your capable of.  Now if I was buying a ship for this, I wouln't buy a subbie [ooc: a 1J, 1G subsidized merchant with no armament to speak of] and I wouldn't get a dreadnaught - not the kind of image we're looking to project over there, if you take my meaning, and not exactly efficient on the trading side of things.  I'd recognize that I _am_ going to have to move some boxes, but the bonuses you get from setting up a trade route will help make up for the fact that you won't necessarily be exploiting that route to its fullest yourselves by lugging 5000 tons of goods everyone where I go - though you could certainly do that if you want to.  On the trading side of this, we want you to show locals the possibilities - entice them with samples of what their neighbors can provide, show them how increased trade could benefit their worlds, so that they start trading - preferably with Imperials - on their own.  As for guns, I think I can say you'll never get a direct mission that relies mostly on your use of your ships' guns, but I can't say you'll be sorry for having the ability to bloody a corsair's nose all to hell. 

"As for buying it, we can pull some strings behind the scenes to make sure your mortgage gets approved, but that's about it.  You'll be what they call in the corporate world 'independant contractors' [*frowns slightly*]...it's just that you won't be able to talk about the 'contract' to very many people.  We, unfortunately can't have Imperial money involved directly in this just yet...[*she looks slightly apologetic*]"


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## Seonaid (Aug 25, 2005)

Ktarle brightens at the answer Tjoyia provides. _Public relations, but helpful,_ she thinks hopefully. When she finishes, Ktarle asks, "We won't be officially representing the Imperials then? Who will we be representing, or how will we spread the word of the Imperium if we can't use the name?"


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 25, 2005)

Tjoyia answers, Ktarle thinks, carefully, as if making sure she doesn't say the wrong thing, or say too much.  "In most cases [barest pause, implying there's probably more to this], you will be representing yourselves, and making the Imperium look good by doing so.  You will not be sent by the Imperium, but you will be _of_ the Imperium, if you see the difference.  You will show, by example, the benefits of trading with and cooperating with other Imperial worlds nearby.  We want you to profit from your ventures, and we want the local to profit too, or at least the very least to see the great potential for profit."


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## Seonaid (Aug 25, 2005)

Ktarle bares her teeth faintly. "I think I understand you, ma'am."


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## DrZombie (Aug 25, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> DrZ:
> 
> [Sblock]
> "Now like I said, this can't get out before the Emperor announces it - don't tell them unless you need to. But hopefully there's more than a little patriotism running through that group, so if you need to, do it. Anyquestions before you go?"[/sblock]




[sblock]
"yeah, well, I'll be needing info on contacts and safe places out there in the wilds, and some suggestions of what to trade, if possible. Mmmh, and if we know some people over there work for the Nellses, just let me know. You know, trading companies that work for him, the usual. Just put it ona big file and get it to me. I'll upload the rest from the Scout Database, but the orange and red files that are relevant, well, they could be nice to have, if you now what I mean." He smiles his impish grin.
" So, wish me luck, I'm off babysitting some merchants."
[/sblock]


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 25, 2005)

DrZ:  
[sblock] ooc: Sorry  - I made an edit to the post you replied to as you were posting.  Doesn't change anything, but there is just a bit of extra info. (look under the bit on clients who've left the Imperium.)

ic:  "Well as for the Nellsian corp's, let's just say you won't have too much to worry about on that score,"  She says with a little amusement but without elaboration."The Khuur League are going to be your main competition " ("Well, except for the other groups I sent out, but they're the good guys, right?" she interjects in the middle of her own thought.)  "Anyway, the Khuur are the established suppliers on most of  the outlying worlds.  They're good, but they're Sydites - not too imaginative, not too subtle.  I think you'll be able out maneuver them.  What you really need to do is out-compete the Hivers[she sees your slightly puzzled reaction].  Yeah, weird huh?  The Hivers have moved into your old neighborhood.  Don't know what they're doing in the region, but, well, it can't be in _our_ best interest, can it?  We even got some reports of K'kree ships - outside of Imerial space, sure, but any news is bad news when it involves K'kree.  I'll see what more specifcs I can get for you, but may not be much. Sorry."
[/sblock]


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 26, 2005)

Ms. Theoklitos continues. "All right then, if that's everything for now, I'll have my man there tomorrow.  He has use of a shuttle to take you up to the Highport when you are ready to put things in motion.  If you do choose to do this, I'd like you to consider getting going in the next couple weeks - I sent out first team out last month, and others have either already gotten underway or are already in the process of geting ready.  It's not that there's a firm deadline to begin, of course, but it's always more profitable to get an early start, right?  Good luck to you all - send me word when you make a firm decision."


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 26, 2005)

DrZombie:
[sblock]You pilot the shuttle to the coordinates given to you by Tjoyia, a smallish island on the otherside of the world from the capital city, and land at a port not from form the address of the safehouse where these merchants are staying.  When you approach the house, you are stopped by two large men (a Vilani and an Aslan) who demand identification, your weapons, and that Tommy stays outside with them (if you brought them/him along, that is.  When you comply, more or less, you are admitted into the house. [/sblock]



All:

The next morning, the lawyer shows a man into the living chambers.



> You see a tall, muscled man of Vilani stock. His long black hair starts to show a hint of gray and is tied behind his back in a small braid. The right side of his face and neck is tattood in a swirling pattern and his ear is pierced in several places, sporting silver jewelry with the same design.
> He wears sturdy boots, a skirt made out of coloured and woven wool, and a shirt of white cotton.  Over this he wears a leather flack jacket wich proudly shows a few Imperial Scout buttons and an emblem of a mercenary group.




"Gwydion Letharen, of the Imperial Scout Service,"  the lawyer says, a little dubiously.


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## Wilphe (Aug 27, 2005)

"Thank you Curtis," Ruzz'koff dismisses the Laywer and proffers a hand to the newcomer, "The Honorable Captain Ruzz'koff, formerly of his Imperial Majesty's Navy,"

      (A slightly built Vargr with unusual dusky grey fur. At the moment he is wearing a knee length bottle green jacket without any immediate markings, orange breeches, knee length leater boots and carrying a light and delicate foil at his side.)


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## DrZombie (Aug 27, 2005)

"Gwydion, Imperial Scouts." The man says with a vague accent as he shakes ruzz'koffs hand with a firm handshake. His hands are callused and rough, with the honest, uncleanable grime that comes from hard work with oiled machinery.
"Recovered from your recent ordeals? Good, because we've got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it. If you can get your merry band of crewmembers together I'll try and explain what the scouts, and the empire, would like us to do, how to get rich doing it, and as a bonus, kick you-know-who in the pills a few times. That is, if you're still interested."

He sits down and looks around the place.


"Oh yes, could you get your goon to release my pet please? He likes to meet new people, and he wouldn't hurt a fly."


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## Wilphe (Aug 31, 2005)

"I'm sure we could arrange that, though we don't really give the orders around here. Witness Protection is "for your own good" after all," Ruzz'koff buzzes Curtis, "Our visitors pet is free to join us if you wouldn't mind," the Vargr proffers the newcomer a chair, "I'm sure you have been thourougly briefed on all of us, but formal introductions would seem to be in order:"
    "Ms Trelene Scrautigue, formerly of Makhidkarum and before that his Imperial Majesty's Navy"
    "Ms Ktarlewaweikye Os Tehlayew Olui," his tongue trips slightly over the unfamiliar sounds, demonstrating that he really isn't familiar with Aslan,
     "& Mr Saanath"

    He waits for the introductions to die down before continuing, "so, what have you got to tell us?"

(OOC: That's all of us who are there right? Which reminds me, what happened to Tomas?)


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## Maerdwyn (Aug 31, 2005)

Curtis frowns slightly, adjusting poorly to his role of highly paid butler, but moves on the request without a word.

ooc: Tomas is here, but has announced his intention not to participate in any of these ventures.  He intends to go home, or at least back to his mining outfit.  But he is here, at least until he gives his testimony.


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## DrZombie (Sep 1, 2005)

As soon as the Lawyer is outside Gwydion grins. "I see you've finaly found a good use for a Lawyer."

He takes the offered seat.

"Well, I haven't been thoroughly briefed on you as individuals, but I have a fair guess of what you've been through. But let's start with proper introductions.
I'm Gwydion, Imperial scout, recently recalled to service to help y'all out.
I've been a scout for a hell of a time, then switched over to a merc outfit after some unpleasantness happened to some friends. But now I'm back.
I can fly, ride, drive, sail and repair almost anything, 'cept for spaceships, I need a few more days at the helm before I can apply for a licence.
I'm a xenobiologist, and I'm specialised in planetside explorations."
His tone is confident but he's not bragging.

He leans back in his chair, thinking and choosing his words.

"The empire is, well, about trade, really. It only controls space, not planets. The reason for control is so that interstellar trade can continue. Without space trade, planets regress. I can speak first hand about that. 

The plan is to go to Delta quadrant of Ley sector. My homeplanet is there, as is yours, I believe. Things are going downhill, with client states severing ties with the imperium. Amongst them Gergigi."

He pauzes and looks at Ruzz'koff, to gauge his reaction.

"This is not good for the Empire, nor is it good for the citizens of those planets. That's where we come in. The empire wants to establish or renew trade routes, building up a new base of trust, so that the empire can eventually move back in peacefully, and hopefully elevate the technology level and quality of life of the groundsiders.
Besides helping the people there, we can make a small fortune by establishing contracts and traderoutes, and later selling them to the big boys, or become big boys ourselves.

But, as you know, it won't be as easy as it sounds.

So I suggest we form a trade group, get ourselves a spaceship, and get going. We don't need to rush, you don't want to dally here for too long. More and more people know where you are, and we don't want the Nells' to find out where you're staying or where we're going.

Any questions?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 1, 2005)

Ktarle studies the man--_Gwydion_--carefully and when he speaks, tries to place his accent. At introductions, she seemingly ignores the mispronunciations and nods to Gwydion. She is of slightly above-average height, with coarse fur. She wears nondescript clothing of neutral style and colors. "I am a physician, specializing in Aslan genetics. I expect I'll be the medical staff on any excursions we might take." Her tone suggests humor, but only barely.

At Gwydion's outpouring of speech, she looks slightly glazed. When he finishes, she turns to the others to respond.


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## Wilphe (Sep 2, 2005)

Ruzz'koff gives the Scout a rather piercing look, "Have the clients deserted the Imperium, or the Imperium it's clients? I have had little news from Gergigi, but I am not to blind to see how the Archduke has run his domain. Cynically and complacently from well within his own safe borders with some fat contracts for his own clique and let the frontier systems and his allies go hang."
   He sighs, "Too many of my people have no thought for consequences. They would mortgage their futures to the Hivers or even betray themselves to the K'kree if the pay off was today. Our future must be with the Imperium, there is no other viable choice."
    "And we wondered why even those amongst us who hate and fear the Imperium were so happy to see so many of us join the Imperial service, what better way to break up and disperse the best & brightest of the pro-Imperial factions?"

      "Enough of ny home, Gwydion of the scouts, what of your own?"


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## DrZombie (Sep 2, 2005)

Gwydion holds up his hand as if to ward off an attack.

"Easy, captain. I was just stating facts, not trying to put the blame on anyone. And you are right about the Archduke. The Emperor has noticed the exact same thing, wich is part of why I'm here talking to you. Things are about to change for the delta quadrant, and your help would be greatly appreciated. By the time we get there news of what you've done will have reached the system, and you will be a hero. On the other hand, if the anti-empire-faction have enough time, they could use it to point out the 'corruption of the empire'. You see?

"And my planet?" He laughs.
"When I was about fourteen a scout crashed near my father's castle. That was the first time anyone heard that the earth wasn't flat, and that there was intelligent life out there in space."


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## Seonaid (Sep 2, 2005)

Ktarle looks impressed by Gwydion's last comments. "So you became a scout because of that one person? How did you surpass your planet's disadvantages?"


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## DrZombie (Sep 2, 2005)

Gwydion looks up, surprised at the question.

"Not easy, lady, not easy. The hardest part is not loosing yourself in the process. Found that out the hard way." He stops for a moment, lost in thought. "Long time since anyone asked me that question, lady. Thank you."

"But anyway, enough about me. I'll bore you with the tales of my life if and when we're in jumpspace together. How about you all? How do you feel about heading out to the border?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 2, 2005)

Ktarle nods, then answers his question. "I've nothing better to do." Her tone implies mild interest at best.


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## Wilphe (Sep 8, 2005)

"No one has a lot to do in jumpspace, except worry about what happens if the jump field collapses," he gives a slight twitch and continues with business.

    "Now, we understand that you can help us get a ship, or at least point us in the right direction. After some discussion our prelimiary thoughts are that we need something with a decent, if not spectacular, cargo capacity; certainly well armed enough to at least deter threats as local space is not exactly well secured and with a decent enough jump capacity to be able to stray off the mains - say J-2 or J3."
    "We would also prefer it if it could be crewed mainly by ourselves, with maybe a few extra personnel - assistant engineer, gunner, steward. This would seem to point us to something in the 200-400 ton class. What are your thoughts on this?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 8, 2005)

Ktarle nods in agreement with each of his points and then looks expectantly at Gwydion.


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 12, 2005)

Gwydion explains that while the scouts cannot provide a ship for the group, they can facilitate the purchase of one from amongst those impounded by the navy during last month's Mercantile Council - these were seized mainly from companies with imperial charters who had failed to pay their tax levies or to fulfill their conditional military obligations to the Imperium when the Solomoni Rim War broke out last year.  So long as buyers pass a background check, which all present have, they can but the seized ships at a reduced cost.  Gwydion can shuttle you to the Highport where such apurchase can be made, or he can escort you (along with a few body guards) to the offices of Malikot Enterprises if you would like to pursue a ship from that angle.


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## Wilphe (Sep 12, 2005)

"Let's go kick some tyres then, we've nothing else planned and I for one _like_ poking round second hand star ships"


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## Seonaid (Sep 12, 2005)

Ktarle smiles at his enthusiasm.


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 12, 2005)

Within several hours, it's all been arranged and the shuttle arrives at the Highport, a large orbiting station whic itself is still outsized by the Emperor's flagship.  

The scene as everyone disembarks is remarkable in that the station is caparatively empty - it seems sparsely occupied by naval personnel, but there is no real commerce going on, and the bustle of traders coming and going that is the norm in a large port like this one is absent.  The group rides along the moving sidewalk in relative silence until it arrives outside the office of Assistant Portmaster Gavigan Tukera.  The secretary, a young and very attactive Aslan woman, nnounces you to her boss, and almost instantly he emerges from his private office, a wide smile on his face.  Mr. Tukera a young man, who, though obviously of noble birth based on the way he carries himself, seems to have not yet quite grown into his business suit.  He has flaming red hair atop his head and very fair, but freckled skin.    Looking around the office, its almost perfect cleanliness, combined with a air of newness around the furniture and indeed, even the nameplate of his office door imply to you that Mr. Tukera is likely quite new to his position.  

He greets everone with a formal slight bow, which those versed in etiquette know is the proper when greeting a group of people whose station is uncertain, but roughly equal to one's own.  "Greetings.  I am Gavigan Tukera: what can I help you with today?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 12, 2005)

Ktarle nods to the man. "Mr. Tukera." She then defers to the others, not knowing exactly what they need.


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## DrZombie (Sep 12, 2005)

"Hiya Gavin." Gwydion smiles.
"Did you get my message?"


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 12, 2005)

A shadow of a blush crosses the young noble's face, but he nods, and says, still a little formally (or at least in an attempt to keep it alittle formal), "Yes, I did, Mr. Letharen - as well as Ms. Theoklitos's  - I am afraid both were somewhat vague as to what you and your associates would be looking for.  I have prepared short list for your review of ships which have recently come into Imperial possession.  Should any of them interest you, I would be happy to arrange an inspection. Would you please come this way?"

(ooc:  He shows you into his office, and provides each of you with a copy of non-technical briefings of each of the ships mentioned in the ooc thread.)


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## DrZombie (Sep 12, 2005)

When they've entered the office and close the doors, Gwydion sits down and looks hard at Gavin.
_ Yeah, he's made it big. But he shouldn't forget his old mates. He'll learn_

"Mr Tukera, you've sure come ahead since we last met. But I hope you'll still go out for a drink with an old mate when the business part is done?"


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 12, 2005)

Gavigan's blush is a little more pronounced this time, but he recovers quickly enough, and says, easily and with a smile, "While you review the briefings, ladies and sirs, please excuse me for a moment so I can clarify an issue with Mr. Letharen regarding any Scout Service involvement in your potential purchase."  As he speaks, he has gracefully glided across the room and guided Gwydion out into the reception area.

He says in a low voice, smile still bolted firmly to his cheeks, and his shoulders are still pinned regally back, but the noble quality of his voice has fallen away entirely: "Look, Gwydion, give me a break, here - This post just fell into my lap two weeks ago, I'm still on thin ice even with my dad -- If they find out about the kinds of stuff that--look, Tjyoia already told me to take care of your friends in there, so they're gonna get a good deal. Just - well - not a word about our days on Askmikii, okay?" A bead of sweat rolls slowly down his pale forehead and drips down past his eye.


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## DrZombie (Sep 13, 2005)

"Chill, Gavin, not a word. Although I really would like to go have a beer, but maybe we'll wait untill we get back from this trip, a'right?"

He slaps him on the shoulder.

"No worries, mate, I won't piss in your pool. I'm happy for ya."


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## Seonaid (Sep 13, 2005)

Ktarle studies the briefings for a moment and then watches the others.


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 13, 2005)

Gavigan nods, "All right. Good,"  he says with relief as he guides Gwydion back inside the office.  Addressing everyone, he says, "Now, does anything here appeal?  I must warn you that a few of these ships have somewhat colorful pasts - If that is of concern, I can steer you away from those vessels." He is smiling, and, with a wave, has his secretary produce very well made Dukhian tea for any who desire it.


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## Seonaid (Sep 14, 2005)

Ktarle takes the tea when offered, but defers to the better judgment of the others as to which ships would be most appropriate.


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## Wilphe (Sep 14, 2005)

Ruzz'koff looks around the deserted highport, "If they keep the port locked down much longer, then they'll be a lot more impounded ships." Despite this gloomy prognosis there is a slight spring in his step from the moment they boarded the shuttle. Apparently he is up for it and eager to be in a space craft again - even if it is only an orbital shuttle and he himself is only a passanger.

   He flicks through the breifs as Gwydion and Gavigan Tukera exit to deal with their personel issues, "One of the Tukera clan, barely old enough to shave and already an assistant Port Director. 10 to 1 the previous occupant of this office has incurred the Emperor's rather personal disppleasure. Looks the place is filling up with his own people rather than the Archduke's." As the two of them return he breaks off and goes back to studying the briefs.


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## Wilphe (Sep 14, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> "Now, does anything here appeal?  I must warn you that a few of these ships have somewhat colorful pasts - If that is of concern, I can steer you away from those vessels."




    Ruzz'koff takes the proffered tea and goes back to looking at the data, "How colourful are we talking here exactly? The good sort of, or the previously belonging to pirates and outlaws and likely to get a whole load of attention from customs and SDBs until we prove we aren't the last owners type?"

     "We will be heading down into Diamond Prince and Outworld subsectors, mostly doing trading or scouting for trading outside Imperial borders, though we'd like to be prepared for almost anything. We don't need a big ship, but we do need one large enough to carry a worthwhile payload, small enough to be crewed by ourselves and a few hirelings. Legs would be useful, and so would teeth - this isn't the most secure area after all."


   "Patrol Cruiser - for merc work fine. Otherwise not a paying proposition," he discards the data sheet.

   "Two Far Traders - they work, but will need some outfitting," he puts those on the POSSIBLE pile.

   "Akossa and Jelnai class Freighters - will haul boxes like you wouldn't believe, but I understand that trade is rather depressed in the region and while it might be efficient if it's full, that still means we have to find the cargo to fill it," he places them underneath the two far traders


    "Scout ships are too small," he puts them on the rejects pile.

   "The Aciptor and Polo class look interesting, though the Polo class might be lacking in cargo space."

    "I think we should give these two a look over first. Need to check crew requirements, also what can be done to further outfit whatever ship we get to our own particular requirements. I'm thinking fuel scoops and processors for wilderness refulling, I'd prefer to have a missle rack, mayhaps a slightly larger reactor <just in case>, Ktarle will want a very nice sickbay and med lab and you can always use better sensors."


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## Seonaid (Sep 15, 2005)

Ktarle smiles at Ruzz'koff, more than glad that he is along and she doesn't have to make any decisions. "I agree with him," she says. "Let's take a look."


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## DrZombie (Sep 15, 2005)

"Mmmh, I wouldn't discount the Jelnai that soon, we will have to have a look. Especially if we go to low tech planets, thy might only have stuff that takes up a lot of space, and we might wanna fill the cargo bay before we leave so we've got plenty goods of our own to trade with.
Unless we want to go scouting and bring back samples, in wich case the Polo looks sweet. Or maybe that's just my training speaking, offcourse." Gwydion interjects.

"But I guess we'll be looking at the insides of a lot of ships before we decide."


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## Wilphe (Sep 15, 2005)

"Sure the Polo has good sensors, but it's M-Drives and cargo are nothing to get excited about and while it can do 5 parsecs withoput refueling you aren't taking any cargo with you. The larger vessals will have plenty of room for customising though if we need it. I'm just worried about crew requirements and operating costs."


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 16, 2005)

Mr. Tukera accompanies you on the shuttle out to the Acipiter-class merchant, which is currently dubbed "Lucky Credit".  Gavigan is quick to point out that if you were to purchase the ship, you could, of course change that inauspicious name.  This ship, which has a generally cylindrical hull, looks to be in excellent shape externally, almost certainly the result of restorations here at the starport.  A fuel scoop is visible in the hull's underside.  The shuttle docks with the Lucky Credit, and Gavigan says, "Feel free to look around - I would be happy to answer any questions, or I can put you in contact with the one of the lead mechanics in the port if you have any questions of a technical nature."

******************

Looking around inside the vessel, you see that it must have had some non standard uses.  The medbay, for example, is large, but sparsely equiped.  It also appears, from Trelene's best guess, to have been heavily sound proofed.  There are a full twenty staterooms, two of which are luxury class.  On the defense side of things, while the weapons are currently limited to heavy lasers and sandcasters, those interested in such things are surprised to see that the ship has basic stealth and cloaking capabilities.  The engineering deck contains the manuever drives, jump drive, life support, and a fuel processor.  Ruzz'koff estimates that fully crewed, the Lucky Credit would employ twelve:  1 command, 1 Pilot, 1 Astrogator, 2 Engineers, 4 turret gunners, 2 stewards, 1 medic.  A skeleton crew would be as few as six, with no stewards or gunners, witht the astrogator, medic, or an engineer taking the turrets as needed.


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## Seonaid (Sep 16, 2005)

"This is strange . . ." Ktarle mutters as she looks over the ship.

After some time studying the medbay, she seeks out Gavigan. "Mr. Tukera. What did you say this ship used to do?"


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## Wilphe (Sep 17, 2005)

Ruzz'koff too would be very interested to find out, "Exactly what colour was this ships colouful past Mr Tukera?" as Ktarle pops the question.*
    He also looks over the reactor, checking what standard it was built to and it's condition,** "Whatever ship we get we may consider ripping out the old power plant and replacing it, so having a bad one installed isn't necessarily a bad thing."
   "Turrets we can link into a battery if necessary and cut down gunnery requirements, I want to go see if we can add a missle rack with a magazine nearby."***


OOC: *Sense Motive check at the ready...
        ** Given that the easiest way to upgrade a ship appears to be replace the reactor with a better one, especially as how the cost doesn't go up so the only real consideration is maintenance.
     TL9 to 13 will give you 50% more power
     TL9 to 15 will double it again
      *** Sorry to be thick: What size are the turrets? Singles, doubles or triples, and how full are they?


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 19, 2005)

Gavigan looks to Ruzz'koff and Ktarle, "This was a little before my time, but my father tells me the original owners of the Lucky Credit were pretty bog back in his day - a jump-metal band called Sonic Illness. I amagine you noticed the walls in the medbay doctor - apparently that was where the band practiced while on board. She was called the _Silent Wave_ back then.  Apparently, after the bad broke up, she was stolen, and when she finally showed up on the auction market, the new owned bought her for a single credit because of a misprint on auction brochure which cause most of the intened buyers to show up two days late."  There is a bit of a shrug in the man's voice.  As he looks over the reactor, Ruzz'koff notes a good deal of 'extra' wiring in and around the control terminal.

Ruzz'koff:
[sblock] Gavigan seems to be telling the truth.  He also seems to be repeating what has been told to him, rather than what he knows from persoanl experience.[/sblock]

ooc:  One triple turret is currenly armed with 2xsandcasters.  3 single turrets are currently armed with 1x heavy lasers each.

Your TL limit here in this port is TL13, the current reactor is TL 12, and the benchmarks Mr. Tukera produces indicate that it seems to be performing within normal limits.


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## DrZombie (Sep 19, 2005)

GWydion occupies himself with assessing the structural integrity, wear and tear on the mechanical components, and such.

OOC : Wilphe, you're captain now, boy. I had to make a few hard calls as well, now's your turn   .


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## Wilphe (Sep 19, 2005)

"Excuse us Mr Tukera."
    The Vargr waits until the human has left earshot and then pops the question,
    "Well, what do people think?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 20, 2005)

Ktarle shrugs. "I don't know. We could transport passengers with this thing . . . as well as cargo. But unless we get the right sorts of passengers, it wouldn't be as profitable nor would it be as pleasant." She pauses. "I'd like to get some additional equipment for the medical bay as well. What do you think?"


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## DrZombie (Sep 21, 2005)

"Seehe rest first, then decide. We could allways enlarge the crew area a bit, or knock out some wall to turn the passenger cabins into cargo space, I don't know if we'll be taking that much passengers."


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## Seonaid (Sep 21, 2005)

Ktarle nods. "Let's see the others, then."


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## Wilphe (Sep 21, 2005)

"Yeah, better medical bay = good idea. I don't fancy being out in the frontiers with my EEG attached to a graphic equalizer. Next up, Polo class Scout Merchant"
     On the way he turns to Gwdion and pops the question, "So I know you are from the area we're going to, but where exactly?"


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## Seonaid (Sep 21, 2005)

Ktarle bares her teeth briefly in a grin at Ruzz'koff's comment. "I don't know," she jokes somewhat uncharacteristically. "The equalizer might overload that small Vargr brain of yours."


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## DrZombie (Sep 26, 2005)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> On the way he turns to Gwdion and pops the question, "So I know you are from the area we're going to, but where exactly?"




"Me, I'm from Glen Murdoch, UWP about E558653-1. The arse-end of the universe, really."He says with a smile. So we're kinda neighbours, but not really. When I left there the place was still very very low-tech, and I seriously doubt it's changed much.
But by Gods it's the most beautiful place in the entire galaxy. The roaring falls of magwrn, the hills of cwdmyr. If we get a chance to drop by I'll show y'all."


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## Guest 11456 (Sep 26, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

Trelene speaks up. "Whichever ones we look at I'll check under the hood, so to speak."


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 26, 2005)

After Ruzz'koff points out some of the "extra" wiring he noticed on the Lucky Credit, Trelene finds non-standard electronics throughout the passenger-accessible poritons of the ship. Nothing egregious or non-functional, mind you - just customization for the sake of customization, it appears.  

When, later, they tour the Jelnai-class freighter, currently called the "Hope", she finds some evidence of repairs made to the jump drive, and the hull surrounding it.  This ship has been at least one major fire fight, and may have suffered a minor hull breach.  So far as she can tell, it looks sound now, however.

"Taran's Wanderer," the Polo-scout ship, is just a little older than the others, but it looks solid enough.  The disposable bits - fuses, gel packs, etc. - look to have all been replaced recently.


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 30, 2005)

After a good deal of discussion the groups settles on purchasing Taran's Wanderer from the Highport of Dukh, ICC.*  By pooling their resources into a limited partnership** (including the vast majority of Ruzz'koff's saved turst fund dispersements (and a MCr1.00 silent investment made by Zaedhrarrg before he returns home), the group is able to put together a ten percent down payment on the ship.  Even with a very favorable interest rate obtained as a result of the Scout Service's endorsement, the annual payment is daunting:  MCr3.20 once a year for forty years.  Despite your ability to show that at least the first two years payements are covered by the remaining portion of the salvage settlement owed you by Malikot Enterprises, Mr. Tukera expresses concerns about the payment several times over the course of drawing up the purchase contract.  

He excuses himself from the room a one point, and you can see him through his office door speeking to someone on his video link.  When he returns, he is willing to go ahead with the deal, though Gwydion sees that he is clearly nervous about it.  But, Tukera's nerves aside, by the end of the week, you are the proud owners of a Polo-class scout merchant with a full (main tank) of fuel.  

When the paperwork is complete, you receive another call from Tjoyia, who says she has a few more details on you mission, as well as an offer for your first fare. She asks you to come in to her office at the Scout Base.

You arrive at the base in your newly purchased gig (a very fast--5G--small craft with 10 tons of passenger or cargo space. Weapons could be added as funds permit), and are shown inside by a junior scout of luriani heritage.  The 70 year old woman in the office greets you all with a big smile, and starts talking a mile a minute.

"Good, good - good to see you all.  Hope I was able to smooth things out for you up in the highport.  Gavigan's a good boy, but he gets so _nervous_ when he thinks he needs to act responsibly. Anyway, I'm glad that you have your ship, because I've got something lined up for you.  Now, as Gwydion may or mayn't of told you, there's a lot of construction going on out in Diamond Prince subsector: some of your trade is meant to support that construction, so securing good suuplies of building materials is going to net you a bonus and give you a leg up on getting some of the better future contracts, and---wait-- getting off track here a bit. The point is that Gavin***  has found the administrator he wants out there to handle the constructions before-- well, before things really take off out there.    So what I would like to do is hire you all to get him to his destination, which just so happens to be yours, as well.  Now at this point, we'll still be keeping scout money out of the equation, but Mr. Gudeli has more than enough personal funds to cover standard high passage rates to to the Delta quadrant. He also be bringing along a couple of his assistants - you can either charge them or have them work for their passage - I know you had been interested in some training, and let me assure you, that these are very capable people, much as yourselves.  Thought it might be a win-win, but that's your call, up to you, no question - er - do you have questions?" She looks at you as if you might, for about the first time since you came in.


ooc:
*"Imperial Charter Corporation"
** Will your limited partnership have a name, or just do business under your individual names?  Do you plan on renaming the Taran's Wanderer, or the gig (called "Gurgi").  The new name for the starship needs to be registered before leaving the system; gig and other small craft can be renamed at will.
***Gavin is the name of the Emperor - she's uses his name quite casually here, probably a bit inappropriately.


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## Seonaid (Sep 30, 2005)

Ktarle's head spins. "Wait. You want us to transport the Emperor? Or his administrator? And what exactly could these passengers do on the ship, to earn their passage?"


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 30, 2005)

Tjoyia looks good-naturedly exasperated.  "His administrator.  Or his soon-to-be administrator.  Right now he's a private citizen, of course, and that's what he will appear to be on your manifest, of course.  Mr. Ashur Gudeli, a man who has distinguished himself in private enterprise somewhere coreward from here - excellent background, impeccable character - the sort of boy you'd be proud to take home to 'mom'--" she stops. "Or to your pride leader. Sorry, not sure how those things work on Hyro," she says apologetically.  "Anyway - his assistants have a wide variety of skills and the trek out to Delta Quadrant is a long one.  It would be a good opportunity for them to train you if they possess skills or experience that you wish to learn from.  I'm told one has a background in ship-to-ship combat, and the other is sort of a jack-of-all-trades: another retired scout, actually," she says, with a nod to Gwydion.


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## Seonaid (Oct 1, 2005)

"Hryo," Ktarle corrects absentmindedly. "And I doubt I'd 'take him home' in any event." She shrugs and then looks at the woman more directly. "I suppose he and his staff will want superior quarters and amenities?"


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## DrZombie (Oct 1, 2005)

Gwydion smirks. "I have a minor question : does the Archduke know that he's the new administrator, and how does he feel about it. Ah yes, and what happened to the previous administrator?"


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## Maerdwyn (Oct 1, 2005)

"Ah, yes, well, very little of what is about to happen out in Delta is actually known, as such, to the current regime. And Mr. Gudeli will simply be a private citizen under contract, not a member of the  Imperial or Domain nobility when he enters his new capacity. Is shouldn't think that there would be anything for Archduke Nells to be upset about even if he were to find out about it.  As such there is no reason to even troble him with the information, is there, dear boy?"


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## DrZombie (Oct 1, 2005)

"No Ma'am", Gwydion smiles. "And offcourse it wouldn't hurt us at all if we're good friends with the new boss right from the start, maybe help him and see if he has some jobs that need to be done, and make a profit on the way?"


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## Maerdwyn (Oct 3, 2005)

"Yes, it's a shame the other ships I sent off left before they had a chance to meet him," she says, in sympathy for those crews.  She winks briefly. "Still, he won't be telling you too much about his job until you arrive at your destination, which, incidentally is a little iceball named Annapabar out in Diamond Prince.  Only a couple parsec's from Gwydion's home at Glen Murdoch, and a few systems spinward from Gergigi, Captain Ruzz'koff. 

 "It's a ways off, so I imagine you will need to do some trading in order to cover you fuel costs to get out there.  On the other hand I'd like him there sooner rather than later, so don't dawdle.  If you break even after fuel, I think you'll be doing well, given the time considerations."  She hands Ruzz'koff a business card from a local hotel, with a room number on the back.  That is where you can pick Mr. Gudeli up when you are ready - What do you still need before you go?"


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## Seonaid (Oct 4, 2005)

"We'll need to get provisions, food and such, and I'd like to see what I can get added to the medbay. When do you wish us to leave?"


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## Maerdwyn (Oct 4, 2005)

"It will take a few days to register the title to your ship, and as you say, obtain provisions.  I would like you to leave rather soon after that; If your medbay does not need a major retrofit, that may be enough time, if you have the funds after buying ship itself."

ooc:  What kinds of upgrades are you looking to do?  An autodoc, for example, would cost MCr1, which you don't have right now; on the low end, you could afford to stock the medbay with several doses of different pharamceuticals.

I am ready to get the party and ship moving towards Annapabar if you guys are ready, though I would like a ship name at minimum, and a name for your trading company if you can come up with something.  As of now, I plan on fast forewarding much of the travel to Annapabar - If yo'd like to do it differently, let me know, and, besides training (i.e. levelling your characters, if it's not done yet), let me know what types of things you'd like to accomplish during the trip (By default, I've plotted a 13x3 jump, 26 week course, but you can take longer or shorter depending on how you choose to go).  You can take jump 5  route, but for each such jump, you will lose some money in return for the time and distance saved, as you won't be able to carry trade goods along the way.


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## Wilphe (Oct 4, 2005)

"A lot of chalndlery work needs doing. Food, life support supplies, vac suits, personal weapons for ground and shipboard use. Apart from that, as much data and news on the sectors we will going to as I can get - which we will load up into the ships data banks and look through during jump. Might want to hire some crew as well, though perhaps Gwydion and I may want to hire at our respective home worlds."
    "Let's go look this guy up, though if he wants to get there ASAP he'll have to pay accordingly, otherwise we will get there taking paying cargo on the way. I believe we will be passing near Depot, what is the current state of Naval involvment in these affairs?"

OOC: I believe we had decided to go with re-naming the ship the "Vrkris"?


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## Maerdwyn (Oct 4, 2005)

"Things are busy out there,"  Tjoyia responds with some gravity.  "The 8th Expeditionary fleet is _en route_ to Depot for support and repairs after being pulled from the front."  This takes the navy people present a little by surprise - there would be support bases for ships-of-line fighting the Solomani a lot closer than Depot, and besides about half the Ley sector fleet is based from there - the 8th might well be too much for the base to effectively support.

"As for food, you'll get good prices from the local merchants - most of them have stocks piling up as a result of the blockade.  Opposite on the vac suits and personal weapons, I'm afraid.  Not much to go around.  At least not much of the really fun stuff," she finishes with a wink.


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## DrZombie (Oct 4, 2005)

"Depends on the passengers we're taking. If the 'new boss' has personel that is able to defend itself during a spacebattle we won't need to hire gunners. And unless you need someone to steal cattle you won't find much qualified personell on my homeplanet. I suggest we hire as few people as possible. I mean, we only need enough people to do battle, which is 3 gunners, a pilot and someone to man the sensors. For landing and take-off you only need two, and for passenger care two more. And during Jump noone needs to do anything at all. Personel is expensive, and we don't know if we're gonna make money. Maybe we should all take two or three jobs."

He shrugs.
"Anyway, has anyone thought about what cargo to take?"

OOC : the game is called 'traveller' for a reason, I guess. It could take five years of RL roleplaying , or five minutes. Up to you really.


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## Wilphe (Oct 5, 2005)

"If we can get a cargo for the jumps we are making on then go with that, otherwise it'll have to be speculative if there is something suitible. Route looks like:," he pauses and gets out a set of dividers."

J3 to Shirshagi
J3 to Triton
J2 to to 598-708, J3 to Depot
or J3 to Iseda, j2 to Depot
J4 to Keane (unless you fancy bumming around the backwaters)
J2 Asili
J3 Taylors World
J2 Shikimi
J3 Egram
J3 Kam
J3 Annapabar

"10 jumps, with a bit of flexiblilty as to where we end up."

_And unless you need someone to steal cattle you won't find much qualified personell on my homeplanet_

"That sort of talent may come in handy. Besides, your people can cook right? I'm just thinking that a good way to demonstrate the benefits of interstellar commerce is to give an opportunity to a couple of fresh faced youngsters to see the stars."
    "I don't expect we'll need the extra bods on the way, but when we get closer to the fringes of Imperial space things may be another matter."


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## Seonaid (Oct 6, 2005)

Ktarle's lower jaw gapes in a smile. "We take whatever cargo pays." She looks at the others. "I'm no wizard with calculating routes, but I can handle a gun if I have to. We need to rename our ship _Vyrkris_ and we need to think about this upcoming partnership. Full, I assume, but do we want to be incorporated or do we want to act separately? Either has its benefits and its drawbacks, as might be evident. We perhaps could do more good as a corporation, but we would have more freedom if we remain separate sharing entities." She pauses and glances at the others before continuing. "It depends, therefore, on our ultimate goals.

"Hiring some young people and training them may do good for expansion, yes. But let's screen them carefully, hm? We wouldn't want someone who is space sick all the time or someone who gets ideas of taking over the ship. Not that that's likely," she reflects.

OOC: What kind of money do we have? I'd like to get the best possible medical equipment we can. If all that we can get is stocked fully with disposable supplies (medications, etc.), that's what I'll take. I'll look at Lite some time soon, and let you know. I also may pick up the actual book... I'll be near a game store this weekend.


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## Guest 11456 (Oct 6, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

Trelene gets a far off distant look for a moment. "Yes, I agree, Vyrkris would make a fine ship name. Perhaps our trading company could be named for Captain Julia Darius. If it weren't for her help we might not be here today."


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## Maerdwyn (Oct 6, 2005)

"All right, well, whatever you decide, make sure you get it registered before you leave the system.  And if you do decide to take on more crew - Well, I'd suggest you do it outside this main - unless you want to hire someone from the Scout Service, of course:  them I can vouch for."  If no one has anymore questions for the old Scout, she wals you out of the office.  "Good luck to you, now. I hope you are as successful diplomatically as I know you will be financially... Oh, and Gwydion, Marissa is still unattached, but she won't be around forever, you know.  You find yourself on Harrison, I expect you to stop in and see her. Give her a kiss from her old Gran."

A taxi can take you anywhere in the city you wish to go, whether the market district, financial district, Gudeli's hotel  or somewhere else.


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## Seonaid (Oct 7, 2005)

Ktarle, feeling cramped after that indoors meeting, stretches lazily. "I'd like to purchase some things and take a look at this place's holdings." She looks around casually and then adds, almost to herself, "I wonder if they have an embassy."

OOC: Ktarle's gonna buy some medical and personal supplies and then try to track down Treth's family, or at least some idea of who his family is.
Edit: She'd prefer to walk, if possible and not dangerous.


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## Wilphe (Oct 21, 2005)

Walking is possible, if a little low-tech. Which embassy are you looking for? You are on the Domain capital after all, so there will be plenty. Not any significant representatives from any Alsan clans however, as you are very far from Aslan dominated space. However, the Imperial diplomatic service does maintain a small Aslan liason office, it probably doesn't get a lot of traffic however - as anyone who has that much trouble working in Imperial culture that they need it probably isn't going to get this far in.

   If you want to check databases then let me know which ones and give me a roll


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## Seonaid (Oct 22, 2005)

Ktarle heads for the Aslan office, looking to speak with someone (Aslan) in person. She will stop at any medical supply stores on the way.


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## Wilphe (Oct 22, 2005)

> What's everyone else doing?


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## doghead (Oct 23, 2005)

Saanath finds himself a terminal access point and hooks up his oyster. Saanath strokes the sleek case of the customised machine.

"Its been a while since I gave you a run. Lets see if we can remember what to do."

Saanath begins by trawlling the news nets and other databases for information on Treth, the planet he came from, any people Treth mentioned (or came up in his dealings with the Aslan) and Aslan culture in general. At this point, Saanath sticks to the public access ones and avoids any _funny business_.

Once bitten, twice shy; before anything else, Saanath takes steps to ensure that is would be difficult to trace the enquires back to him, should anyone try. He aalsso gives his firewalls and counter invasion software a once over to ensure it is all up to spead.

ooc: T/Computers +9 (+11 with Hacker feat), T/Communications +9 (+11 with Hacker feat)


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## DrZombie (Oct 23, 2005)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> " Oh, and Gwydion, Marissa is still unattached, but she won't be around forever, you know.  You find yourself on Harrison, I expect you to stop in and see her. Give her a kiss from her old Gran."




"You do realise that last time I saw her she actually did try her best to shoot me? I was only lucky she was too drunk to hit anything. But then again, I shouldn't have cheated with cards." He sighs. "I didn't think she'd notice. Anyway, I'll try to tell her, if she lets me."

He turns to Ruzz'koff.

"Do you want me to accompagny you on your trips, or do you want me to go to the ship, and start on the very thorough, leave no bolt unfastened review?"


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## Wilphe (Oct 27, 2005)

Everybody:
    The streets don't seem very busy, it might just be normal for Dukh to be this way, but there is general vibe of depression about the place. Like there has been a recent downturn or something, very probably connected with the blockade.

Ktarle:

  There are certainly a few medical suppliers she can try, all of which seem eager for business - any business. What does she want?*

   Looking up the Aslan liason office gives an address in the starport as a part of the main Imperial embasy, rather unusually there is a pair of Marines on duty at the entrance to the Embassy but they aren't stopping anyone from getting in. There is no difficulty getting someone to see her and a short, dark haired young human woman in a business suit comes to Ktarle's seat in the lobby and introduces herself as "Maralee Easton, how can I help you?". Her Alsan is perfect, not enough to suggest that she is a native speaker - but the exact reverse - someone who has studied a lot but hardly ever gets to put it into practice.

OOC:
* I'm normally faily loose on these things. If characters make the effort to get stuff I'm normally willing to take that into account on a Schrodinger's basis when deciding if they have anything useful rather than "I buy everything on the equipment list just in case" basis.


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## Wilphe (Oct 27, 2005)

Saanath:
      You know how when you throw a stone into a pond?
      It goes <plop>, there are some ripples and the stone disappears?
      Well looking for data on Treth is like that, but without the <plop> or ripples. It's as if he never existed in the first place. This has to be wrong, because you could count the high status landholding Aslan in this sub-sector on one hand, or even on an Aslan's hand - which only has four digits to begin with.
     Even with his full name to work with (see OOC thread) you get nowhere, eventually, when it almost seems time to give up you find a  reference in the archives of a local paper from 10 years ago. A small, short piece reporting on how a small aslan clan, the Ais Lhearosh, has been given an Imperial charter on Bleue Mer. His name is mispelt, but there a picture - and it is definately him.
      There are no followups to the piece whatsoever, just a few small paragraphs appear to be all the mark Treth left on the world.


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## Wilphe (Oct 27, 2005)

DrZombie said:
			
		

> He turns to Ruzz'koff.
> 
> "Do you want me to accompany you on your trips, or do you want me to go to the ship, and start on the very thorough, leave no bolt unfastened review?"




Ruzz'koff turns to Trelene and Gwydion. Saanath is already plugging himself in and Ktarle seems ready to go somewhere

"We need to do that for sure, all of us. And attend to the million and one things we need to do to get the _Vyrkris_ up and running. However we also need to see this functionary we are looking to transport and Saanath and I need to spend a lot of time looking at trade patterns working out how are going to get to where we are going without going backrupt.

"Meanwhile, we are just out of witness protection and on a planet run by relatives of our archenemy. I think going off on our own would be a bad idea. Do you want to go with Ktarle or stay with Saanath?"

<If Tailspinner has no plans for Trelene she can go with Gwydion?> 

Tuan:
      You are wherever you are, I would guess bumming around the startown looking for a way off world?


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## Seonaid (Oct 27, 2005)

Ktarle frowns slightly at the sight of a human greeting her, but nods cordially and answers in Aslan. "I'm looking for news from home and anything notable involving Aslans that happened in the past four months." She pauses for a moment. "I find I do not know how these things work. Do you have a database for me to search or do you get the information for me?"

OOC: I'll stop anywhere that looks like it has quality equipment. I'd prefer a good price, obviously, but if there is not much competition, I'll buy from anyone I trust. I listed OOC what I want; sorry the post is kind of confusing. Does anyone want to chip in and get an autodoc?


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## Seonaid (Oct 27, 2005)

Previously:

Ktarle stops in the medical supply shops to price the items she wants, and [unless you want to RP it, and that's fine with me] eventually comes out Cr8625 poorer, but with a delivery of a field med kit, a first aid kit, and two portable labs expected at the ship.


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## doghead (Oct 27, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant trader*

Saanath leans back in his chair and sighs. For a moment there, when he had first seen the positive hit come up, he thought that he had got something. But it really give him anything. 

Saanath goes back over what he knows. Treth was working on Daramm after losing his land on Mur Mura. He had a wife but she died. Saanath searches his memory for her name, but can't recall it. Grabbing a note pad, he scrawls a note to the others. 

_We should get together and share what we know. It will help me dig around. Saanath_. 

She died after Treth had come to Daramm is Saanath's best guess. Treth said something about her being able to calm the waves and turn the steel of the city into land, or something like that. He was probably talking about Daramm. Treth had said that he hated the fact that Daramm had no land.

Saanath rereads the small news article. 10 years ago his clan had been given an Imperial charter for Bleue Mar ... _Bleue Mer_ not Mur Mura. Saanath had at first first thought it said Mur Mura in the article. 

The "Imperial charter" rang bells. Treth had raged that his land had been taken away dishonourably, without a battle, by a piece of paper. Saanath wonders if the Imperial charter was _that_ piece of paper. But the timing then doesn't seem to make sense. How did the charter _take away_ Treth's land?  Saanath sighs again. He doesn't have enough pieces to fit anything together.

Saanath leans forwards and sets up some new seaches; Bleue Mer and Imperial Charter. He cross references them with other known terms. While the computer works, Saanath pulls up his Imperial Law files and looks up Imperial charter.

ooc: Where are we staying at the moment? On board the ship. In a hotel? A safehouse?
ooc: K/Interstella Law +8.


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## Watus (Oct 28, 2005)

*Tuan Nguyen.  Dogsbody General.*

They locked eyes for a split second before the big Sydite laid down his cards, and in that moment Tuan thought he might have been in trouble.  He knew the lummox had something, his tells would have been obvious from orbit, but the self-satisfied grin that split his slab-like mug made Tuan think maybe the hand was bigger than he'd figured.  The big mook played like your typical merc: balls out and aggressive as hell.  Always chasing after the big pots, and bluffing like an idiot.  Tuan had a more conservative strategy and tended to produce better results.  Especially when he cheated.  But this was a friendly low stakes game, and not worth the risk, especially when playing with someone who could crush him like a bug.  The big man laced the fingers of his outer hands behind his head and leaned back, his grin widening.  Tuan glanced down, careful to keep his expression level.  Two pair: 10s over 8s.  Pretty good.  He picked up his own hand from the table as the others turned to him expectantly.  Tuan let the tension hang in the air briefly as he examined his cards, cracking a tentha seed in his back teeth and leisurely worrying out the meat.  He chewed contemplatively for a moment before turning his head and spitting the shell onto the floor.  Locking eyes with the Sydite, he laid down his hand.  

Full house, jacks full of nines.

The table errupted into laughter and backslapping as the grin slowly faded from the Sydite's face.  The front legs of his chair dropped back to the floor and he leaned forward, shaking his head.  "Nice hand," he grumbled.  "You lucky bastard."

"Luck's got nothin' to do with it, Sakrat my friend," Tuan clucked, reaching forward and dragging his winnings into a big pile.  "Nothing at all."  He stood and smiled genially, wiping his hands on his threadbare overalls.  "Deal me out of the next hand," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the mens room.  "I got some business to attend to."

"Alright, but you better not disappear," Sakrat grumbled, jabbing his enormous index finger in Tuan's direction.  "The next round's on you."

As Tuan neared the restroom, out of sight of the others, he paused for a second and pulled out his communicator, a worried look his face.  For the hundredth time that day he checked the exchange board for an outbound ship advertising for hands.  

"Gods damnit," he muttered angrily, finding nothing - as he knew he would.  "How long is this **** going to last?"

After 20 years working the lanes, being stuck down the well this long was agonizing.  He could see it on the faces of nearly everyone in the startown.  Bankrolls dwindled while anxieties heightened.  The feel of dirt under their feet was unfamiliar and unwelcome.  What were the damned imperials _doing_ up there, anyway?  If something didn't happen soon, this place was going to explode.


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## DrZombie (Oct 29, 2005)

_Tuan Nguyen. A name from quite a while ago. He must be pretty desperate if he send a message to me to see if I can get him in somewhere. But it seems evrybody is pretty desperate around here. And I still owe him for paying our bail after that barfight on, now where was that again? I'm getting old._ 

"Time to take a break, Saanath. You've been staring at that screen for fifteen minutes now.  Let's go for a drink, see if we can find some books or games to get us past the boredom of the trip, and then, if you're nice, I'll see if I can find something in the scouts database."

He taps something on his portacomp. 

"I'll send a message to Ktarle to meet up with us, and there's an old friend in town who's desperate to get off this planet. You two could check him out and see if you could spend two weeks in tight quarters with him."

"Ever been to 'the Big One'? 's run by a friend of mine, ex prospector who got a big one and started a bar. Good food, good music, lot's of prospectors, mercs and other spacefolk, but Nyam runs a tight ship, and she'll come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who tries to start a fight."
He chuckles.
"She's one mean aunty when she gets angry."


Message to Ktarle : Me and Saanath are going out for a quick meal and a drink, at the 'The Big One'. We'll be there in about an hour.

Message to Tuan: I'll be at the 'the big one' in an hour. Might have a job. Drinks on you. Gwydion.


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## doghead (Oct 29, 2005)

*Saanath, male human computer geek*

Saanath shakes his head.

"If we are going to help Treth, we have to know what happened to him. The answers are here some ... 

Saanath wheels around to face Gwydion.

"Did you say the scout database? You have access?"

Saanath considers for a moment.

"All right. Give me a moment to wind this up."

As Gwydion taps on his portacomp, Saanath shut down his applications and closes the screen.

When Gwydion is done, Saanath follows him out into the city and to _The Big One_.

***

Saanath follows Gwydion gaze as the old scout indicatess the man they have come to meet.

"Tuan. You didn't say it was Tuan you were meeting Gwydion. What are the odds of that. But then, give how long you two old codgers have been around bumming around the sector, probably not so long."

Saanath grins to take any possible sting out of his words. 

"Looks like he is winning again. But doesn't look like they are playing for much."


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## Seonaid (Oct 29, 2005)

*Ktarle, Aslan doctor on forced shore leave*

Ktarle will meet the guys at the bar when she finishes the conversation with the human at the embassy.


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## Watus (Oct 31, 2005)

Catching a glimpse of Gwydion through the crowd, Tuan supresses a grin.  The little toad to his left - apparently an arms dealer of some sort - notices, and folds with a curse.  The rest of table quickly takes his cue, and Tuan finds himself a little richer.  It sometimes pays to develop a reputation at the table.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear you were cheating,"  grumbles the toad, looking distinctly put out.

Tuan raises an eyebrow and cuffs him on the shoulder.  "I'd never cheat a friend," he grins, somewhat less than reassuringly.  He turns to the table and downs the rest of his drink.  "Cash me out, Sakrat.  I've got some business."  Pushing his chair back, he brushes a lock of graying hair out of his face and gives his old friend a wink.  The Sydite glowers menacingly at his retreating back, but grudgingly does has he asks.  Tuan's slight form disappears into the crowd almost immediately.

-----

Gwydion and Saanath lose sight of him in the throng.  A moment later Gwydion feels a little sting on his left bicep.  Turning, he finds Tuan clutching his right hand in his left and biting his lip.  "Ouch!  Motherf...."  He waves his hand in the air for a second, trying to get himself together.  He squeezes back a tear and blows on his hand.  "Ugh.  Gods!  I swear you get bigger every time I see you."   He looks down, carefully checking over his reddened knuckles.  "And uglier."

"AND," he says, suddenly much more self-possesed, "you still owe me 600 credits."

He glances to his left, as if noticing Saanath for the first time.  "Hey kid.  I'd have thought Greave* taught you better than to hang around with scouts."



-----
*Saanath: Did you ever name your mentor?  I just made this up.  Let me know if it doesn't suit.


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## doghead (Oct 31, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

Saanath wasn't sure that Tuan would remember him. They had met a few times, but a long time ago, and it was really Greave who knew Tuan. Something from way back in the olden days, when the women were prettier and the beer tastier ...

Sannath grins widely, please with himself and the world in general. _Great. Now you truely look like a kid._ Saanath turns back to Tuan.

"Yeah. Greave would be spinning in his rocking chair if he knew we were hanging out with a dodgy old spacecodger like you. Still, strange times make for strange companions."


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## DrZombie (Nov 1, 2005)

Watus said:
			
		

> Gwydion and Saanath lose sight of him in the throng.  A moment later Gwydion feels a little sting on his left bicep.  Turning, he finds Tuan clutching his right hand in his left and biting his lip.  "Ouch!  Motherf...."  He waves his hand in the air for a second, trying to get himself together.  He squeezes back a tear and blows on his hand.  "Ugh.  Gods!  I swear you get bigger every time I see you."   He looks down, carefully checking over his reddened knuckles.  "And uglier."
> 
> "AND," he says, suddenly much more self-possesed, "you still owe me 600 credits."





"Uglier? That hurts, coming from a man who fell from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the waydown. And what's with the grey hair?"
Gwydion says as he looks tuan up and down, carefully not mentioning the 600 credits.

"Let's get a table. We've got a lot to talk about."


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## Watus (Nov 1, 2005)

"We're not likely to get a table out here," Tuan says, surveying the crowded room.  "Let me see if they have an open room in the back."  He spots an attractive young waitress and disappears for a moment, hot on her trail.  A second later he can be seen through the gap in the crowd, deep in conversation with her.  He takes her gently by the elbow and leans in to whisper something in her ear.  She laughs and tosses back her head, blushing.

A moment later and he's back.  "Cydia said she'll see what she can do," he says, pointing toward a door in the back.  "She's a good kid...   I knew her mother a long time ago.  What,  almost twenty yea..."

Tuan freezes in mid-syllable, pupils dilated.  

His head snaps around, searching out the tall, blonde, blue-eyed waitress.  Catching a glimpse of her a heartbeat later, he laughs weakly, shaking his head as the color returns to his face.

"Heh.  Yeah.  Uhhh..."  He wipes the sweat off his upper lip, laughing at himself.  "What was I saying?  Whew.  Man, I need a drink."

He starts off - a little unsteady - in the direction of the back, rapidly recoving his usual equanimity.


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## Wilphe (Nov 1, 2005)

Seonaid said:
			
		

> Ktarle frowns slightly at the sight of a human greeting her, but nods cordially and answers in Aslan. "I'm looking for news from home and anything notable involving Aslans that happened in the past four months." She pauses for a moment. "I find I do not know how these things work. Do you have a database for me to search or do you get the information for me?"




     She smiles, "I can show you how to access the local databases and Aslan media certainly, but it's not very busy today and I don't get enough practice speaking Aslan to a native speaker."
    "The big news is from the border between the Hierate and the Solomani sphere - several of the border clans are considering making a few land grabs while the Imperials and Solomani are occupied with each other. Moving on Imperial worlds would be a breach of several treaties so only the bravest seem likely to attempt that. However ambassadors from the Loakhtaral are offering an Imperial alliance in exchange to title to any worlds they can capture - no official answer has come back yet. The Raohkeil are belived to be preparing to strike anyway."

    "In Gateway there is nothing much to speak off happening - not specific to Aslan anyway. The main occassion is a marriage between the Khorle and Abtofi, who are two of the largest culturally aslan clans around here. The Khrole have some large, but scattered landholds and the Abtofi are mainly space traders. Their alliance would have a certain logic about it."

     <Blah, blah, blah. Nothing about Treth, unless she wants to raise the subject herself>


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## Wilphe (Nov 1, 2005)

doghead said:
			
		

> Saanath leans back in his chair and sighs. For a moment there, when he had first seen the positive hit come up, he thought that he had got something. But it really give him anything.
> Saanath leans forwards and sets up some new seaches; Bleue Mer and Imperial Charter. He cross references them with other known terms. While the computer works, Saanath pulls up his Imperial Law files and looks up Imperial charter.




   The basic details are easy to find:

   Bleue Mer/Spearhead/Ley

    UWP E9AA261-7 Ni Wa

Starport: Class E (A clear field)
Size : 14,400 km (Terra is 12,750) Surface Gravity: 1.28
Atmosphere: Exotic - Unbreathable by normal humans
Hydrographics: 100% (Water, with some small islands)
Population: 2*  (100-999)
Government: 6 - Captive Government (Corporate colony)
Law Level: 1 (Very loose)
Tech Level: 7 (1970-1990)

Non Industrial, Water World

  Bleue Mer is entirely owned by Pharmacorp, who recently set up a small reserach station there. It is interdicted as an Red Zone "because of hostile fauna and environment", there is no record of this being enforced by Navy or Scout craft on station. The Imperium has only deployed warning beacons and bouys.


Imperial Charter:
    It doesn't often happen that a planet has no inhabitants or owners at all. Generally if a planet is worth living on at all, at least someone will be. However, there are a few empty planets that no one has title to. These are, in effect, "owned" by the Imperium. Anyone wishing to colonise one may apply for an Imperial charter, this will give them title to the world. Charters are usually conditional - e.g.: You have to actually go, colonise & develop the world. If these conditions are not met they may be revoked.
     A charter may be issued to a world that already has inhabitants and often no real governement, in such a case the charter may be limited to specific areas of the world or the existing inhabitants rights are specifically guarded under the charter.



> ooc: Where are we staying at the moment? On board the ship. In a hotel? A safehouse?
> ooc: K/Interstella Law +8.




OOC: Still in the safehouse, but that is winding down now as you are no longer needed. You have a week to get out.

Bleue Mer's UWP was originally E9AA661-7, I have the changed the population. So far as you know the rest of the UWP is accurate. The Red Zone is Maedwyrn's addition.


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## Wilphe (Nov 1, 2005)

Ruzz'koff will return to the safehouse with Trelene unless anyone raises any objections?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saanath, Tuan, Gwydion:

    The back room of "The Big One" is a long, dusty room that you imagine normally gets used for Weddings and Wakes. When it gets used at all -which by the looks of it isn't often. At the moment there are several stacks of chairs in the corner, a few folding tables against the wall, a small bar (closed) and a couple of a forlorn shrunken balloons in the corner. It's quiet, but it is not by any means luxurious.

Ktarle:
    The Big One is already described, but Saanath and Gwydion are nowhere to be seen. Your entrance attracts rather more attention than you might imagine. It's not quite a "piano stops and then changes to a minor key" moment, but it's certainly notable. The conversation level drops, then picks up. You don't need Sense Motive to get the feeling they are talking about you...


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## Watus (Nov 1, 2005)

Tuan sidles into the room, swirling the large tumbler of full of the noxious Vilani whiskey he ordered on the way in.

He nods his approval.  "Cool."

He downs half the glass in one gulp, plunks it down onto the dusty boards of the deserted bar and wanders into the back of the room, idly kicking a half-deflated balloon on the way.  He peeks behind the folding tables and blows on the cobweb strands hanging from the light fixture.

"You said something about a job," he comments over his shoulder, not sounding half as distracted as he looks.


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## doghead (Nov 1, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

Saanath follows Gwydion and Tuan through to the backroom, still shaking his head at the memory of Tuan's little double take over the waitress. _Old spacers. They all like to make out like they have bedded every woman in the sector._

Saanath pulls a bar stool out from under the bar and takes a seat. He will leave Gwydion to handle this.


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## Guest 11456 (Nov 2, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

Trelene begins checking on possible cargos for the trip. She wants to see what is available and would most likely turn the best profit the quickest. She will also try and figure what is the best possible cargos at different locations along their proposed route.


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## DrZombie (Nov 3, 2005)

Gwydion quickly remarks to the waitress that an Aslan female will be looking for them, could she show her through?

"So, Tuan, what have you been up to lately?"


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## Watus (Nov 7, 2005)

Tuan shrugs.  "You know, this and that.  Mostly been to coreward getting fat."  He pats his non-existent belly and grins.

"Thought I'd head back out to the frontier and see if I couldn't stir up some trouble."  He frowns and turns his eyes orbit-ward.

"Not quite there and it seems I found a bit more than I was hoping for."  He pauses for a moment, utterly deflated.

...

A second later he rediscovers his drink on the bar and his grin reappears.  "So, anyway.  You got a ship or what?"


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## Seonaid (Nov 7, 2005)

*Ktarle, female Aslan sleuth!*



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> <Blah, blah, blah. Nothing about Treth, unless she wants to raise the subject herself>



Ktarle nods and smiles at the woman. _Damn chatty humans,_ she thinks, a bit unfairly. When she winds down a bit, she says, "I'm also interested in a particular person. Trethofseaukhou Ardua Ais Nerwhua. He is the mate of Aofahrkosiyu."


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## Wilphe (Nov 10, 2005)

Tuan, Gywdion, Saanath:

    Well I guess you three are chatting with each other and doing some catching up...


Trelene:

     Dukh is a high-population, high tech world with an more or less Earth like environment. As such it can be expected to export mostly high-tech, high-value consumer goods - often luxury items, and to have a few luxury foodstuffs for export (wines, spirits, chocolates, the like). You shouldn't have any difficulty finding a cargo to head in the general direction you want, a specific planet is a different matter.

  Checking the local freight spot market you see prices are fairly high, as anyone with permission to leave can get a good price for their empty hold space. Vessals are being processed on a "First In, First out" basis with a normal turnaround of only a few days lenghting into weeks, and even a month or more. A such there is a long backlog of cargo stacking up, some of it is urgent, all of it says it's urgent and only some of it has shippers willing to pay the mark ups to MAKE it urgent.

Ktarle:
     "I'm sorry, I don't know anything specific about those two people. Are they friends of yours? Clan mates perhaps? Any idea what planet their landhold is on?"

[sblock]Sense Motive: (Why is everyone getting 19s?). See appears perfectly sincere. [/sblock]


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## Seonaid (Nov 10, 2005)

"Friends of mine," Ktarle responds. If she knows the name of the landhold, she'll give it. If not, she'll search the database herself.

OOC: Ha ha.


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## Wilphe (Nov 13, 2005)

OOC: She knows nothing of the landhold other than the name of the planet, Bleue Mer. Mentioning that will elict the following.

     "Then I'm afraid you must be misinformed Madame. There're no Aslan on Belue Mer that I am aware of, Pharmacorp have an Imperial Charter to the whole planet. So unless they are Pharmacorps' vassals?"

     A search of the database, based on the names she thinks she has, turns up nothing.


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## Seonaid (Nov 14, 2005)

Ktarle shakes her head and then asks for directions to the bar.

She walks into the Big One and finds a server. "I'm looking for a human and a Vilani." She pauses and says, "They should be expecting me."


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## Wilphe (Nov 16, 2005)

The waitress gives Ktarle a very odd look, "A human _and_ a Vilani? Um, okay. You'll find them out the back. They're expecting you, anyone else going to turn up or is your little group full for now?". She makes a vauge gesture in the right direction, following it will bring the group back together in the back room (Apart from Trelene anyway).

OOC:
<So: Talk amongst yourselves>


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## doghead (Nov 16, 2005)

*Saanath, male human budding merchant trader*



			
				Watus said:
			
		

> "So, anyway. You got a ship or what?"




Saanath nods, trying to play it like its no big deal. But he can't hold it together, and breaks into a huge grin.

"Yeah. A ship, something like a plan and almost a crew. Which would be where you come in."

Saanath outlines the mission in general terms, crouching it in terms of a specualtive trading mission and avoiding the more sensitive areas until they can talk more openly.

ooc: Was waiting for Gwyndon to handle this. Its really just a formality, no?

So shall we move things on. If so, Saanath plans are to 1) get access to the scout database if he can, 2) and work on putting together a cargo.


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## Wilphe (Nov 20, 2005)

OOC:
Saanath can try to get access to the Scout database - that would however be hacking it and probably not welcomed if they found out.
Gwydion will have access, maybe not to anything classified or secret, but hey, it's an almost uninhabited ball of water, what can be classified about that?


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## doghead (Nov 21, 2005)

ooc: Wasn't planning too hack our employers at this point. Gywndn offered to get onto the scout database for Saanath. I just ment that Saanath would take him up on the offer if its still stands. Sorry, not very clear the first time.]


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## Wilphe (Nov 22, 2005)

ooc: Didn't think he would, but I wanted to make sure and don't want to let him in via Gwydion without Dr Zombie's say so.

IC:
Trelene and Saanath

Browsing for potential cargos brings up a long list, even narrowing the search criteria to a 90 degree arc around the direction you want to go in and limiting the lots to one the Vyrkris can carry neatly still doesn't narrow it down much. You could fill the hold 10 times over, if not more. Checking the passanger listings and travel agents tells you that the pattern is the same for personal travel.

It looks like getting a cargo from Dukh will be a doddle, the difficult bit will be getting the next cargo. The trade slowdown here has really messed with a lot of peoples' supply chains and will have had a knockon effect throughout the sector. Normal established routes have been shaken up, and suppliers are looking for new markets, whilse buyers are looking for new suppliers. A lot of people will be losing money because of this, and this won't make the Emperor (or, incidentally, you lot) popular. On the other hand, the smart, brave and lucky will be able to make a killing.

The quick thing to do is to decided the route you want to take and and look for cargo that needs to go there.
The smart, but difficult, thing to do is to work out whose supply chains have been disrupted, and go to the places that look likely to need help putting them back together.


Amongst the choice cargos:

A large lot of agricultural equipment bound for Shirgegge, this needs to get there before the harvest and is very time critical. Getting the Vryrkis in a condition to ship this would mean a few 18 hour days getting her ready to leave soon.

460-687, various parts for high-end white goods and kitchen appliances. Not that interesting, but it will pay well

Mistletoe, premium watermelons. Something of a luxury on a desert world, they can't stay on the plant for ever and they can't be harvested and left in storeage.

Bleue Mer, monthly supply run to a research station is overdue. It's not critical, but they will be glad to see you.


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## Guest 11456 (Nov 30, 2005)

*Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President*

Trelene decides that she should wait for the others' input before deciding what to get to put in the hold. So she spends the time studying on her new past time of alien technology.


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## Wilphe (Dec 3, 2005)

Trelene spends a pleasent afternoon catching up on local stories on alien technology. Notable developments recently:
    Exhibition of Sydite musical instruments, designed to be played by people with 4 arms. This was accompanied by a notable Sydite orchestra who've been staying on Dukh, giving a series of recitals. They've overstayed what with the restrictions and need a fast ship to thier next engagements on Shikirmi.

    The Hivers have set up a trading mission on Gashuki, no one has yet got back from there with much in the way of goods, but Hiver gear is normally high-tech, high-quality. In any case the gear Hivers use, as oppossed to manufacture for trade, is appreciated by connisseurs of alien tech simply because it's designed by and for such a different species.

    A K'Kree trade mission was due to arrive at Dukh, but instead they are waiting on Shirgegge - where they are no doubt being kept a good way away from the local ranchers. They'll probably have some interesting and unusual stuff, though trading with them is always um, interesting.


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## Wilphe (Dec 3, 2005)

At some point everyone returns from the bar, at which point Gwydion will let Saanath onto the scout database:

    Bleue Mer.

   First surveryed by the 3rd Imperium in 287, classified as a Red Zone because of "Hostile fauna and environment", atmosphere was then classified as B (Corrosive)
   Most recently surveyed in 875, recommendation was put in to change atmospheric classification to 9 (Dense-Tainted), as there is plenty enough oxygen and it's not that corrosive. After several pages of discussion it was given an A (Exotic), apparently as a compromise between the two.

       Imperial Charter granted 012/997 to Pharmacorp LIC, no record of any previous charter grant can be found, maybe the local press were wrong.

     E class starport was constructed by Pharmacorp employees, no Imperial representatives are present on planet, though Imperial Patrol Cruisers occassionally drop by.


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 3, 2005)

Ktarle thanks the waitress and moves to the back room to find the others.  She eyes the stranger (Tuan) with Gwydion and Saanath warily, and waits a moment to to be called over and introduced to him, unsure of who he might be and how much he should or shouldn't be told.

After the introductions, she reports what she found, and suggests that they head to the ship, where Trelene will be meeting them as soon as she is done with her research.

While Saanath and Gwydion work on the computer, Ktarle begins setting up the medbay with some her smaller purchases, but that in itself does not take very long, given the compact nature of the purchased kits, and she soon finds herself back on the bridge, asking the humans, "Have you found anything? The Aslan Liason Office implied that Trethofeaskhou must have been some sort of corporate vassal."  Her tone implies that she doesn't think that very likely.


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## doghead (Dec 3, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

Saanath heads back to the ship with Ktarle, Gwydion and Tuan . Once Tuan has been introduced Trelene and the formalities concluded, Saanath suggests a tour of the ship.

Once thats done, Saanath sits down with Trelene to go over what she has found regarding cargo options and with Gwydion to see what the database has to offer.

A little while later Ktarle returns to the bridge. Saanath looks up at her question.

"As we are all here, now might be a good time to pool what we know, and make a few decisions."

ooc: Does the ship have a room with a table large enough for everyone to gather round. I imagine that the bridge would be rather cramped. BTW, how many cabins are there?


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## Wilphe (Dec 3, 2005)

OOC:
     There are four possible places you could do that.
     The Bridge
     The Common area between the staterooms (most likely, though not advisable when/if you have passangers)
     The Gig
     Engineering


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## doghead (Dec 4, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

"The passengers haven't come aboard yet, so why don't we gather in the common area. There is more room there."

If everyone is happy with that, Saanath heads over there.


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 5, 2005)

Ktarle and the others follow Saanath.  When they have all taken their seats, she begins, "Though for some of us it seems like a lot longer, three months ago, several of us here witnessed the death of an Aslan noble named Trethofeaskhou Ais Lhaerosh at the hands of the Daramiyya police.  He was unknown to us, but I tried to treat him, and Saanath conversed with him extensively before his death.  At best, Trethofeaskhou died because the Daramiyya police were over-eager.  We do not know for certain why he would have been targeted, but the way things happened on Daramm, I am more inclined to believe the more sinister explanation.   What we learned upon our arrival here only serves to make that more likely...but I will explain that further as we go along.  For now, Saanath, will you explain how you met Trethofeaskhou?"


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## Watus (Dec 5, 2005)

Curiosity piqued, Tuan listens with interest.


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## doghead (Dec 6, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

"One of the officers," Saanath adds, "definately seemed to be acting with intent. The other officer seemed to have had the respect of the people in the bar. But his partner, she was new and did not seem to have even her partner's trust.

"And there was something hard about her. Like she was no panicy rookie."

"Met Trethofeaskhou when I was having lunch in a restuarant. He got into an arguement with the manager. I tried to calm things down and to convince the manager to let it go. He let us go, but he didn't let _it_ go obviously. The police arrived shortly after we left. Trethofeaskhou was highly agitated. He kept talking about his lost homeland, or maybe estate would be better, and his mate. Evidently, she had been the one to keep him together while they lived on Daram. Trethofeaskhou didn't like the water world. The lack of land unsettled him.

"We got a little way, but Trethofeaskhou was falling appart, getting more agitated. Thats when I tried the bar."

Saanath shakes his head as if trying to bring it back into focus.

"I think that I knew Ktarle was in there. Or perhaps I was just looking for somewhere quiet. Anyway, most of you are familier with what happened in there. The police came and insisted on taking Trethofeaskhou away with them. Outside, things go a little unsettled, and Trethofeaskhou was shot down."

Saanath takes a deep breath and releases it slowly.

"Quinn was there, remember. He started barking orders in that voice he has. Gobspit. I have never been in the forces and he wasn't even talking to me. But I had to stop myself from trying to obey. That woman, she just sneered at Quinn. She was hard.


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## Wilphe (Dec 7, 2005)

Ruzz'koff listens, his tail twitching reflexively, he'd never had much to do with the Treth incident except as a spectator right at the end, "If she was an assassin, she must have been a good one. People like that are never cheap, so why hire someone like that to kill a penniless and crazy loner?"


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## doghead (Dec 7, 2005)

Saanath considers Ruzz'koff's idea for a moment.

"I didn't get the impression that she was a hired assassin. I mean, she was working as a police officer. More like she was answering to a higher authority. I don't know, if I had to say, I got the impression that she was security forces in some way. But it was just a feeling.

"And I can't see what Trethofeaskhou could have done to make such enemies. He didn't really seem to be doing anything other than feeling sorry for himself."


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## Wilphe (Dec 10, 2005)

"Re-phrase that question then: Why have a government conspiracy to off some crazy loner? And if you want to get really interesting, wasn't there a whole queue of non-Luriani at that restaurant after the job that Treth just happened to get?"


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 12, 2005)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Re-phrase that question then: Why have a government conspiracy to off some crazy loner? And if you want to get really interesting, wasn't there a whole queue of non-Luriani at that restaurant after the job that Treth just happened to get?"




Ktarle's eyes flash again at Ruzz'koff's description of the Aslan.  "Trethofeaskhou was not a 'crazy loner', Captain.  One of the main causes for the mental state I diagnosed that he was unable to cope with the lack of Aslan company - and probably society - to which he had been accustomed.  Trethofeaskhou himself had the bearing and accent of a noble."  

She turns back to the audience in general.  "As why he would have been targeted, I had no idea until we arrived here on Dukh.  Before he died, I took a blood sample from him, in part to determine if there was anything other than NSAD wrong with him.  I never got the chance to analyze the blood, as our journey on the Keruuchan was... interrupted,"  she says wryly.  "Through all that happened then, I'm am afraid to say that I put Trethofeaskhou and what happened to him squarely in the back of my mind.  I was very surprised, then, when after hours of interrogation by the ISS here in the Dukh system, I was presented with the knowledge that the blood sample I had obtained from Trethofeaskhou contained the very microbe we had encountered aboard the Dvonn.  Unfortunately, when we were released by the ISS, the blood sample was never returned to me - so I cannot verify that claim, but the agents who interrogated me seems quite definite on the matter.  I cannot dismiss the possibility that the sample was somehow contaminated while we were aboard the Dvonn.  But if the seal was intact when the ISS opened the sample to analyze it - if Trethofeaskhou's blood did contain that microbe when we met him on Daramm, before we were exposed to it on the Dvonn..."  She lets that trail off.


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## doghead (Dec 13, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

Saanath leans back in his seat and scrubs his chin.

"My brain hurts. I don't see the connection between Treth and what happened on the Dvonn."

He turns his attention to his temples, rubbing them for a moment.

"I mean, what are the odds? We just bump into someone who happens to be involved in a plot that ... well, that seems to have nothing to do with him. No gambler would touch those odds.

"But something makes me feel he was involved. It wasn't sample contamination. Wat about his homeworld? Could that have been the source of the spores. It would explain some things - the presense of the microb in Treth's blood, the sudden acquisition of the planet, ... the interest in Treth by the government even. They wouldn't want him trying to regain ownership."

A thought strikes Saanath.

"Isn't the planet Amber zoned at the moment for some reason?"


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 13, 2005)

doghead said:
			
		

> A thought strikes Saanath.
> 
> "Isn't the planet Amber zoned at the moment for some reason?"




"What did you and Gwydion find in the scout database?" Ktarle says, gesturing towards the handcomp resting next to him.


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## doghead (Dec 14, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*

Saanath slaps his head theatrically.

"Duh. Yes. Hang on, I have it here but didn't get a chance to go over it in detail."

Saanath snaps open his Oyster and pulls up the file.

"Right. OK. In summary ...

"Bleue Mer ... First surveryed by the 3rd Imperium in 287, classified as a Red Zone because of "Hostile fauna and environment .... Ah, thats probably where I got the amber zone idea. ... Later the atmosphere was classified as B (Corrosive) ... 

"Umm ...

"Most recently surveyed in 875, recommendation was put in to change atmospheric classification to 9 (Dense-Tainted) ... there is plenty enough oxygen and it's not that corrosive ... Then there is several pages of discusssion ... ah, finally it was given an A (Exotic) classification, apparently as a compromise between the two.

"Ah, this is where it gets to the charter ...

"Imperial Charter granted 012/997 to Pharmacorp LIC. ... Interestingly, there is no record of any previous charter grant in here. The local press could have been wrong but ... given what we have see, its just as likely that the records have been doctored.

"E class starport was constructed by Pharmacorp employees. ... No Imperial representatives are present on planet ... though Imperial Patrol Cruisers occassionally drop by.

"Thats about it."

ooc: E class, how fancy is that. And what's the current date?


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 14, 2005)

<removed>


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## Wilphe (Dec 15, 2005)

Ruzz'koff takes Ktarle's chastishment without flinching, "Whatever he was suffering from, he wasn't a credible threat to anybody except arrogant customers and self-satisfied maitre d's. I have a bad feeling that you may be right though, and he was killed because of what he had in his blood. If so, Pharmacorp will have a lot to hide and we'd better tread carefully if we are going there."

    "Two things, both relate to the Press. First up, is there anything to connect any of us to Treth's death? Anyone give statements to the police, did it get any press coverage? Rack your brains, someone do a search on the Daramm media - in so far as we can from here anyway. Secondly, the only record of Treth having any title to Bleue Mer is in the local press here, I suggest we trace the journalist in question and see if they can tell us anything."


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 16, 2005)

"I talked to the Police - I didn't say much,because I didn't know much.  But they would have my name. "


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## doghead (Dec 17, 2005)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

ooc: Can't remembber off hand if Saanath talked to the police.

"I can do a search to see what made the news in Daramm. I also suggest that we make copies of anything we have. But as for chasing down the journalist, don'y we rissk opening up a whole can of worms there. What if the journalist decides to make a story of it? Perhaps we should focus on consolidating what we know, and getting out of here. If Pharmacorp has feelers out, then there is the chance that they already know someone is digging into the story."

"Lets take the Blue mer supply run. That gives us a rock solid reason to go there and would make it hard for them to deny us permission land. We can fill the other 10 tons with speculative cargo, or perhaps another paid cargo like the melons to  Mistletoe. Although 460-687 could be better, its on the X-boat route and we would be more likely to be able to find out more about Blue Mer there.

As Saanath talk, he taps away at his computer, setting up the parameters and activating the logibots to trawl for data and build potention profit and loss models.

ooc: We seem to be going around in circles, so I though I might try a little roll play. Can I get a Trader (+16) and/or Broker (+16) roll to get an idea of the likely risk/returns. Looking for something to fill the last 10 tons, with one stop between Duhk and Blue Mer.


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## Wilphe (Dec 21, 2005)

OOC:

    The Polo has 81 tons of cargo space.

    The Bleue Mer supplies will take 20 tons of that, leaving 61 to play with. The chances of that much suitible speculative cargo from _anywhere_ to Bleue Mer are roughly nil, officially there's nothing there but a research station. You can fill up with a few luxuries and comforts for the staff and because it's probably very boring there they need any sort of entertainment (ie: Media & Booze, as well as hobby materials.) That will fill up a dt. The other 60dt will be ballast, and the chances of getting a cargo out are nil. Fortunatly, Pharmacorp's terms asume that the trip from Bleue Mer will be in ballast, so you could just fill up with fuel for free and jump out.

     It looks like the most profitable route to Bleue Mer is via Shirgegge, that agriculturla equipment needs to get there urgently and the price offered has gone up since you first checked. The shipper looks a bit desperate. Some further digging reveals that there are several people willing to pay very good money to get there, get their feet in the door with the K'kree and do some negotiating. Very good money indeed, though some of them are the sort of people used to high passage they aren't being too chosey so long as they get there. 
    A query with the shipping agent for Pharmacorp turns up that they have a consignment of animals at a facility on Shirgegge, as part of a program to adapt them to Bleue Mer - this will fill up most of the 60dt that would otherwise be empty.

     Shirgegge easily looks the most profitible, if you don't mind having your state rooms filled with yuppies on the way there, and your hold full of smelly animals and straw on the way to Bleue mer.

Summary:
    Dukh to Shirgegge

          20 dt - Bleue Mer supplies
          60 dt - Agricultural equipment
          1 dt - Speculative Cargo for Bleue Mer
          Passengers - Yuppies

  Shirgegge to Bleue Mer
          20dt - Bleue Mer supplies
          60 dt - Animals (though that may not fill the 60dt)
          1 dt - Speculative Cargo
          Passangers - Vet and animal tender.

    That looks like a very sound deal.


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## Maerdwyn (Dec 21, 2005)

ooc:  Re: Passengers, Don't we still need to count the director and his staff? (or are we figuring on coming back to Dukh before heading to Delta Quadrant?) Otherwise looks good to me, and we can get underway


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## Wilphe (May 10, 2006)

5 pages to find, I'm on the case


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## Wilphe (May 10, 2006)

Found:

IC 6 and 7


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## Wilphe (May 19, 2006)

Page 6 reconstructed:

02-23-06, 11:05 PM 	  #201 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff stands in the common area a few seconds longer, using his presence to drive any passengers that still have something to say back into their staterooms in discomfort. Then he returns to his quarters, changes into his duty uniform, and then heads to the galley for a bit of coffee. Jump space is supposed to be restful, isn't it?  

 02-24-06, 10:00 AM 	  #202 
Wilphe 	OOC:Ruzz'koff: 35 on that Liason check with Saanath's assistance...IC:Maxine Zdrac looks at Ruzz'koff as if to say something, then bites it back and stalks back into her stateroom. A couple of the rest decide that breakfast isn't going to be served right now and that they'd better leave quietly. Gwydion would probably reply to Tuan, but the Captain has cut him off. So instead he moves out of the cabin and is the only one around to stay on deck while everyone does what they need to do. Malico Shahisgara helps Ktarle and Saanath push the trolley into the med bay, then goes back to his seat on the corner of the lounge - messing with something on his computer.The only ones who remain in the lounge are:Curtis Foster - sitting by the entrance to his cabin looking thorougly miserable.Eleanor Carnot and Jake Carling make their way over to him and sit down with him, there isn't much conversation going on, but he hasn't anywhere else to go right now and it's probably best that he doesn't get left alone.Malico Shahisgara is in the corner.Ashur Gudeli watches carefully as everyone disperses and then returns to his cabin with Melissah Gshrygn in tow.It's now fairly quiet, and it doesn't look like there's an immenient crisis.Tuan:You find a set of clothes for Curtis easily enough, there's nothing obviously suspicious but you do have the nagging feeling that you've missed something. A more thorough search might be in order here.Saanath:Ktarle is quiet happy to accept your offer of help, and the two of you will spend the next couple of hours opening up the late Mr Antonescu, well, that's what she does. You spend a lot of time looking, holding stuff and passing her instruments, then cleaning up afterwards. You do get the distinct impression that she's perplexed by something.Ruzz'koff et al:You've a couple of hours to kill while the autopsy is done.
 02-24-06, 05:30 PM 	  #203 
	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheMaxine Zdrac looks at Ruzz'koff as if to say something, then bites it back and stalks back into her stateroom. 
Ruzz'koff tightens the belt of his robe. There's a little something to look forward to, he thinks, with a grimace. -rg
 02-28-06, 12:25 PM 	  #204 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff, having stirred his coffee nearly unti lthe spoon dissolved, decides to move to the relative peace and quiet of the bridge to wait out the autopsy. From there he'll monitor the shipboard security systems and cameras, keeping a remote eye on anything going on. And trying not to fall asleep.-rg
 02-28-06, 02:22 PM 	  #205 
Watus 	Masking his rising paranoic suspicions, Tuan plops himself down at the table of the common area, stirring the fourth spoonful of sugar into his fifth cup of coffee."That's a hell of a thing," he says to no one in particular. "A hell of a thing."
 02-28-06, 02:41 PM 	  #206 
doghead 	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheSaanath: .... You do get the distinct impression that she's perplexed by something.
Saanath shrugs. "Don't look at me. I'm just the bus boy here."Actually, there was something odd about the stateroom. Tuan said he cleaned it, but its was covered in dust." Saanath shudders at the memory of dusty things. "Hows the O2 levels on the ship?" he adds, half in jest.
 03-01-06, 07:20 PM 	  #207 
Tailspinner 	Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President Trelene had hoped to get some sleep, but with the amount of shouting that was going on, she decided to try and discern the source. She leaves her room and heads checks on things.
 03-04-06, 11:52 PM 	  #209 
Wilphe 	The suspense builds as everyone waits on Ktarle, occassionaly a nervous looking passenger - unwilling to risk Ruzz'koffs wrath, scurries out of their cabin to get a beverage or a snack before quickly returning. None of them have had a proper breakfast yet, and none of the crew looks like making any either. However no one seems to have much of an appetite, and those who do don't really feel like complaining about it.You think your sojurn is almost over when Ktarle emerges from the lab, but she makes a brief trip to Cabin 8, returning to the labs for a few minutes before making her way to the common area. "I'm done, can you join me in the lab please." It's not a great place to have 6 people, especially with a body on a table under a sheet. Hopefully Ktarle won't be using Mr Antonescu as a visual aid too much."I'll keep this short, and not dress it up with any medical technicalties. There is no doubt as to the cause of Mr Atonescu's death. He died of a massive heart failure. That much is certain, for a man of his age and apparent condition it's a bit unusual but hardly unprecedented.""There is no trace of any injury or any poison or toxin. Saanath mentioned that the cabin was dustier than expected," Gwydion moves uncomfortably, "I have already examined a sample of the dust, it's just dust. Nothing like the last lot we ran into," she smiles grimly."There is nothing to suggest any foul play or that anything was untoward. Except one thing, I am unable to ascertain a time of death. Now, there are two main ways of doing this - the first is to check what temperature the body is at, as it will cool from body heat to room temperature after death. This is fairly straight foward, and would suggest that the Subj... Sorry, Mr Antonescu, died at about 5am ship time.""Another process that takes place after death is that the blood will drain and pool in the lower portions of the body. It is a liquid after all, and it flows like any other. Judging by how far this has proceeded, I would reckon a time of death at about 9pm last night."
 03-07-06, 03:03 AM 	  #210 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff bares a few teeth. "These . . . methods for determining time of death. They should agree, I take it? And the mystery here is what could account for the preservation of Mr. Antonescue's body heat for 8 hours, or the acceleration of the process of the blood pooling in the lower portions of his body?"Do you have any theories, Miss Ktarle?" -
 03-07-06, 11:19 AM 	  #211 
doghead 	Saanath, male human Merchant "My hate of medical mysteries has no limit."I really hope there is a simple answer, like he took an asparin for a headache which made his blood thin or something."Saanath scratches his head. "Or would it be the other way around? His blood was too thick."
 03-07-06, 02:10 PM 	  #212 
Watus 	"Maybe someone monkeyed with the environmental controls in his stateroom."
 03-07-06, 03:10 PM 	  #213 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff shruggs. "It's a possibility, and we should check for it, but I don't think that's the answer. To begin with, if the shipboard environmental controls were used to raise the temperature or gravity, there would be logs and records of those changes, unless they were wiped of course."My instinct is that we're looking for a change in gravity, not temperature in the room. Had the temperature been raised in the room last night while Mr. Foster was in the room with Mr. Antonescue, he would also have suffered in the heat. A spike in temperature great enough to over stress Antonescue's heart would certanly be something Foster would have complained about -- not to mention what others would have said. "We should check all possibilities, but I suspect that if any shipboard system was used to push Antonescue into heart failure, it was done this morning. Something was used to raise the gravity in the cabin to a level that over-stressed Antonescue's heart. We already know that Foster is more accustomed to higher gravity, and that Antonescue was suffering with the existing gravity. With the cabin's gravity set higher, the blood would drain faster, throwing off that particular estimate of the time of death. "Again, the gravity change in the cabin would be something that our logs should mention, and we'll have to hunt for it. "Not much of this makes a whole lot of sense right now. But I think we have a few things to investigate. "Miss Ktarle, I'm not satisfied with your analysis of the dust in that room. It may not be the oxygen-depleting dust, but it is most certainly not just "dust". It is particles of something, and with any luck a more in-depth analysis of the composition of the dust particles will help us determine. "Miss Trelene, I need you to go over the logs and ship's systems with a fine-toothed comb. Examine the logs of the environmental systems. Also check the power logs for last night. Raising the gravity or temperature in the cabin last night would have required more power than normal, and that should be logged as well. I can't help but think that the computer intrusion we had is related to this -- perhaps a virus was introduced that could have done this. You know better than I do what the shipboard computers can do -- find me something. "Any other thoughts?"-rg
 03-07-06, 08:29 PM 	  #214 
Tailspinner 	Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President Trelene, bleary eyed, nods at the request and leaves the lab, heading for the bridge. Once there she starts to go about the task of searching for clues in the ship's systems.
 03-07-06, 09:30 PM 	  #215 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath has his Oyster out and is punching up the appropriate systems as Ruzz'koff expounds his gravity theory. Saanath doesn't like the idea that someone is hacking through his system. No not at all ...Quote:Originally Posted by Radiating Gnome"Miss Ktarle, I'm not satisfied with your analysis of the dust in that room ....
Saanath involutarily curls his toes in anticipation of Ktarle's response. Its not that Ruzz'koff's analysis is off, it just that Aslan's can be ... touchy. "Could the dust just have been dislodged by the increased gravity?" Saanath ventures, after the fur stops flying.Quote:Originally Posted by rg"Miss Trelene, I need you to go over the logs and ship's systems with a fine-toothed comb. Examine the logs of the environmental systems. Also check the power logs for last night. Raising the gravity or temperature in the cabin last night would have required more power than normal, and that should be logged as well. I can't help but think that the computer intrusion we had is related to this -- perhaps a virus was introduced that could have done this. You know better than I do what the shipboard computers can do -- find me something.
Saanath folds up his computer. "I'll go with Trelene."ooc: T/Computers: 08/+09 (+1 Edu, poss: +2 Hacker). Aid Trelene.
 03-07-06, 09:40 PM 	  #216 
Watus 	Quote:Originally Posted by Radiating Gnome"Any other thoughts?"
Tuan shrugs. "I took a quick look around the stateroom, but someone should probably go through it a little better. We should secure Antonescu's belongings, in any case. And if we're actually proposing that someone aboard is a murderer, we might want to consider arming some of the crew."
 03-09-06, 04:39 PM 	  #217 
Wilphe 	Quote:"Miss Ktarle, I'm not satisfied with your analysis of the dust in that room .... Saanath involutarily curls his toes in anticipation of Ktarle's response. Its not that Ruzz'koff's analysis is off, it just that Aslan's can be ... touchy. "Could the dust just have been dislodged by the increased gravity?" Saanath ventures, after the fur stops flying. 
Ktarle looks at Ruzz'koff, giving him a slight sideways glance, "Dr Ktarle, if you wouldn't mind Captain," she projects up a few microscope slides onto a screen, "Dead skin, hairs, clothing fibres, talcum powder, dandruff, mites. All ordinary, perfectly mundane day-to-day items you'd find anywhere in human space. O2 levels on the ship are normal, before you ask."Gwydion, "Increased gravity would seem a likely explantion for more dust settling on the surfaces, in which case I owe Tuan here an apology. Sorry Tuan," Gwydion mumbles through the apology, but it's about as good as Tuan seem's likely to get.Saanath and Trelene:Staterooms can be configured by their occupants to have a variety of environmental parameters, this is occassionally a matter of friction between their occupants and one reason why single occupancy is so highly sought after. It's not any more difficult than altering the lighting or changing a thermostat. It is however generally subtly discouraged to fiddle with these things on a whim. Commerical norm is to set common areas with settings designed to mimic the departure world and then slowly change them to those of the destination world during jump. Naval practice is to stick to 1g/1atm regardless. Air pressure can be configured for anything from near vacumn to "soup", and air quality, composition and taints can also be configured - though there are interlocks to prevent somone accidentally killing themselves. Temperature and humidty are also configurable, Gravity can be varied between 0 and 3Gs, very low gravity isn't very popular - but zero G often is.The logs are quite clear and show no sign of being tampered with - gravity on stateroom 8 began a slow rise at about 1am, peaking at 3G between 3am and 6am - then abruptly returning to normal level. Power demands for this are minimal, but clearly show on the reactorlogs (compared to maintaining the jump field, altering the gravity in one small portion of the ship is nothing).Trelene does feel the fatigue of a long-watch and then this, which causes her to make a few mistakes - which Saanath notices and corrects. Initially you aren't sure it was done via the ships systems, or by a manual change - and if it was a manual change it can only have been by one of the two people in the room. However, you are satisifed that it was done remotely, and by someone logged in on the port side of the ship - ie: Cabins 1, 3, 5 and 7. Last edited by Wilphe : 03-09-06 at 04:50 PM. 
 03-09-06, 04:47 PM 	  #218 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheKtarle looks at Ruzz'koff, giving him a slight sideways glance, "Dr Ktarle, if you wouldn't mind Captain." 
Ruzz'koff grimaces a nods an apology as Ktarle continues.
 03-09-06, 04:56 PM 	  #219 
Wilphe 	The Portside cabins are occupied by Normally Ruzz'koff, now sharing with Gwydion3: Ashur Gudeli & Jake Carling5: Elizabeth Black & Melissah Gshrygn 7: Govindra Ishaga & Malico ShahisgaraTwo of those are crew, and your pretty certain none of you lot did (depends, how much do you trust Gwydion?)Another 3 (Gudeli, Carling and Gshrygn) are the Administrator and his party (how much do you trust them?)The other 3 are all yuppies (yes, they are annoying, but would they kill?)Tuan:No one else seems willing to go back into the cabin, so it's up to you...
 03-09-06, 05:18 PM 	  #220 
Watus 	Tuan takes another sip of his now too-cold coffee, grimaces, and dumps the remainder into the trash receptical. "Well, if no one objects, I'm going to go toss the stateroom." He spins on his heel and marches out of the lab, leaving precious little time for comment.He proceeds directly to Antonescu's stateroom, closes the door behind him, and beings carefully going through it. He doesn't personally suspect Foster at this point, and so won't go through his things. He's looking for anything suspicious, really, but particularly anything likely to contain Antonescu's business records or correspondance.[OOC: Search -/+4, poss. Dumb Luck]
 03-10-06, 07:40 PM 	  #221 
Wilphe 	Tuan:Now you think you know what happened to the gravity field in this room, a lot of incidental details that slipped beneath your notice now seem obvious: The heavier than expected coasting of dust, the clothes that have been pressed down and haven't properly sprung back yet, a flattened bar of soap. It's not hard to stay 100% out of Foster's stuff, as the two of them appear to have had rigid areas of individual personal space within the room - no doubt worked out through considerable bickering.His effects include:A whole bunch of personal photographs - what would appear to be grandkids, grandnephews and grandneices, names and dates are written on the back "Jolene - 5th birthday, Dukh".1,512 credits in cashA bundle of trade magazines for the very High-Tech communications sector - Meson based comms, encryption, ultra high bandwidth laser data relays and the like. This is some pretty advanced stuff, and would find a ready market amongst the K'kree.One laptop, high-spec personal machine. No data chips currently loaded. Boots to a password prompt. Wallpaper is a continuing and shifting montage of his grandkids et al.A rack of data chips, this would normally hold 12 - there are only 11 here, it would appear that one is missing as there are "Projects Archive" "I" & "III", but no "II".Taped underneath one of the drawers in his closet you find another data chip, this one is not the missing "Projects Archive II", but is instead simply labelled "D"All of these chips are password protected.
 03-13-06, 10:29 PM 	  #222 
Wilphe 	Re: Arming the CrewThere are 8 snub pistols, 4 shotguns and plenty of ammunition in a locker on the bridge.In addition to whatever personal equipment you might have with you.
 03-13-06, 10:53 PM 	  #223 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant. Quote:Originally Posted by Wilphe... However, you are satisifed that it was done remotely, and by someone logged in on the port side of the ship - ie: Cabins 1, 3, 5 and 7.
Saanath looks at the data, then Trelene, then back to the data. He works the stiffness out of his neck for a moment while he thinks."Perhaps we should just confine everyone to cabins for the rest of the trip ..." he says to no one in particular.ooc: I'm asssuming that they are alone on the bridge, or a t least, there are no passengers there."Do you want to tell Ruzz'koff or shall I? Actually, I'll do it. You should get some sack time. Otherwise we will all be too tired to function properly in a few hours."Sanaath heads off to find Ruzz'koff and pass on the news, ensuring that none of the passengers are around when he does so."Looks like we have two options. Keep it quiet and keep watch. Or confine everyone to cabins, with a couple of 'yard breaks' each day, supervised obviously. We can lock out the room terminals and monitor cabin remotely. Let the authorities handle it when we arive."
 03-14-06, 03:48 PM 	  #224 
Radiating Gnome 	ooc: this is assuming that Russ'koff has had a report from both Tuan and Sarnath -- I don't know if I should be waiting for Tuan to report as well. If I'm jumping the gun, sorry . . . Ruzz'koff sips at his umpteenth cup of coffee since returning to the bridge. He would have to make a head call soon. "I'd rather not just batten everything and everyone down and wait for some dockside flatfoot to solve our problems for us. Of course, that might be the smartest thing, but no one said smart was always the Navy way."So, lets think about some other options. We don't have much to go on -- we know what happened, we have some idea how it happened, but we aren't really in a position to say who it was that did it. We need more information. "I wonder if there's a way to try to get the killer to expose herself. A ruse, or trap of some sort. Having used gravity to push the poor man's heart over the edge isn't going to leave much evidence on the body, so trying to pretend that we've made some shocking discovery in the autopsy will be fairly transparent to the killer. That's not a dead end, but it is a problem. "At the same time, trying to pretend we have information from the computer system that we don't may also be equally transparent. Suddenly, Ruzzkoff growns still and thinks for a minute, staring into his coffee. "A data disk was apparently missing. But that doesn't make sense. What sort of killer goes to the trouble of using the shipboard environmental controls to kill a man by remote, leaving no chance of leaving evidence behind at the scene, then actually steps onto the crime scene to steal something from the victim's room. If it were me, and I had found a way to kill a man without being at the scene, and I was doing it to steal some data he was carrying, I would also find a way to steal the data disc without being at the scene. "Given that . . . either the disk was never there, it was stolen by someone other than the killer, or it was stolen by remote. Lets assume it was there, and isn't now. We need to examine the possible ways some one could have stolen the disk remotely. Using maintenance bots, anything along those lines. That may lead us to some new discoveries. "At the same time, we are dealing with someone who is very good at covering their tracks, so I don't know if we'll find anything there -- I'd be excited to find something unusual, even if it doesn't trace back to a specific person. "Which bring us back to the need for something . . . else. A way to try to triangulate on someone. "Tuan, in your opinion, was the disk marked "d" hidden well enough that someone making a quick search of the room -- either in person or via maintenance bot -- might have missed it? Obviously, the person who took the disk wasn't able to toss the room as completely as you did, making that seem likely. "If so, we could use that to try to flush out our thief. A trap, or sting of some sort. I'll work on the details of that -- can someone check on maintenance bots and other ways a disk might have been spirited out of Mr. Antonescue's stateroom after his death?""Sarnath, do me a favor and return to the sick bay and secure Mr. Antonesque's body.""And both of you . . . as you move about the ship, don't be afraid to let the passengers know we an investigating closely, and perhaps even obliquely mention 'things that don't quite add up'. I expect that there will be some consternation from the passengers over this, and that will raise tension levels on the ship a bit higher than they already are. The passengers will get tense and want to know what we are doing to protect them -- and so will the killer. And I want to make the killer very, very curious. "Oh, and another idea, Sarnath . . . what do you think about asking Dr. Ktarle to become irritated with me. It will factor in to my plan, but I'll have to pass more details later. For the time being, she should be icy and increasingly hostile towards me. I'll fill in a few more blanks soon." -rg
 03-14-06, 04:27 PM 	  #225 
Watus 	Tuan considers for a moment."It was taped to the underside of a drawer. That's a pretty common hiding spot, and the fact that our killer didn't find it could either mean that he was rushed, or he's a complete amateur. Or both."He shrugs. "Or perhaps it was planted by the killer.""In any case, I'd very much like to get a look at what's on these disks." Tuan pauses to give Saanath a meaningful look. "Given that we're headed to a trade delegation, this could be a case of eliminating the competition. Perhaps there'll be some clue there.""In the meantime, while confining the passengers to their quarters might be excessive, I'd suggest at least eliminating their access to engineering. Things might get tense, but there's obviously someone aboard who can't be trusted."
 03-14-06, 05:06 PM 	  #226 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by Watus"In the meantime, while confining the passengers to their quarters might be excessive, I'd suggest at least eliminating their access to engineering. Things might get tense, but there's obviously someone aboard who can't be trusted."
Ruzz'koff nods. "Good thinking. Sounds like a plan." -rg
 03-14-06, 05:20 PM 	  #227 
Tailspinner 	Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Nav2/Prf7/Trv1/Aca2 : Retired Makhidkarum Vice President Quote:Originally Posted by doghead"Do you want to tell Ruzz'koff or shall I? Actually, I'll do it. You should get some sack time. Otherwise we will all be too tired to function properly in a few hours."
Trelene looks at him with tired eyes. "Perhaps you are right. I'll get some sleep and then review our findings once I am more rested." She leaves and heads for her cabin. Once there, she sets the alarm for 6 hours and quickly falls asleep.
 03-14-06, 08:18 PM 	  #228 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath is not surprised at Ruzz'koff decision. It was what he was expecting. Saanath wonders if he himself would have made the same decision before the Devon."Personally I would rather not play games with the passsenger's lives. To lose one passenger would be unfortunate, to lose two could be considered carelessness."
 03-14-06, 09:13 PM 	  #229 
Wilphe 	Locking the passengers out from engineering and the cargo deck is a simple process. In other circumstances there might be a certain ammount of protest, but it doesn't look like any of the passengers want to challenge Ruzz'koff right now. Or, frankly, ever.They have however, not had breakfast and it is getting on towards lunchtime. If Mr Antonescu's death was natural and not at all suspicious, then they could probably have expected to get fed by now.Most people are still in their staterooms, only surfacing to grab a drink or a snack. The only ones to remain in the longue since the body was discovered are:Curtis Foster - who is sitting with Eleanor Carnot and Jake Carling, he hasn't got anywhere else to go right now, and a decision on that needs to be taken. Do you let him back into his old cabin, or force some unlucky passengers to triple bunk?Malico Shahisgara is in the corner, still fiddling with his laptop.All of these 4 will have seen all the comings and goings, including Tuan going to search the cabin. They won't know what he did, only that he was in there for a long time. They will also have seen Ktarle go to take samples. Both Jake Carling and Malico Shahisgara have cabins on the port-side, Curtis of course shared a cabin with the deceased. Eleanor Carnot is the only one who looks to be in the clear right now, unless she's an accomplice.
 03-15-06, 03:07 PM 	  #230 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by doghead"Personally I would rather not play games with the passsenger's lives. To lose one passenger would be unfortunate, to lose two could be considered carelessness."
ooc: is this thought or spoken? Did Ruzz'koff hear it?
 03-15-06, 03:36 PM 	  #231 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheLocking the passengers out from engineering and the cargo deck is a simple process. In other circumstances there might be a certain ammount of protest, but it doesn't look like any of the passengers want to challenge Ruzz'koff right now. Or, frankly, ever.They have however, not had breakfast and it is getting on towards lunchtime. If Mr Antonescu's death was natural and not at all suspicious, then they could probably have expected to get fed by now.Most people are still in their staterooms, only surfacing to grab a drink or a snack. The only ones to remain in the longue since the body was discovered are:Curtis Foster - who is sitting with Eleanor Carnot and Jake Carling, he hasn't got anywhere else to go right now, and a decision on that needs to be taken. Do you let him back into his old cabin, or force some unlucky passengers to triple bunk?Malico Shahisgara is in the corner, still fiddling with his laptop.All of these 4 will have seen all the comings and goings, including Tuan going to search the cabin. They won't know what he did, only that he was in there for a long time. They will also have seen Ktarle go to take samples. Both Jake Carling and Malico Shahisgara have cabins on the port-side, Curtis of course shared a cabin with the deceased. Eleanor Carnot is the only one who looks to be in the clear right now, unless she's an accomplice.
Ruzz'koff chuckles grimly to himself. Next time, only low passage customers. "All right, the rest of the passengers need to eat, and we need to find a new berth for Curtis. I think I'll handle the latter. I'm going to move my important gear out of my stateroom and I'll camp out here in the bridge. At least while we're in jump space it's fairly quiet here, and I can be out of the way. It will also explain my spending a great deal more time on the bridge trying to monitor activity. "That, of course, means that Gwydion will be sharing a stateroom with one of the suspects. And that's not ideal, by any means. But we must do something, and I don't think we can put Foster back in that room. What do you think?"
 03-16-06, 09:52 PM 	  #232 
doghead 	ooc: RG, That was spoken aloud.
 03-17-06, 01:31 AM 	  #233 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by doghead"Personally I would rather not play games with the passsenger's lives. To lose one passenger would be unfortunate, to lose two could be considered carelessness."
Ruzz'koff gives Sarnath an icy look, and speaks in a whisper only the human can hear.. "Do me a favor in the future, Sarnath. I appreciate you, and your input. But I'd rather have your ideas and suggestions than your wistful criticism. "If you think we should lock the ship down, wrap everything in cling-film and hope that our killer -- who, by the way, doesn't seem to be in the room with his or her victim when she kills -- doesn't kill again until we get back to a 'port where we can turn this matter over to the local authorities -- who will no doubt lock down the ship as a crime scene for months -- then say it out loud, and by god defend it. "Now. Playing games? What is your suggestion? What would you have us do?"-rg
 03-17-06, 02:53 AM 	  #234 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant "Don't let the captain thing go to your head Ruzz'koff," responds Saanath with an easy smile. "As I said before; confine everyone to cabins, with a couple of 'yard breaks' each day, supervised obviously. Lock out the room terminals and monitor cabin remotely. Let the authorities handle the problem when we arive." The last part is said with the kind of sing song quaility of someone quoting someone. Which of course he is, himself."I believe we have enough cabins to assign one each if no one wants to share. It will mean the rest of us bunking down the around the rest of the ship, but its only for a few more days."
 03-17-06, 12:26 PM 	  #235 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff chuckles. "Ah, yes, you did say that, didn't you. Forgive my temper."You would really rather lock everything down and let the authorities handle this? It's not to late to make that move, but I'm not convinced it's the right one. Locking passengers away in solitary confinement is not something to be taken lightly -- we open ourselves up to lawsuits for unlawful imprisonment, for one thing. And I have a natural inclination against taking such a passive option. But if you can sell me on it, do."
 03-17-06, 01:40 PM 	  #236 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant "Personally, yes. Alive gets you more points than happy."Saanath hold up his hand to forestall Ruzz'koff before he bites Saanath head off again."But seriously, my concern is how to ensure the safety of the passengers and I believe that securing them in their cabins is the best way to do so." Saanath scrubs his chin for a moment."Perhaps there is a middle path. We inform the passengers of what we know. We can still rearrange the cabins to give each passenger their own cabin, as well as take lock out terminals to prevent remote control. That way the passengers can make their own decision as to where they spend their time."
 03-17-06, 03:37 PM 	  #237 
Watus 	Tuan stares at Saanath for a minute, at a loss for words. He'd have never pegged the kid as the prison warden type: the first sign of trouble and he opts for lockdown. He shakes his head, his disapproval evident."First, I call dibs on the gig". He grins, quite pleased with himself."And second, if you want to give the passengers their own cabins and the option of locking themselves in, that's fine. Hell, just park Gwydion in the mess and tell him to cross his arms and look menacing. That kind of ugly oughta keep 'em in their staterooms. Failing that, we should double the watch and pass the snubbies out to the crew. My gut says there'll be more trouble before we drop out of jump."Also, it says it would like some bacon. I think I'll go feed the suspects."He spins on his heel and gives Saanath a sideways glance as he marches off the bridge.
 03-17-06, 04:46 PM 	  #238 
Radiating Gnome 	"I don't think this we can do it by halves. We either do it or don't. "Consider this. If we tell the passengers that the shipboard environmental controls were used to kill Mr. Antonesque, and that for their "safety" we're going to lock the rest of them in single cabins for the rest of the trip, and lock out their access to shipboard computers, will they feel safe? In their shoes I might believe that anyone smart enough to use the gravity controls to kill Antonesque AND do so in such a way that we can't figure out who did it might be smart enough to figure out a way to get past our computer lockout. "At the same time, any one of them might have seen a small detail or clue that will help bring some details into focus. And this isn't the military, they have a right to know what's going on. "But I do fear the cacophany of accusations that will come from being open. We need to control things. I'm not impressed with the level-headed common sense of many of our passengers. "I don't know. I suppose our killer knows, now, that we are suspicious at the very least."It's nice that retirement is so relaxing . . ."-rg
 03-17-06, 07:00 PM 	  #239 
Wilphe 	Quote:"Hell, just park Gwydion in the mess and tell him to cross his arms and look menacing," 
Gwydion crosses his arms and looks menacingly at Tuan, then laughs, "Thanks, but I've enough on my plate with the prospect of having to share a cabin with someone who might be a murderer but who definatly is a whiny little brat.""The simple part of me says, someone wanted Antonescu dead. He is. That's it, that's what I really want to be the truth. Everything else is just a means to that end, conincidence or red herrings.""However, if there is something very dodgy going on, then I find it hard to believe he had nothing to do with it, we think - we don't after all KNOW for sure, that some data is missing from that Stateroom. Antonescu could have left it behind before he came into jump. We also know that, apart from us, Curtis Foster is the only person who would have had the opportunity to search the room."Ktarle butts in, "Malico Shahisgara was in there wasn't he? Maybe we should get Trelene's advice, she's the legal expert, - but she's bushed right now."
 03-23-06, 05:28 PM 	  #240 
Wilphe 	OOC:Legally Ruzz'koff can do more or less whatever he likes. They are in jumpspace, there is no higher authority around to appeal to. He is the last of the absolute monarchs and his word is law. Not to say that Imperial autorities won't investigate if there are complaints, but Captains get given a great deal of the benefit of the doubt in these matters.Also, as the crime took place in Imperial Territory (ie: Not on a Planet), it's investigation is in Imperial jurisdiction. This could be good, it could be bad.


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## Wilphe (May 19, 2006)

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03-23-06, 10:21 PM 	  #241 
doghead	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath smarts at Tuan's look, but keeps his response to himself. The old spacer is right anyways, Saanath eventually concludes. The idea is not the greatest. He just wants to get the passengers to safely to port, and then be shot of them. He lets out a long slow sigh."I think we should tell them. The passengers. They have the right to know, and we haven't been successful yet in pinning down whoever is messing with the ship. At least if they know, they can take steps to look after themselves. "On the other hand, if we do, then we put the killer in a corner. They know that once they get to port, the authorities will get callled in. People in corners can be dangerous, unpredicatable. Especially if the have nothing to lose. If the killer thinks they can get away scot free, they may just sit out the rest of the trip. And if they don't know we know, they may get careless."Saanath runs his hands through his hair."I still think we should tell them. And perhaps rearrange the the cabins so they can have one each. Perhaps you should ask Trelene as well. I'll go with whatever you decide."Saanath looks around the bridge for no particular reason."I'll go help Tuan with breakfast. I don't envy you this decision Ruzz'koff."Taking a moment to compse himself, he heads out the door.ooc: Looks like Trelene gets the deciding vote.
 03-24-06, 06:31 PM 	  #242 
Radiating Gnome 	Russ'koff grimaces, and heads off to find Trelene, probably wake her up, and talk to her about the crew's next move. He takes along a fresh cup of coffee for Trelene. It's something, anyway. 
 03-25-06, 09:03 PM 	  #243 
Wilphe 	OOC: Trelene's a she BTW.
 03-26-06, 03:32 PM 	  #244 
Radiating Gnome 	ooc: doh! I'll fix the post.
 03-29-06, 07:26 PM 	  #245 
Wilphe 	Tuan and Saanth busy themselves making breakfast, of course by now it's more of a brunch. As it's made ready the passengers emerge from their cabins, they are all rather quiet and none of them feel the urge to risk Ruzz'koff's wrath by bringing up the subject that's on all their minds. It's a rather sombre and subdued affair, but several of them seem to want comfort food and no one except Elizabeth Carnot, Malico Sharishaga, Govindra Ishaga and Mr Gudeli's trio is taking a vegetarian meal. They all seem to want the reassurance of red meat and/or eggs.Curtis Foster has next to no appetite, Elizabeth Carnot gets him something - but he just picks at it. Mr Gudeli and his companions take up a position apart from everyone else, it's not hard to surmise that they know something is very wrong and that all three are trying to very hard to read passengers and crew and don't care who knows it.
 04-03-06, 07:58 PM 	  #246 
Wilphe	Trelene is not overjoyed at being disturbed by Ruzz'koff and keeps her counsel brief and to the point, "Our, by which I mean your, primary responsibility is the welfare of the ship and the safety of her passengers and crew. Cargo comes in there somewhere as well, but we'll gloss over that for now. That is more important that justice in this case. That's someone else's problem. Our problem is ensuring we get to our destination.""I would advise you not to endanger the vessal in the interests of finding out who did this. It's not our problem, we'll be delayed sure, but only for a few days. It'll be more or less the same whether we find out who did it or not. If indeed we chose to tell anybody and don't hush this up.""If we are going to tell somebody, I'd tell the Administrator and his party. We'll be with them for a while, they want to keep incognito and not get dragged into something like this and if we can't trust them then we are bigger trouble than I imagined. Besides even if they did it they'd have a plan for dealing with the consequences wouldn't they? Now if there is nothing else I'll be more coherent when I've had some sleep."
 04-04-06, 07:31 PM 	  #247 
Radiating Gnome	Russ'koff returns to the bridge, and addresses those present. "All right, that settles it. We're going to move everyone into a private accommodation, and the crew will have to make do in the other areas of the ship. Passengers will have their access to the ships computer cut, and will be permitted access only to their own room and the galley. There will always be one member of the crew on hand in the galley.""I'll make an announcement to the passengers in a few minutes. We tell them what's up, why we're locking everything down, and thank them for their forebearance. We warn them that we're going to take anything suspicious, like attemps to access shipboard computer or environmental systems as a hostile act against the rest of the ship, crew and passengers. We're going to have to babysit these people now -- one crewperson in the galley at all times, another to make rounds durning meal times to make sure those that don't want to come to the galley get something to eat. "I do think I'll brief the Administrator first, however.""Any comments or suggestions?"
 04-05-06, 12:04 AM 	  #248 
Wilphe	Ktarle pipes up, "I call the Lab, you've already called Dibs on the Bridge, anybody else?"
 04-05-06, 01:13 AM 	  #249 
doghead	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath considers Ruzz'Koff's decision. "No, no suggestions at the moment. I think briefing the Administrator is a good call."Tuan wants the gig I think. I'll sleep where-ever."
 04-06-06, 09:36 PM 	  #250 
Watus	Tuan shrugs, figuring he can play the screw as well as the next guy. He heads back to his quarters, repacks the few things he'd actually taken out of his duffel, and hauls it down to the gig.
 04-07-06, 04:33 PM 	  #251 
Radiating Gnome	Once the crew has their bags packed and are ready, Ruzz'koff returns to the common area and asks to speak to the administrator alone. Once they are in private he begins. "It isn't going to surprise you that something is going on, your honor*. We have reason to believe that Mr. Antonesque was murdered. We believe that someone accessed the ship's computers and increased the gravity in his cabin to a point at which his heart gave out in the night. We are trying to investigate the murder ourselves, but we believe it is much more important to insure the safety of the rest of the passengers on the ship. "In a few minutes I'm going to make an announcement to the other passengers. I'll tell them the basics of what we know -- that Mr. Antonesque was murdered, that someone used shipboard systems to do it, and that we need to make new arrangements to insure the safety of the rest of the passengers. The crew will move out of the cabins -- we're going to bunk down in other areas of the ship -- I'll be ont he bridge, etc. We will move each passenger into a stateroom of his or her own.""Since the killer is accessing shipboard systems and using them, we need to cut off the staterooms from access to the ship's computers. Any attempts to access the shipboard computers will be considered evidence of likely involvement in the murder. "It is our intention to do everything we can to safeguard the lives of our passengers until we reach our destination, where we will invite the local authorities to conduct a much more thorough and complete investigation. It will mean a few days of isolation for everyone. Passengers will be allowed access only to their own rooms, and to the Galley for supervised meals. We will leave it to the passengers to decide if they would like to join others for meals -- the decision to eat a meal with another specific passenger would have to be mutual. We'll be around to discuss that with you as we work out the details. "I thought it would be prudent to inform you first -- I expect that you and your aides will want to eat together, but other than that I'm going to ask that you comply with the restrictions I'm placing the rest of the passengers under. Do you have any comments or questions?"*please assume Russ'koff would use the appropriate honorific -- I'm just not sure what that is.
 04-08-06, 01:15 AM 	  #252 
Wilphe	Tuan, Saanth:As you two and Ktarle are seen to be packing to move your belongings and clean out your cabins a certain degree of consternation and interest ripples through the assembled passengers in the common area. So to when Ruzz'koff asks to speak to Mr Gudeli alone. While Maxine Zdrac was suitibly cowed by Ruzz'koff in the morning, it's either worn off or she feels okay accosting the three of you when he's not here or she's just getting angrier. Possibly all three, but she does wait for Ruzz'koff and Mr Gudeli to leave before badgering you."What's going on here? You've got a dead passenger on your hands and no one seems fit to tell us anything. Well, answer me damnit."There's the odd murmer of agreement, but no one seems that eager to back her up just now.Trelene:"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" - if only because waking her up and asking her to pack and move would probably not be taken well...Ruzz'koff:Mr Gudeli hears you out in stony silence, not showing any especial emotion or, frankly suprise. Either he's got a very good poker face or none of this is really news to him. This could be because he knows something, or equally it could be that High Imperial Officials are usually smart, perceptive and observent."We will keep the two cabins we have, no need to move us around into single occupancy unless you want to. My team and I trust each other implictly and I can assure you that none of us were involved. I do not however expect you to take such assurance at face value, as you know as little about us as we about you.""Well, I have your service record, personnel files, university papers, school reports. But that's not knowing YOU, that's knowing what you've done. I can only do that face to face. We'll all be together for some time and no doubt get to know each other a little bit better and perhaps be more willing to exchange confidences.""I am anxious for us to be on our journey with speed so if necessary we may be able to facilitate any dealings with Imperial Agencies. I would however prefer to avoid this.""Do we know how Mr Antonescu was killed without harming his cabin mate?"OOC:Either "Mr" or "Sir" is acceptable"Administrator" would give the game away slightly, as he is suppossed to be incognito.All things considered he may well have a noble title as well, but you don't KNOW that, let alone what it is.Ditto any military or service rank, if any of his party have such title - they aren't using it.
 04-08-06, 03:18 AM 	  #253 
doghead	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheTuan, Saanth: As you two and Ktarle are seen to be packing to move your belongings and clean out your cabins a certain degree of consternation and interest ripples through the assembled passengers in the common area. So to when Ruzz'koff asks to speak to Mr Gudeli alone. While Maxine Zdrac was suitibly cowed by Ruzz'koff in the morning, it's either worn off or she feels okay accosting the three of you when he's not here or she's just getting angrier. Possibly all three, but she does wait for Ruzz'koff and Mr Gudeli to leave before badgering you."What's going on here? You've got a dead passenger on your hands and no one seems fit to tell us anything. Well, answer me damnit."There's the odd murmer of agreement, but no one seems that eager to back her up just now.
Saanath decides to take the diplomatic route."I understand that you are all concerned," he begins, meeting everyone's gaze openly. "It has been a stresful morning for everyone. The Captain will be making a general announcement shortly. He will explain everything then."If you have any questions, I'm sure that the Captain will answer them then. So for the moment, is there anything else?."Liaison: 09/+11 (+0 Cha, +2 Carousing Syn)
 04-08-06, 04:16 PM 	  #254 
Watus	Ignoring the scene in the common area, Tuan stomps past the bridge, keys the iris valve, drops his duffel down into engineering and quickly follows it out of sight.
 04-13-06, 09:26 PM 	  #255 
Wilphe	ooc: Paging Captain Ruzz'koff,White Courtesy Phone please.
 04-14-06, 01:30 PM 	  #256 
Radiating Gnome	Quote:Originally Posted by Wilphe"Do we know how Mr Antonescu was killed without harming his cabin mate?"
"We have theories, sir. Theories based on the evidence we've collected so far -- but we're still working on those issues. But, our first priority is doing everything we can to make sure the rest of the passengers arrive at our destination alive."ooc: Sorry, crazy RL crap at work -- I'll get another post out this morning, addressing the passengers. -rg
 04-14-06, 02:40 PM 	  #257 
Radiating Gnome	Ruzz'Koff moves in to the common area and asks for all the passenger's attention, making sure he has several other crew members on hand to help control the scene. He waits for those who are not in the common area to get within earshot, and then addresses everyone. "You're all smart, sensitive people, and you will have figured out that there is something not right aboard ship right now -- something more not right than a simple death. "What I can tell you now is that the crew and I have determined that Mr. Antonescue's death, while outwardly appearing to be due to naturaly causes, was the result of direct action from someone on board this ship. We believe he was murdered. "Our own investigation is far from complete, and we will be seeking the assistance of the local authorities when we reach our first destination. Given that, we are not going to discuss the details of our investigation at this time. It is more important, however, to do everything that we can to protect our passengers. Since we cannot be sure who the killer is, our only choice is to isolate all passengers for the next few days, until we arrive and can turn the investigation over to the authorities. "Please uderstand that the measures we are taking now are for your safety. They are designed to isolate the killer among us from the passengers. "We will move all passengers into a stateroom of their own. This will be your living space for the remainder of the journey. You will have noticed that the crew has already vacated the rooms we are occupying -- we will bunk down in engineering, the bridge, and anywhere else we can find space so that you make all have your own room. All computer access will be cut off to the staterooms. I ask that you all leave any comm units, computers, or other electronic devices off for the remainder of the journey. We will be monitoring the staterooms constantly for electronic and computer activity -- any electronic activity will be investigated, any attempt to access any computer, wether connected to the ship's mainframe or nor, will result in the computer in question being confiscated, and the incident reported as a point of evidence when we turn this matter over to the authorities.""Mr. Sarnath will assign you all to your new staterooms. I understand that the next 72 hours, confined alone to your staterooms without being permitted the use of your personal computers will be dreadfully boring. And I wish I could do more to help with that. I suggest, among other things, that as one gesture to the shipboard community, we all pool any published print materials -- books and magazines -- here in the galley, where we can share with each other what meager entertainments we do have.""There will always be one or more mambers of the crew stationed here in the common area and galley. You are welcome to prepare food in the galley at your discretion, and take it back to your stateroom to eat. You'll be visited by a member of the crew several times a day to make sure you have everything you need. If there is anything we can do to provide for you, short of breaking our new security protocols, we will be happy to do it. "Before you object, know that I am perfectly cognizant that this is a drastic abridgement of your rights as sentient beings. From your point of view, it may appear as though we are treating every one of you as a suspect, treating you as if you were the killer. I encourage any of you who have complaints to file complaints against me once we reach our next port of call. "But for now, I prefer a ship full of angry but living passengers to the risk of any further deaths on board." "Any questions?"(ooc: might as well throw a diplomacy check on this one. My bonus is +19)-rg
 04-15-06, 09:23 PM 	  #258 
Wilphe 	OOC: Spoiler: IC:Tuan:Your transit to the gig is uneventful, and nothing seems out of place as you make the trip through engineering and the cargo deck. The gig itself is a spacious place for one person to sleep, almost as big as the sort of thing you imagine a fleet admiral would have. Of course it's not really furnished appropriatly for long-term occupancy, or even sleeping - but you will have little difficulty getting comfortable and settling in.A little voice at the back of your mind is bothering you though, something that you meant to have done after you finished searching the stateroom, if only you could remember what it was.Trelene:ZZZZZZZZZ Last edited by Wilphe : 04-16-06 at 08:05 PM. 
 04-16-06, 08:11 PM 	  #259 
Wilphe 	Ruzzkoff:Mr Gudeli nods sagely, "Uhuh," he says non-committally, "Well thank you for informing me first, if you could keep me informed of any further developments?"Saanath:Quote:"If you have any questions, I'm sure that the Captain will answer them then. So for the moment, is there anything else?." 
Maxine Zdrac uplifts her nose slightly, "Everything? This I somewhat doubt."
 04-16-06, 08:34 PM 	  #260 
Wilphe	Everybody:As Ruzzkoff wants all hands on deck I'll assume that someone went and got Tuan when he was done moving.Gwydion takes up a position by the entrance to the late Mr Antonsecu's cabin, unarmed but ready, if something happens, to clamp it down. Trelene remains in her cabin, asleep. Ktarle stands by the corridor to the Lab and Sick bay, confident that nothing bad will happen, and if it does it won't get to her.[/snip]While the passengers hear Ruzz'koff out quite politely, without a great many gasps or moans when mention if made of foul play, it's equally clear that many are sceptical about some of Ruzz'koff's statements.Eleanor Carnot expresses these feelings, "So, Mr Atonescu was killed, but the person who was in the cabin with him isn't the only suspect, because somehow a computer was involved, correct?"Elizabeth Black, "You have obviously given great thought to how to protect us from each other, do you know it was a passenger who was responsible. If not, how do you propose that we be protected from your crew?"Maxine Zdrac, "Or yourself, for that matter," heads turn at that, rather cutting, interjection.Govindra Ishaga, "I can just about understand forbidding our access to the network, but to not allow us to even have them on at all? That seems a bit drastic, and with all due respect life has to go on and many of us, all of us, have work to get on with. Is there no way we can just be locked out of the network and allowed to work on our own files on our own machines?"
 04-17-06, 02:00 AM 	  #261 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant. Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheMaxine Zdrac uplifts her nose slightly, "Everything? This I somewhat doubt."
Saanath just smiles slightly. More than you will want to know.* * * Saanath waits quietly until Ruzz'koff has made his announcement, and delt with any questions. He snorts to himself at MZ's question. That woman is insufferable.Then Saanath gets to work shuffling the passengers. He ropes in Gwydion to help. If any oth them can't decide who gets to stay and who moves out, Saanath flips a coin. Saanath ignores Gydions suggestion that they take bribes. Saanath does his best to stay calm and helpful.
 04-18-06, 12:19 PM 	  #262 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheEleanor Carnot expresses these feelings, "So, Mr Atonescu was killed, but the person who was in the cabin with him isn't the only suspect, because somehow a computer was involved, correct?"
"That is correct."Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheElizabeth Black, "You have obviously given great thought to how to protect us from each other, do you know it was a passenger who was responsible. If not, how do you propose that we be protected from your crew?"Maxine Zdrac, "Or yourself, for that matter," heads turn at that, rather cutting, interjection.
"Ladies, when you boarded this ship you put yourselves in the hands of the ship's crew. If that trust was misguided, perhaps the mistake is your own. For myself, I promise you, if I reach a point where I want you dead, you'll see me coming."This is difficult enough as it is. My crew is tired, stretched thin, and we will all be sleeping on floors and doing everything we can to make sure you all are safe. If you have constructive suggestions, I would love to hear them. If, however, you prefer to snipe at my crew and myself, I'll thank you to stay in your cabin an stay out of our way."Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheGovindra Ishaga, "I can just about understand forbidding our access to the network, but to not allow us to even have them on at all? That seems a bit drastic, and with all due respect life has to go on and many of us, all of us, have work to get on with. Is there no way we can just be locked out of the network and allowed to work on our own files on our own machines?"
"I understand that this restriction seems draconian. However, we still have many questions to answer about what happened. I'd rather deliver you bored to tears but alive than dead. If we reach a point where we are more sure we can safely allow you to use your personal computers off the network, we will let you know."-rg
 04-18-06, 02:19 PM 	  #263 
Watus	All this talk about computers, and something clicks in the back of Tuan's mind. When the debacle in the mess dies down, Tuan corners Saanath somewhere quiet."Hey, kid. You have a chance to look at those disks yet?"
 04-18-06, 02:54 PM 	  #264 
doghead	Saanath, male human merchant Quote:Originally Posted by Radiating Gnome"Ladies, when you boarded this ship you put yourselves in the hands of the ship's crew. If that trust was misguided, perhaps the mistake is your own. For myself, I promise you, if I reach a point where I want you dead, you'll see me coming.
Saanath laughs out loud, and doesn't make any effort to hide it. Ruz'koff has really got his pepper back and is in fine form. Saanath finds himself feeling better than he has since this inconsiderate rabble they have been lumbered with as passengers were given permission to board. We've taken on an Imperial wotsits and a mercenary cruiser. Damned if I am going to let this lot get to me. Still, I wish Quinn was still with us. Saanath's gaze takes on a far away look as he wonders what happened to the old Marine. Saanath offers up a quick prayer to the gods of jumpspace to watch out for the old man. Not that he really needed any watching out for.Tuan's question catches Saanath off guard for a moment. He frowns as he tried to pull his thoughts back together."I'll catch up with you after we are done here."Wiphie: Can't remember, has Saanath checked the disks?RG: You are welcome in my games any time. Just pull up a virtual chair, and I'll slot you right in. Last edited by doghead : 04-18-06 at 03:00 PM. 
 04-18-06, 09:26 PM 	  #265 
Wilphe	Elizabeth Black, "Unlike some," she flashes a look at Ms Zdrac, "I'm not intending to be rude. I asked what I considered to be a reasonable question. Someone aboard did something, as I don't know what was done I can't know who did it, it might have be a passenger, it might equally have been a member of the crew," she pauses for breath,"I can perfectly well understand you not trusting us, but please understand that unless you know that this could only have been done by a passenger and are prepared to tell us why, please expect us to be concerned about the crew. That's only fair. And "we could kill you whenever we wanted to, but we don't, so don't worry about it" isn't exactly reassuring."
 04-18-06, 09:44 PM 	  #266 
Wilphe	Wiphie: Can't remember, has Saanath checked the disks?[/QUOTE]No
 04-19-06, 04:11 AM 	  #267 
Radiating Gnome 	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheElizabeth Black, "Unlike some," she flashes a look at Ms Zdrac, "I'm not intending to be rude. I asked what I considered to be a reasonable question. Someone aboard did something, as I don't know what was done I can't know who did it, it might have be a passenger, it might equally have been a member of the crew," she pauses for breath,"I can perfectly well understand you not trusting us, but please understand that unless you know that this could only have been done by a passenger and are prepared to tell us why, please expect us to be concerned about the crew. That's only fair. And "we could kill you whenever we wanted to, but we don't, so don't worry about it" isn't exactly reassuring."
"Ms. Black, I appreciate that you couch your criticism and concerns in much more polite, less offensive speech. I understand that you are not being told everything, that you may well suspect that our killer is a crew member and not a passenger. "First. It is not a member of this crew. I can't prove it to you, to your satisfaction, and I don't expect that you will believe me. And frankly, at this point I don't have time to care about what you believe or don't. "Actually, that is not quite true. I care that you believe one thing. The last thing that I said to you and Mrs. Zdrac. You will see me coming. And that was not meant to be reassuring. It was a warning. "I am being rude. I am bullying you. And I dearly hope that everyone on board lives reaches our destination to file lengthy and detailed charges against me. For now, follow the instructions of my crew, move to your new stateroom, and keep out of trouble. -rg
 04-19-06, 06:22 AM 	  #268 
doghead	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath mentally goes through his checklist of things to do. Clear out cabin; he will dump them in the bridge* for now. He doesn't want anyone getting their hands on the disks while he is busy moving the passengers around. Move the passengers around; Saanath reminds himself to keep an eye out for the missing disk. Look at the disks Tuan gave him.Oh yeah, and wake Trelene (if she is in a cabin and need to move.) Actually, it would be good to have her around when he is checking the disks.* or some other secure location, perhaps gives them back to Tuan.
 04-21-06, 08:31 PM 	  #269 
Wilphe	.........There's an uncomfortable silence on board as everyone, passengers and crew, digests the notion that the Vargr is calling the shots, he's not going to take any #### from anyone and now is not a good time to discuss any concerns they might have. Ashur Gudeli breaks the silence, "Well that just about wraps that up, if anyone wants to file a complaint against Captain Ruzz'koff, his crew, or indeed anyone else, including each other, I have a lot of experience in the Imperial Beuracracy, several stacks of blank forms that aren't doing anything and nothing better to do with my time."He gives a sly wink in Tuan's direction as he finishes, and then sweeps into his stateroom. His two associates, Jake Carling & Melissah Gshrygn, slip into the one next door - taking Curtis Foster with them, Maxine Zdrac positively scuttles after Mr Gudeli, giving Ruzz'koff a look that could kill. If the Captain gets killed next, no one present will believe it wasn't her. The rest of the passengers, Govindra Ishaga, Eleanor Carnot, Malico Shahisgara &Elizabeth Black are left somewhat shell shocked, and something in limbo as they wait for cabins to get freed up and Saanath to assign rooms.Saanath:Mr Shahisgara would like cabin 4 "if at all possible, but he quite understands that Ms Trelene would like to finish sleeping before vacating it."
 04-21-06, 08:41 PM 	  #270 
Wilphe 	Saanath / Tuan:Trelene started her shift at midnight, and was up the evening before that. Right now disturbing her would a: Really annoy her, and b: She'd be substantially below par anyway.You can either:Wait for her to get up and then work on it togetherorGo ahead with out her.In which case I'd like to know which disks you are looking at, and roughly what you are doing with them.Which system are you using? - Your own, the ship's, gig's, something else?Are you just plugging them in and opening documents that "look interesting" or taking a more measured approach?Gwydion has secured and locked the cabin in question, so anything you leave in there should be secure. Otherwise the bridge is a good bet for leaving stuff, it's hard to get in there without being caught and the Captain is unlikely to be sympathetic to any unauthourised visitors.
 04-21-06, 09:29 PM 	  #271 
Watus 	Tuan will defer to Saanath in regards to which computer to use. In terms of which disks, he'd like to traul through all of them, but is particularly interested in "d" - the one that had been taped under a drawer.
 04-22-06, 03:25 AM 	  #272 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath stashes his gear on the bridge for the moment - the disks will have to wait - then returns to the passengers. After some thought, he decides against waking Trelene. Which means apologising to Mr Shahisgara, and asking him to wait until Trelene has woken. Curious that no one else has asked for a particular cabin, Saanath makes a mental note of Mr Shahisgara.Then he gets to work sorting the other passengers. Saanath puts on his cheerful face. Ruzz'koff has played the bad cop admirably, now Saanath will play the good. He beavers away to get everything set up, and does his best to remaining patient, and understanding of the passenger's delicate emotional state. If it does become too much, he heads to the bridge for a quick rant, before returning to work with a smile on his face. Actually, although some of them are really annoying, Saanath does feel for the passengers. He has some idea of what it is like to be caught in such a situation.ooc: Liaison +09, +2 Carousing Feat if appropriate. +2 bluff synergy maybe? He's not really bluffing, but he is trying to keep a calm demenour in a trying situation.ooc: Saanath will wait until Trelene awake before looking at the disks. When he does, he will use his computer and keep it isolated from the ships computer. Its a hand comp, but he spent double the regular price 'cos he's a hacker. No sure what thats worth, if anything, bonus wise. Actually, knowing the TL would probably be more useful - its not listed. Um, look at the regular disk first, then 'd'. I don't know anything about hacking, but um, scan the directory first for anything unusual (size, type, location) or hidden files. Write bots to scan files for key words like the names of any of the passengers, the ship, its destinations etc. Of course, back up his computer first in case of virus files. P/ComputerTech: 04/+07 (+1 Edu, +2 T/Comp Syn), T/Communications: 08/+09 (+1 Edu, poss: +2 Hacker), T/Computers: 08/+09 (+1 Edu, poss: +2 Hacker).
 04-24-06, 03:46 PM 	  #273 
Radiating Gnome 	Ruzz'koff watches the bustle of activity, as the crew and sullen passengers shift into private staterooms and are locked away for their individual safety. He maintains his position in the common area, careful to scowl meaningfully but at no on in particular, until he cannont take it anymore and then he moves to the privacy of the bridge.Once there, he collapses into a chair. This was a part of command that he understood, but he had always hated it when it became necessary. At the naval command college a lot had always been made of the human philosopher Machiavelli, who argued that it was better to be feared than to be loved. The one thing Machiavelli never considered, in his philosophy, was the alienation of that fear. It was necessary, to keep things moving and make sure that the passengers and crew did not waste time with pointless arguing and recriminations, for him to be the heavy, to bully and intimidate passengers and crew until everyone was squared away. The passengers had to be given something else to fear, rather than the phantom killer -- someone concrete and indentifiable. And that was the captain's job. He knew he would spend the rest of the voyage in that role, snarling and barking at any passenger who had the temerity to question his orders. And he knew they would never appreciate that he was doing it to try to keep them safe. But it was exhausting. And he missed the comfort of the community. Of the pack. How slowly can three days pass?-rg
 04-24-06, 11:21 PM 	  #274 
Wilphe 	Saanath moves into the "Good Cop / Bad Cop" routine where Ruzz'koff left it and arranges matters speedily and with courtesy. A few of them even seem to appreciate his efforts as they pack, move and unpack. Saanath, Tuan, Ktarle and Gwydion are kept busy moving cases, bags and personal belongings from cabin to cabin.The passengers more or less behave themselves, the novelty of a death in suspicious cirumstances does wonders to stave off boredom. Maxine Zdrac emerges from Mr Gudeli's cabin with a look of smug satisfaction and several reams of filled out forms. Mr Shahisgara waits patiently in the common area, idlly reading a few books until Trelene wakes up and vacates the cabin. Ruzz'koff will have taken the 1600 - 0000 watch and gone to bed, with Tuan due on 0000-0800 and Saanath the 0800-1600 watch, it would seem that the best time for the Saanath, Trelene and Tuan to go through the disks would be in the small hours of the night.OOC:New Cabin arrangments are on the Rogue's Gallery
 04-24-06, 11:34 PM 	  #275 
Wilphe	Quote:Originally Posted by WilpheOne laptop, high-spec personal machine. No data chips currently loaded. Boots to a password prompt. Wallpaper is a continuing and shifting montage of his grandkids et al.A rack of data chips, this would normally hold 12 - there are only 11 here, it would appear that one is missing as there are "Projects Archive" "I" & "III", but no "II".Taped underneath one of the drawers in his closet you find another data chip, this one is not the missing "Projects Archive II", but is instead simply labelled "D"All of these chips are password protected.
Saanath carefully backs up his files, and ensures that his hand-comp is disconnected from the network before the him and Trelene go through the files. "D", the disk found under the drawer proves to have a very unusual file structure, including several hidden executables. After a few scares, considerable bafflement, lots of coffee and several hours of work you are able to more or less definitively conclude that that disk has nothing on it except heavily encrypted junk data and a few nasty viruses waiting as traps for a careless reader to open.You are pretty certain that you haven't infected your own machine with any of them, unless there is something so subtle you haven't noticed between you.That leaves the other 11 disks, but if they are all as difficult as this one - you haven't have time to deal with them all before arriving.
 Today, 05:42 AM 	  #276 
doghead 	Saanath, male human merchant Saanath sighs and stows the disc's carefully away for later. He passes on what he found, or didn't, to Ruzz'koff and Tuan. "Odds are that the killer has projects archive II. We have I and III, but II is missing," Saanath mentions to Ruzz'koff, not sure if the Captian knows.If Saanath gets the chance, he will attempt to hack past the password prompt on the dead mans computer. Once again he takes care to keep the machine isolated. he will keep his isolated as well. Again, if possible, he will see if Trelene can help.T/Computers: 08/+09 (+1 Edu, poss: +2 Hacker)


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## Wilphe (May 19, 2006)

First Officer's Private Log 02:30 223/991

       "Our breakout from jump into the Shirgegge system is scheduled for 03:34, we are already at action stations as a routine precaution. Our passengers have been asked to stay in their cabins, this is not a routine precaution, but this is not a routine trip.

      "We were asking for trouble to try and squeze passengers used to High Passage on luxury liners into shared staterooms on a tramp freighter. There's been bickering all through the trip, it doesn't help that they are all business rivals. I'd say I'd be glad to be rid of them, but then we are already rid of one of them. Miguel Antonsecu, he was, or at least pretended to be, a dealer in cutting edge CommTech - the sort the K'Kree can't produce themselves. Well it also looks like he had another deal set up. We've found two disks of his, both of them have enough sensitive data on them to give any Imperial Security officer kittens"

OOC:

Trelene and Saanath have had the time to finally take a good look at the two Projects Archive disks, what they find is rather startling:

Projects Archive 1 contains:
Deckplans and specifcations of Imperial Warships

Projects Arcive III contains:
What looks like a full Imperial Intelligence assessment for the Ley and Gateway sectors: Military, Political, Economic, it's all there. 


An investigation of the cache on Antonescu's laptop reveals some filenames he was working on from the missing Projects Archive II. Ruzz'koff recognises these as being similar to the format the Imperium uses to store Order of Battle information.


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## Wilphe (May 19, 2006)

Only two people apart from the crew have had access to the cabin, and could possibly have stolen the disk (a review of the survellience footage has ruled out remotes).

Cutis Foster - Antonescu's roomate. Maxine Zdrac as already accussed him of killing Antonescu, and it was not a secret that the two of them did not get on. He appeared genuinely shocked by events and has since gone very quiet and kept himself to himself.

Mailco Shahisgara - Was in the room with the crew as he offered to help bring a trolley to move the body. He's already been mentally flagged as interesting:
    Once, when Jake Carling said he thought it was his idea to get the passenegrs to agitate for access to the cargo bay to exercise
    Secondly, when he was the only passenger to ask for a specific room after Ruzz'koff split everyone into single cabins: cabin 4, by the sick bay and lab.


Now, whoever took the disk didn't isn't necessarily hack the environmental controls. It could have been someone seeking to profit from what looked like an untimely but natural death to grab some commercial data from a rival. Or they could have an accomplice who did do the hacking.


You do know that however hacked the environmental controls did so from the portside of the ship:

The Portside cabins were occupied by:
1: Normally Ruzz'koff, now sharing with Gwydion

3: Ashur Gudeli & Jake Carling

5: Elizabeth Black & Melissah Gshrygn

7: Govindra Ishaga & Malico Shahisgara

Two of those are crew, and your pretty certain none of you lot did (depends, how much do you trust Gwydion?)Another 3 (Gudeli, Carling and Gshrygn) are the Administrator and his party (how much do you trust them?)The other 3 are all yuppies (yes, they are annoying, but would they kill?)

Of those, Shahisgara was the only one who could have taken the disk and hacked the system. The administator and his party would have seemed in the clear - lacking an apparent motive or connection, but given the sensitivity of what Antonescu had they may well have acted against him - though why they wouldn't act openly is a mystery.


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## Radiating Gnome (May 23, 2006)

Ruzz'Koff, in a private conversation before arrival with the rest of the crew, having finally gotten the analysis of the disks, and an understanding of the sensitive nature of the missing data.  

"This is serious -- very, very serious, and something that we cannot take any chances with.  There's no telling how much harm can be done with the information on the missing disks.  I want to hear your opinions about our next move, but I'll start out by telling you that I think we need to turn this investigation over to military authorities immediately, before we give the culprit or culprits a chance to get off the ship.  That means contacting the military authorities once we are in system and either landing on a military base or docking with a military station or ship.  

"This isn't a civil matter anymore.  It's not a minor murder.  This is serious espionage, and any sort of delay while we try to sort this out for ourselves, at this point, puts the fine folk of the imperial navy at risk -- not to mention those they protect.

Your thoughts?"


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## Watus (May 23, 2006)

Tuan shakes his head in disbelief.  "The order of battle...  Unbelievable."

"I don't think we have any choice but to turn this over to the Navy.  But we should give the administrator a heads up first.  This is going to be a bit of a speed bump."


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## Radiating Gnome (May 23, 2006)

"I'm not sure we should warn anyone, including the adminstrator, about our plans until we are safely within a military security zone.  I'm not saying that I think the administrator or a member of his staff had something to do with this, although it's a possibility.  I just want to limit the opportunities for this information to somehow make its way to the other passengers.  

"The fewer times we have this conversation, the better -- which means we have it this once, now, and we understand that we're going to do this and we do not discuss it again until we reach the military base or we've docked."


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## Wilphe (May 24, 2006)

Shirgegge has a Class B starport, but no naval or marine base.
They'll be a presence there to deal with recruitment, liason and Vetern's affairs, but that's about it.
However, there is a K'kree diplomatic mission on the planet. They will have travelled in their own (armed) vessals, and as such will be under escort by the Imperial Navy. This will probably be at least a small task force built around a cruiser or light carrier and it's escorts*. Officer commanding that would be a Commodore or Rear Admiral - who'd easily outrank anything the Imperium has on the planet.

* Less than that would be an insult, more than that indicates a desire to overawe the K'kree. The subtleties involved in this sort of thing are legion, but that's the average.

Also:
    So far as anyone, especially Ruzz'koff, can tell, this information looks accurate, so it's either genuine or a very well crafted forgery.

IC:
    Ktarle, "Well, we know what this was about. Still doesn't help us a lot. Was he killed so as to steal this information? If so, then whoever did it failed, and there's at least a possibility they'll try to get what remains of it off of us or steal it from his cabin."

   "Or he was killed to ensure that the data wasn't delivered to it's destination. If it was an Imperial Agent that did it then they must have had reasons why they didn't just arrest him. If it was someone else, then we are in danger if they think we might pass it on."


   Gwydion, "I just have the nervous feeling that we've stumbled in on an Imperial Counter-espionage operation, in which case they won't appreciate us shouting about it from the rooftops."


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## doghead (May 24, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant*

Saanath initially agrees with Tuan, but can see the value in Ruzz'koff's caution.

"He was informed of our intentions to hand things over the the system authorities upon arrival, that hasn't really changed."

Saanath pauses for a moment, in thought.

"Perhaps Ruzz'koff is right. This new information should go no further until we have made contact with the military escort for the K'ree. So two questions. How do we do that without drawing lots of attention? And what do we do with the disks and theis computer until then? I would like to make backups of the data, just in case there is an attempt to recover or distroy the original disks."


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 1, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Gwydion, "I just have the nervous feeling that we've stumbled in on an Imperial Counter-espionage operation, in which case they won't appreciate us shouting about it from the rooftops."




"Make no mistake, we will not be shouting from the rooftops -- we are turning this investigation over to the nearest imperial military authorities.  If this is a counter-espionage operation, they will be in control and best able to keep things quiet. 

"A more paranoid person might assume that IF this is a counter-espionage operation the best way for the imperium to bury any news about the story would be to disappear us and our passengers, but I'm not that paranoid and I'd encourage you to not be that paranoid.  

"Making backups of the data is a mistake, I think.  If this is espionage, then making copies of the data makes us spies as well. Once we've made copies, there's no clean way to deal with them -- if we turn them over to the authorities, then we're repentant spies.  If we keep them, then their discovery can put us in hot water at any time.  If we destroy them, there's no way to prove they were destroyed, and each one of us could prove to be a witness against the others -- while more than one of us lives we will be living under the (albeit distant) threat that the others will testify against us and turn us in as spies. 

"That's not paranoia, that's life experience talking.  Once you take a step down that path there's no taking it back.  I've seen too many lives and careers ruined this way -- a simple act that, while breaking the rules, seems to make sense at the time, but that single act snowballs, making gradually more and more terrible things 'reasonable', turning friends and allies against each other.  

"The only safe course is the straight and narrow.  Package up our evidence, take some time to prepare written reports for the investigators, and don't talk about our change of course. Once we're in system we'll contact the escort fleet and ask for permission to dock.  With any luck I'll know someone in the fleet who can help us find the right people to talk to."

-rg


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## Wilphe (Jun 2, 2006)

OOC: If you are going ahead with that I will move on to the drop out of jump in the next few days.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 2, 2006)

that's fine with me.

-rg


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## doghead (Jun 6, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant*

Saanath accepts Ruzz'koff's accessment, and hands over all the material he was working on to the Captain for safekeeping.

-ooc-
All right with me too. Saanath will keep monitoring the cameras and anti-hijack system to try and identify any suspicious passenger activity or movement. Particularly anthing that looks like someone checking up on a hiding place to ensure it remains undiscovered. But otherwise he just leave it to be sorted by the Imperiallies.


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## Wilphe (Jun 7, 2006)

03:35  223/991

   There's the usual slight, weightless feeling as the Vykris emerges from jump and then it's over. It looks like Trelene plotted the jump just right and you are headed straight for the main planet with little need for any course corrections save deceleration. The scan, which has hitherto remained blank and useless during for the last week comes on line and gives a read out of what's in system.

     For starters, nothing immediatly hostile. A few convoys of fuel tenders are making their way to and from the gas giants under System Defence Boat escort.

     There's about half a dozen starships of various types heading too or from jump, including two large bulk carriers of 20-25,000 tons that are probably packing grain or other bulk produce.

    Orbiting Shirgegge itself are two large warships and attendent escorts. One is K'kree vessal designed to address their racial claustrophobia - a large, saucer shaped vessal which identifies as the 10,000 ton Kahk'rik'kreng Class Courier  _"Lashing Tail"_.

      The other is an Imperial 8,000 ton Plata Class Fast Escort Cruiser, _"Coronel"_. Four 400 ton Patrol Vessals fill out the Coronel's flotilla as close escort and liason.


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## Wilphe (Jun 7, 2006)

That's a rather small vessal to be running escort, which suggests either a diplomatic snub or that the Imperial Navy is being streached very thin by the campiagns against the Solomani.

    Saanath notes that a few of the passengers, Maxine Zdrac and Elizabeth Foster among them, have begun to gather in the Common Area. This is despite it being 3 am, they will probably be expecting that comm-links will be opened up...


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## Wilphe (Jun 7, 2006)

Shirgegge 1511 Ley

B  Class Starport
5  7800km in diameter, Surface Gravity .68G
5  A thin atmosphere, low gravity alone sees to that
7  71% water
7  Population of 95 million
8  Civil Service Bureaucracy
B  Law Level - Weapons prohibited, civilian movement controlled
B  Tech Level - Low Average Interstellar

Agricultural
Non-Industrial

No planetoid belts
5 gas giants

K0 V G5 D
A small, dim, orange star.


Shirgegge is a large and fairly prosperous agricultural settlement. Government has remained essentially the same since colonisation - government agencies control what crops can be planted, how, where and when they are harvested. Live in the few cities is rigidly controlled and restricted, in part to encourage residents to stay on the land. The delay in the harvest caused by the lack of the crucial equipment you are carrying has probably upset the delicate bureaucartic schedule, so they'll probably be very pleased to see you.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 7, 2006)

Russ'koff checks any available information sources (gather information?) to see if he knows anyone serving on the _Coronel_ or one of it's tenders.  

-rg


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## Watus (Jun 7, 2006)

Tuan racks his brain to the same end [Feat: Well Connected (Tuan is a lvl 5 Traveller), will retry with Dumb Luck if necessary].


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## doghead (Jun 7, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

Saanath looks up from the screen showing the passengers and turns to Ruzz'koff*.

"It looks like the passengers are waiting for comm-channels to be established. Do you want to give them access. Personally, I think we should hold off until we have contacted the Navy and see what they want to do."

- ooc -
* I'm assuming Saanath would be in the bridge when they exit jump space, in case he needs to do any flying. 

Aside from the ships comm equipment, is there any other way of establish comm with the system from the ship. If its a possibility, Saanath will set up the ships systems to scan for signals.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 7, 2006)

"I'm with you.  No access until we've turned this over to the appropriate authorities.  I suppose I'll have to go let them know."  

Taking a short break from his research, Russ'koff heads to the common area and addresses the gathered passengers.  "I appreciate that you are in the habit of being able to access comm channels when ships enter a new system, but this is far from a normal circumstance.  I'm sure you will understand that we are not able to allow comm access until we have contacted the proper authorities."

"This ordeal is nearly over, and I'm only asking for a little more understanding and forebearance on your part.  It will not be much longer.  Please return to your cabins."  

(throw in a diplomacy check)

(Once they've returned to their quarters, Russ'koff will return to the bridge and his research.)


-rg


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## DrZombie (Jun 7, 2006)

Gwydion stands at the lounge, smiling at the passangers in his own special way and urging them to stay in their cabins untill they have docked, not specifying where or when that will happen. He is a bit edgy, knowing that if someone is gonna try something, now is the time.


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## doghead (Jun 7, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant*

Given that everything seems to be in order ship wise, and that Trelene can handle the comm's better than Saanath, Saanath heads back to the common room to fix the passengers some coffee if they should want it, and generally keep an eye on them.


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## Wilphe (Jun 8, 2006)

Tuan:
     No one comes to mind immediatly, not who'd be much use in orbit anyway. However, you did hear from a friend of a friend that a former associate of yours, an Ellie Keong, had set up a bar in what passes for Shirgegge's startown. Opinion is divided as to weather this a genuine retirement or simply a desire to spend her golden years somewhere less "exciting" (ie: Violent) and still keep a few side deals going.

ooc:
[Sblock]Exactly what their connection was partly is up to you, but I'm assuming that any former associate of Tuan is going to be at least a little bit roguish. She was certainly never the violent type though, and Shirgegge is certainly a good place to get away from that.[/sblock]

Ruzz'koff:

The _Coronel's_ four escorts are Skanda class 400 ton Patrol Cruisers akin the one the group looked at before settling on their current vessal: _Ishgir, Tablam, Shurger & Willis_. From following the Naval list, subsequent Gazettes and general Navy gossip the 2nd Officer of the _Tablam_ is one Erwin de'Vir. A classmate of Ruzz'koff from their academy. The two were not exactly close, but they weren't enemies either.

Saanath:
OOC: Unless someone else has brought a communication's system aboard then there is no way for them to broadcast off the ship without using the ships systems. In that case you'd know about it. 
A quick scan of radio frequencies reveals nothing, unless someone is using a Meson communicator (which is very unlikely).

Everybody:
     Maxine Zdrac rolls her eyes at Ruzz'koff (and at this rate she'll probably get thrown out of the airlock prior to re-entry, "Fine," she says, in the tone of voice that implies the exact opposite. Ms Black gives Ruzz'koff an understanding smile, and asks if it is okay to watch the incoming news and entertainments feeds. There isn't any real reason to decline that request except sheer bloody mindedness, so I'll assume that's permitted.

An incoming message reaches you, "Vyrkris this is Shirgegge traffic control. Please state your business in system."


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## Wilphe (Jun 15, 2006)

The message repeats itself, "Vyrkris this is Shirgegge traffic control. Please acknowledge our transmission."


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## doghead (Jun 16, 2006)

- The Bridge -

Saanath continues to keep an eye on the comm systems if Trelene is not available.

"Shirgegge traffic control, this is Vyrkris. Aknowledging transmission."

Last thing they needed now was to wind up the system authorities, or set off red flags. Saanath give Ruzz'koff a 'what now' look.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 16, 2006)

Ruzz'koff shakes off his reverie (he had been daydreaming about days when he'd had a bridge officer that handled initial contact and opening channels, bringing him coffee, brushing the lint off his uniform . . . . why had he retired again?)  

"Shirgegge traffic control, this is the Free Trader Vyrkris. We are inbound with passengers, some of whom are scheduled to disembark here. "


***This is all assuming that I'm using the right terminology.  I want to basically tell them what we're doing without mentioning the murder right away. 

Once the conversation with traffic control is finished, Ruzz'koff tries to open a channel with the Coronel's duty officer to try to speak with the captain.  

OOC: sorry for the disappearing act -- work has been insane. And I'm on my way out of town for a long weekend, and I expect to be unable to get online.  Please ghost me as necessary. --rg


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## Wilphe (Jun 20, 2006)

ooc: I would have let Trelene handle comms as an NPC, but I wanted to know what method you'd be adopting.

IC:

"Roger Vykris, you are cleared to take up a holding orbit, details to follow. A customs vessal will be standing by for boarding and inspection. Please transmit all manifests and passenger details upon request."

Raising the _Coronel_ proves fairly easy, actually getting to speak to someone is slightly more difficult, but eventually you can get through to the officer on deck, though this is not a secure channel, so anyone could be listening into your conversation.

"Vykris, this is Lieutenant-Commander Massena of the _Coronel_. How may the Imperial Navy be of assistance" 


Everyone:
Local news feeds are coming in, nothing of spectacular interest. A few talking heads are waxing on about the harvest and how they are waiting on crucial parts to reach the planet. The crucial parts you are carrying...


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## doghead (Jun 24, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Vykris, this is Lieutenant-Commander Massena of the _Coronel_. How may the Imperial Navy be of assistance"




This, Saanath decides, is Ruzz'koff's territory. Saanath stands by to alter course as necessary. Meanwhile, he scans through the internal camera images and comm frequencies.


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## Wilphe (Jun 24, 2006)

Saanath / Tuan:
     More passengers are now awake, dressed and out in the common area. Even though its very early in the morning they are clearly very eager to be recieving market data and newsfeeds again. The major exception is the Administrators party, who are still in their staterooms.

Saanath:
    Another transmission comes in from Traffic Control, which you handle given that the captain is busy, it's a request to transmit cargo and passenger manifests and an advisory that System Defence Boat 80 (local Navy) will be giving you a customs inspection. In about as long as it takes for your transmission to reach Shirgegge, be read and for a reply to reach you, you get new traffic instructions: Your cargo has been given priority and you are cleared for immediate approach upon arrival in orbit. Customs inspection has been cancelled.


Tuan:
      Not a lot going on, with various people on the bridge talking to each other. You do note however, back in the common room, that Malico Shahisgara perks up when some footage of the K'kree vessal and it's escorts comes up on the vid.


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## DrZombie (Jun 24, 2006)

Gwydion just smiles at the passengers when asked a question (well, smiles, euhm, something which shows a lot of teeth and could be vaguely interpreted as a smile)


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## doghead (Jun 25, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

Saanath checks the comm broadcast is off and glances over at Ruzz'koff.

"I need to know what information can go out, and fast. The cargo mainfest is no problem, but what about the passenger list. Does the navey want us to sit on that?

Saanath flicks the comm back on.

"Apologies Shirgegge Traffic Control. Please repeat last transmission."

That should buy them a few more minutes.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 27, 2006)

doghead said:
			
		

> Saanath checks the comm broadcast is off and glances over at Ruzz'koff.
> 
> "I need to know what information can go out, and fast. The cargo mainfest is no problem, but what about the passenger list. Does the navey want us to sit on that?
> 
> ...




Ruzz'koff smirks despite himself.  "Relax.  They haven't actually asked us for the manifests yet -- they have just let us know that they will ask for them in the future.  We have a few minutes.  In the meantime, lets respond to the _Coronel_."

Once the channel is open:  "Lieutenant-Commander Massena, this is captain Ruzz'koff of the Vykris.  We have a situation that clearly demands immediate Imperial Navy attention and investigation, and I would prefer to bring Vykris to you rather than a civilian dock.  

"Here's the situation.  During jump a passenger was murdered by someone on this ship.  That would be a matter for the civil authorities normally, but in the process of investigating the murder on our own we came upon data files of military interest -- including what looks like highly classified naval data. Some of the data is apparently missing, and is presumably in the possession of someone involved with the murder. We have not been able to find it.

"I would prefer to give you a more detailed report in person, and turn over the investigation of both the murder and the data.  I will need your intercession with Shirgegge traffic control, and to register a flight plan that will bring us to you.  

"Again, sir, I hope you understand that we do not bring this to you lightly, but given the apparent nature of this murder, it seems to be the most prudent next step."


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## doghead (Jun 28, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

Saanath nods to Ruzz'koff in acknowledgment. The merchant is glad Ruzz'koff is handling the Imperial side of things, Saanath is not sure he could talk like that even if he were reading a script. Ruzz'koff sounds pure Navy.

Saanath gathers together the requested information, keeping the cargo manifests and passenger manifests separate for the moment. Once more he checks the cameras and comm's for anything unusual.


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## Wilphe (Jun 28, 2006)

Lt-Commander Massena, "Okay," he sniffs, "Are we are on tight beam, Comms?"

"Aye sir"

"I don't want any flap in front of the locals, and especially not in front of our six hoofed guests. Vykris, you will comply with local traffic control until informed otherwise. A vessal and boarding party will be along shortly. You say the murdered is still aboard, do you anticipate resistence?"

Saanath, Ruzz'koff:

    A small 20 ton launch detachs from the _Coronel_ and powers out on an intercept course. A few minutes later one of the escorts leaves it's charge and powers out at 1G towards Shirgegge's moon, this won't quite put it on a parellel course to the gig but it's certainly keeping in touch and standing overwatch in case the gig gets into difficulties.

      The ether between the _Coronel_ and Shirgegge gets rather heated as the Navy claim dibs on the _Vykris_. Her cargo will have to wait, no matter how urgent the planetary authorities think it is. That doesn't mean that they have to like it however.


Tuan, Gwydion:
     The administrator and his party have made an appearence, all give discreet smiles of support at the pair of you. As for the rest, well they'd like an ETA for when they can get off, it would be about eight hours to planetfall and the gig will intercept in 4. Neither of you have any idea what will happen then...


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## Watus (Jun 28, 2006)

Tuan shrugs.  "With the K'Kree and the Navy in system, there's no telling when we'll be cleared to land.  Best just to sit tight and keep yourself occupied."

He pulls a fresh deck of cards out his jacket pocket and breaks the seal.  "Anyone interested in a game?  It's a new deck."


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## doghead (Jun 29, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

--- The Bridge ---

Saanath grins as he listens to the exchange between the Navy and Traffic Control. They both sound pretty ticked off. Then Saanath remembers that they are going to have to deal with both parties down the track.

*sigh* "Why can't we just get an easy ride for a change."

Saanath watches the navy gig close the gap. The Vykris doesn't need any attention. Saanath lets it cruise through space on its current vector. He calls up the sensor data and calculate the ETA. 4 hours at current velocities and vectors. He passes that on to Ruzz'Koff. Then he begins checking to see who else is around in this volume of space. No real reason really, just something to do.

Once more he checks the internal cameras to see what the passengers are up to.


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## Wilphe (Jun 29, 2006)

Tuan:

   Jake Carling gives you an arch look and smiles, "Offering a sealed deck without being asked suggests a guilty conscience or an expectation of distrust. I'm in, I won off you before so I'll beat even more on a clean deck," he sits.

   Malico Shahisgara stands and comes over, "Worried you might blow all your pay for this trip before you get the chance to spend it eh? I'll join you, might be my only chance of making a profit on this lousy trip"

Saanath:

      Not much more becomes apparent. There's the aforementioned convoys of fuel tenders aking their way to and from the gas giants under System Defence Boat escort and there's about half a dozen starships of various types heading too or from jump, including two large bulk carriers of 20-25,000 tons that are probably packing grain or other bulk produce.

      The _Coronel_ looks like it is going to general quarters, or at least beginning a minor drill. A couple of fighters have launched on a course towards the moon, in the wake of the detached escort.

       Also, there's a small asteroid near where you exited from jump, nothing especially remarkable about that, but you do note that there is a small craft attached to it. Looks like about 100tons or so, mass readings do not suggest that the asteroid is likely to be worth mining, and it's in a stable, fairly close orbit, so you'd have expected it to be mined out long ago if it was worth exploiting.


----------



## DrZombie (Jun 29, 2006)

"Last time you offered to play with a sealed deck I had to pay your bail, remember? You still owe me 2000 creds. Double or nothing?" Gwydion says with a vicious smile.


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## Watus (Jun 29, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Offering a sealed deck without being asked suggests a guilty conscience or an expectation of distrust. I'm in, I won off you before so I'll beat even more on a clean deck," he sits.




Tuan grins.  "It's been my experience that people come to demand a fresh deck after spending a week in jumpspace with me.  The stars know why.  Guess I just don't look very respectable."  

He shuffles and deals.


----------



## doghead (Jun 30, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant*

--- The Bridge ---

Saanath keeps himself busy by plotting coordinates, vectors and velocities for the various vessels and programming in alerts should those change. He also works through the various passive sensor options, feeding the data to a file attached to each vessel. He includes the asteroid and its launch as well.

- ooc -
Saanath is practicing really. His T/Astronavigation and T/Sensor skills are fairly basic. Getting in some training time. Will probably up them at next level.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jun 30, 2006)

Response to Massena -

"I wouldn't expect resistance from the murdered, sir, but the murderer is indeed still on board.  However, there has been no sign of this killing being someone prone to direct physical violence.  The killer is discrete and a bit indirect.  I don't know that more than an armed party is necessary to secure the ship, so long as you're careful to watch everyone."


Ruzz'koff studies the patterns of response he's seeing in the Coronel, trying to get a feel for whether the ship is really going to quarters or conducting some sort of drill.  

(sense motive check, feel free to roll for me).  

He's also very interested in the inexplicable asteroid and tug.  He'll spend some time trying to scan that a bit more carefully and make some sense of what's up. 

(roll whatever skill check you'd like for me.)

-rg


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## Maerdwyn (Jun 30, 2006)

Ktarle watches the others on the bridge, and lets her eyes scan the monitors. Her whiskers twitch a little as she hears the exchange betwen Ruzz'koff and the Coronel, awaiting Ruzz'koff's assessment of the situation.  As the exchange continues, she says quietly to Saanath, "Do you think there is anything I should convey to the passengers - or should we just let the Navy handle them when they board?"  To herself she thinks, _Two jumps in three months - my first starship voyages in five years and both end with naval boarding parties.  Basic science research is looking better all the time_.

Edit: oops misread the background stuff and thought we'd gone with the lockdown option for some reason.  edited to fix.


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## Wilphe (Jul 2, 2006)

Tuan, Gwydion:
     You play for a few hours, no one is really getting ahead and the games are coming out pretty even. All the yuppies bar Malico are watching the local equivalent of Blomberg, some with more interest than others. A few of them, Govindra Ishage and Maxine Zdrac, are devouring each entry on the ticker like they are junkies coming out of a weeks worth of cold turkey; which in all fairness is pretty much exactly what they are.

_<Must have data in real time>_

     Malico doesn't appear to care that much, largely concentrating on the game, though he glances across occassionaly.

Ruzz'koff:

      Your intuition suggests that the Massena is doing this principally for the benefit of the K'kree. As the _Lashing Tail_ will have at least some crew on board their sensors will be manned and if there is something important going on, he will want it disguised.

    Of course it's also possible that Massena also adopts the same approach to random drills at inconvenient times that you do...

[Sblock]
Massena isn't sure whether to believe you or not, but he's not going to take any chances
It's also fair to say that he is very bored and any break from routine is interesting. He's doesn't come across as slapdash or careless by any strech of the matter, it's more a pragmatic, "this might be something, it might not, either way it's way more interesting than just sitting here orbiting a planet"[/sblock]

Saanath, Ruzzkoff:
The shuttle is an 100 ton _Iiken_ class Scout/Courier, a less advanced fore-runner of the _Suleiman_ that's the Imperial workhorse. It's reactor is running, but it doesn't seem to be doing much; it could be just in a nightcycle or it could be waiting for something. Either way it is no threat to the _Vyrkris_ unless it's been substanitially rebuilt - and there is no sign of that.

Ktarle, Ruzz'koff, Saanath:

Massena comes back on screen as soon as Ruzz'koff's last transmission reaches him, "Um, say again please _Vyrkris_, "You do not expect any resistance from the deceased"? Stand by, I'm handing you over to Lt De Paolo on our gig."


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## doghead (Jul 3, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*

--- The Bridge ---

Saanath turns to Ktarle.

"I wouldn't say anything to the passengers. I don't think there are going to be any fireworks. But I also think we should let the Navy deal with this when they get here. Besides, watching their reactions might be elightening.

"It will certainly be entertaining."

Saanath checks that his sensors and monitoring programs are running fine. He turns to Ruzz'koff.

"We have a few hours. Perhaps it would be an idea to convey to the passengers that communications will remain restricted until the authorities arrive. We did say we would be handing this over to the authorities once we got in system. But no need to mention the Navy I would think.

"Do you want me to do it?"


----------



## Watus (Jul 3, 2006)

Tuan sucks his teeth in frustration after loosing yet another hand.  "You play well, Malico.  I'll grant you that."

"And you, you big lump," he says, jabbing his finger in Gwydion's direction.  "You're just lucky."

OOC: If he doesn't already have it in his pocket (and though I haven't said so, he pretty much always does), he retrieves the stealthstick from his quarters and keeps it handy (and concealed).  He's half expecting some trouble when it becomes obvious that they're being boarded by the Navy.  He's playing it cool, though: Bluff +13.  He's also keeping the game casual, losing just to keep things going (by now Tuan should have a pretty good sense of Malico's skill level.  Is he in Tuan's league?  [Gamble +14]).


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## Radiating Gnome (Jul 3, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Massena comes back on screen as soon as Ruzz'koff's last transmission reaches him, "Um, say again please _Vyrkris_, "You do not expect any resistance from the deceased"? Stand by, I'm handing you over to Lt De Paolo on our gig."




Ruzz'koff mutes his mike.  "These guys are obviously a bit distracted.  First he asks if we expect any trouble from the murdered -- as if the dead body were going to give him trouble.  I try to clarify with him that that the killer might be a problem, but the victim will not, and he's still asking if the deceased is going to put up a fight. I don't like this at all.

"Hit those scanners again, hard.  Something isn't right here."

He keys his mike again.  "Lt. De Paolo, have you been briefed regarding our situation?"

-rg


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## Maerdwyn (Jul 3, 2006)

doghead said:
			
		

> --- The Bridge ---
> 
> Saanath turns to Ktarle.
> 
> ...





Ktarle smiles in black amusement. "I guess it will.  I'll keep a tranq-filled hypo on me just the same."


----------



## doghead (Jul 4, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*



			
				Radiating Gnome said:
			
		

> "Hit those scanners again, hard.  Something isn't right here."




Saanath looks over to  Ruzz'Koff. 

"Passive scanners are operational. I've checked pretty much everything in range; and nothing unusual. Everythings tagged and flagged. It will let us know if there are any changes to vectors or velocities. Again, nothing unusual so far.

"You want an active sensor sweep?"

Saanath grins mischieviously. Nobody likes been swept by active sensors. Its like being cold called by automated call centers trying to sell you insurance or 'give away' a holiday. It will definately stir things up*.

- ooc -
* OK, just guessing here. But I would imagin active sensors scans are a fairly aggressive action.


----------



## DrZombie (Jul 4, 2006)

Watus said:
			
		

> Tuan sucks his teeth in frustration after loosing yet another hand.  "You play well, Malico.  I'll grant you that."
> 
> "And you, you big lump," he says, jabbing his finger in Gwydion's direction.  "You're just lucky."




"Yep. And intelligent, witty, charismatic, and above all, modest. Now hand over your cash, mate." Gwydion replies.


----------



## Wilphe (Jul 6, 2006)

Tuan:
      Malico isn't in your league at the technical aspects of the game (figuring odds) but at the social aspects he seems quite adept, and you _suspect_ that he's getting away with a few good bluffs. Now you've got that figured out, taking his money should just be a matter of time, assuming that the cards are more or less even.

Gwydion, Tuan:

    Eleanor Carnot wanders over to the game, "I suppose you won't know what will happen when we reach plantfall. I suppose they'll want to talk to us, but I don't know what they'll do to us. Do you know?"


Ruzz'koff, Saanath, Ktarle:

      "Vykris, this is Lt de Paolo. We are briefed, though there appears to be some misunderstanding regarding possible resistance on board, please clarify that situation for us please. Otherwise you are to maintain you course and speed, we are matching velocities and will be docking with you within 30 minutes or less. Please stand by and await my instructions, over."

    A more intense scan of the scout on the asteroid reveals little over than that life support is 100% and that the vessal is, judging by it's mass, fully fueled and ready to jump.


OOC:
Yeah, actively scanning is like sending out a sonar ping "I'm here and I don't care who knows it."
Deliberatly Targeting another vessal with an active scan is, assunimg they notice you are aiming it at them, somwhere between discourteous and hostile, depending on where you are at the time.


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## DrZombie (Jul 6, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Gwydion, Tuan:
> 
> Eleanor Carnot wanders over to the game, "I suppose you won't know what will happen when we reach plantfall. I suppose they'll want to talk to us, but I don't know what they'll do to us. Do you know?"




Gwydion puts down his cards and leans back, looking as he's very relaxed but making sure he can get up without being hindered by the table.
"I think we'll get interrogated for quite a bit, us as well as you. The captain trusts us, we've been through quite a bit together, but that doesn't mean the coppers will. Or the Navy, to be more specific, since the possible murder was committed in hyperspace. Bloody basterds will wanna search the ship, maybe even confiscate it as evidence during the trial, if it comes to that." He sighs. Then shrugs.
"We'll see. What comes comes."


----------



## Maerdwyn (Jul 6, 2006)

Ktarle has a nagging worry when she hears the results on the scout, but tries to shake it off as paranoia. _The others know what they are doing - you stick to the sick bay. _. Her gaze lingers on the view screen with its scan results, though, and it's clear that something about it is troubling her.


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## doghead (Jul 7, 2006)

--- THE BRIDGE ---



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Vykris, this is Lt de Paolo. We are briefed, though there appears to be some misunderstanding regarding possible resistance on board, please clarify that situation for us please. Otherwise you are to maintain you course and speed, we are matching velocities and will be docking with you within 30 minutes or less. Please stand by and await my instructions, over."




Saanath leaves the communication with the navy to Ruzz'koff.

- ooc -
Yeah, that was what I thought about active scanning. Saanath won't do it unless Ruzz'koff requests it. 

*DrZ*, the passengerss aren't aware that the navy is involved, and the plan was not to let them know beforehand. Gwydion (probably) knows that. Of course, if you just want to kick the metaphorical beehive to stir things up ...


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## Radiating Gnome (Jul 7, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Vykris, this is Lt de Paolo. We are briefed, though there appears to be some misunderstanding regarding possible resistance on board, please clarify that situation for us please. Otherwise you are to maintain you course and speed, we are matching velocities and will be docking with you within 30 minutes or less. Please stand by and await my instructions, over."



OOC: I need to get some clarification here.  The "misunderstanding started back with a post from the Coronel that could easily have been a typo.  I've tried to sort it out in the dialog, and despite the description you're giving us of everything being fairly SOP, that misunderstanding just won't go away.  

R'k can't help but feel like the misunderstanding, now being continued by a second source, is intentional -- and the only reason he can imagine that a misunderstanding about resistance on board would be generated by the imperial forces, especially over ship-to-ship communication that is, naturally, being recorded for future investigation, is to be able to demonstrate the confusion surrounding resistance on the ship at a future inquest.  

So, the real question is this:  in the following quote:


> "I don't want any flap in front of the locals, and especially not in front of our six hoofed guests. Vykris, you will comply with local traffic control until informed otherwise. A vessal and boarding party will be along shortly. You say the murdered is still aboard, do you anticipate resistence?"



Is "murdered" really what you intended to type?  Should it have been murderer?  If it's murderer, then it's a misunderstanding created by a typo.  If it's not a typo, then R'k can't help but be very nervous that the boarding party that is coming is going to shoot first and ask questions later.

-rg


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## Wilphe (Jul 7, 2006)

OOC: No you see, I threw a typo and didn't notice; so I thought you were the one to start this off, now I see I started it and I'm sorry.


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## Maerdwyn (Jul 10, 2006)

Ktarle listens as the two captains work to get on the same page.  There isn't much she can add, but if there is any confusion on the Navy's part when they arrive, there is something she wants to avoid if possible.  While they wait for Ruzz'koff's last tranmission to reach the Massena, she says to him, "They may want to detain everyone and they probably won't know about the Administrator or his mission, right?  We need to make sure he doesn't get delayed here."


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## Wilphe (Jul 17, 2006)

It takes a bit of discussion, but eventually Massena and De Paolo are fully briefed on the status aboard. The murderer is still aboard, no one is waving guns around and you don't know if anyone will resist. Prescence of the Administrator is not mentioned at this time.

    The Vykris coasts through space, whilst the gig angles round and makes a perfect approach and comes up behind ready to board. From hitting the external view it looks like they are getting ready to walk across rather than bother docking. There are six figures in light battledress, which is more or less SOP for an initial boarding - more will be across later. de Paolo comes on the comm, "Okay, we're at the aft airlock, open up please."

     The airlock is in engineering, so it is possible to meet them there and discuss things before the passengers know they are abord. Who is going down?


Gwydion, Tuan:
     Ms Carnot looks slightly worried, "Search the ship?!? How long will that take?"

     Malico looks at Tuan, "Isn't the Captain ex-Navy anyway? How does that angle into it. Reckon he'll expedite matters and get this cleared up quickly?"


Saanath, Ktarle:
    Scout is still doing nothing, of course they might be watching you, but they'd be bold or desperate to try something under the nose of the Navy. After that, getting to a safe jump point before the _Coronel_, or its fighters did anything to stop them would be quite an achievement.


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## Watus (Jul 17, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Malico looks at Tuan, "Isn't the Captain ex-Navy anyway? How does that angle into it. Reckon he'll expedite matters and get this cleared up quickly?"




Tuan nods, looking up from his cards.  "Yeah.  Cap's ex-Navy.  The rest I don't know.  It hasn't been my experience that the Navy's much inclined to put itself out on account this sort of thing.  More concerned with piracy and trade delegations and the like.  And, you know... the war.  I expect they'll poke around, ask some questions, and then tell us all make ourselves available for more questions later."

He shrugs.  "I wouldn't guess it'll take too long."

OOC: Bluff +13


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## Wilphe (Jul 17, 2006)

She looks slightly incredulous, "What, they'll ask us some questions and let us go? Aren't they going to find out who did it?"


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## Radiating Gnome (Jul 17, 2006)

Ruzz'koff checks himself, tries to press out a few imagined wrinkles with his hands.  Then he sits back down.  "Saanath . . I hope understand.  It's a matter of my pride I fear.  de Paolo is just a lieutenant, I can't go down and meet him myself.  It would be . . . embarrassing.

"Take someone else -- your choice -- and meet dePaulo in Engineering.

"Oh, and another thing.  About the Administrator.  I'm as concerned as everyone else is that we not delay the Administrator, but at this point we cannot be sure that he or one of his party isn't responsible for the murder, so we must allow him and his aides to be examined as well.  I don't want to draw attention to him -- he's traveling with us for a reason, after all -- and I didn't want to broadcast that we had him aboard. But now that we are not shouting for the whold system to hear, we might mention to dePaulo that the administrator is on board, traveling discretely, and while we don't want to interfere with the investigation, if we and the administrator could be released as soon as they are able to clear us, we can get him to his destination as close to on time as possible."

"See what you can do along those lines.  Be discrete. But, at any rate, please meet them, make sure they get on board and are satisfied with our cooperation, then bring dePaulo to me on the bridge."

-rg


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## doghead (Jul 18, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant*

--- THE BRIDGE ---

Saanath nods.

"Come on Ktarle. Gwyndon and Tuan are keeping the passengers happy. We can collect the navy boys."

Saanath takes a couple of steps towards the door whan he stops and turns around.

"Actually Ruzz'Koff, I think I'll leave you to bring the Navy up to speed on the Administrator. Too many cooks and all that. Or perhaps we can leave The administrator to handle it himself. Anyways, I'll bring their boss here directly."

When Ktarle is ready, Saanath heads off to the rear airlock. He grabs a comm if he doesn't have one already.


----------



## Maerdwyn (Jul 18, 2006)

Ktarle nods, and she transfers the results of her autopsy of the deceased to a datapad for the navy investigators to take.  She follows Saanath down to meet them.


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## Wilphe (Jul 21, 2006)

Saanath, Ktarle:

          The airlock hisses open to reveal six figures in light battledress, and carrying a mixed array of firearms. All of them are marines, two corporals, three privates and a sergeant. Each corporal takes a trooper and sweeps enginering, one pair going left the other going right. They finish up covering the hatches up to the main deck and through to the cargo area, whilst also keeping a whether eye on the pair of you. Not that they are discourteous or hostile, but they are thorough and proffessional.

       The sergeant speaks into his own helmet mike and then steps foward, leaving the airlock empty. His voice then comes over the external speakers, "Good morning maam and sir. You are currently being boarded by elements of 6177th Independent Marine Company, currently attached to the Imperial Cruiser _Coronel_. I am Sergeant Kurushii. Lt De Paolo will be across shortly. Who might I be addressing?"

Ruzz'koff, Trelene:
TV shows another group of six figures making their way across from the gig.

Gwydion, Tuan:
All quiet up here.


----------



## doghead (Jul 22, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

--- DOWN BELOW ---

"Saanath," says Saanath. "Ship purser, sort of, amoung other things. Hey, do you guys have a meson canon on the _Coronel_?"

Saanath lets Ktarle introduce herself, then offers to lead the Sgt. where ever he wants to go.


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## Wilphe (Jul 22, 2006)

Sgt Kurushii looks at Saanath and the suit's audio comes on line again, "No sir, the _Coronel's_ primary weapons system's consists of a quad of 28.5 Gigajoule Particle Beam weapons. Might I ask the relevence of this topic sir?"

      The airlock cycles again, allowing in another 4 figures in battledress, and two in armoured vac suits. These later both have Navy markings, one a Petty Officer, the other a Lieutenant. He steps foward and removes his helmet. "Good morning, sir, Maam. I am Lt de Paolo. What appears to be the problem?"


----------



## Maerdwyn (Jul 22, 2006)

Ktarle has a smile in her eyes at Saanath's comment.  "You'll need to forgive young Saanath.   We've had a rough go lately, and we re all pretty glad to see the navy.  That, and he'l always had a thing for meson cannons."  

When the Lt arrives, and introduces himself, Ktare speaks, her manner professional and obliging.  "Good morning, Lt. DePaolo.  I am Dr. Ktarlewaweikye Os Tehlayew Olui, medical officer for the Vyrkris.  During our jump to Shirgigge, one of our passengers, a Mr. Antonescu, was found dead in his quarters. Saanath's investigation dicovered that the gravity in his room had been intentionally altered by someone with unauthorized access to the envoronmental systems, and my autopsy of the body  confirmed that the elevated gravity was the proximal cause of death."  She hands him the data pad with her notes from the autopsy on it."    "We are very glad to have you and your team aboard, Lt.  Whatever you need, in terms off sytems access, or anything else, let us know, and we'll make it happen.  There are some considerations, separate from the murder, you may want to be aware of as you conduct your investigation."  She looks to Saanath, in case he wants to continue for the Lieutenant.


----------



## doghead (Jul 23, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Sgt Kurushii looks at Saanath and the suit's audio comes on line again, "No sir, the _Coronel's_ primary weapons system's consists of a quad of 28.5 Gigajoule Particle Beam weapons. Might I ask the relevence of this topic sir?"




"Meson canon's are your friend," Saanath says with a grin. "Don't leave home without one."



> Ktarle has a smile in her eyes at Saanath's comment. "You'll need to forgive young Saanath. We've had a rough go lately, and we re all pretty glad to see the navy. That, and he'l always had a thing for meson cannons."




Saanath's grin turns into a laugh.

"Doesn't everyone? One day I'm hoping we can upgrade from this bucket to something packing a bit of meson goodness."

Saanath falls quiet as the airlock cycles again. He lets Ktarle handle the brass. SSaanath is too busy trying not to laugh at the idea of cruising through space in a trader packing a meson.

When Ktarle turns to him, Saanath makes a big effort to pull himself together.

"Yeah, there are also some Imperial complications. I think you should talk to the Captain first up."

Unless there are any objections, Saanath leads the boarding party to the bridge.


----------



## Wilphe (Jul 26, 2006)

Sanaath, Ktarle:

   Lt de Paolo hands Ktarle's data pad off to the Petty Officer, who, now she takes her helmet off, you can see wears a medics insignia. "Imperial complications? We had better go see the captain then."

      A marine corporal and two privates stay behind to secure the airlock and engineering. The rest accompany Saanath and Ktarle up to the main deck, a marine private and Sgt Kurushii take the lead. They don't need directions, which strongly implies that they've studied the deck plan.

Saanath, Ktarle, Gwydion, Tuan:

       The passengers are slightly unsettled by the unheralded arrival of a bunch of marines. Sgt Kurushii goes about his business without paying them a great deal of mind, deploying two pairs to secure the twin passages to the bridge and med bay. 

Gwydion, Tuan:
      Elizabeth Carnot composes herself and looks at Gwydion accusingly, "You could have told us we were being boarded."
       Malico looks at his cards, "Did you expect that we'd just land and walk off? Something like this was going to happen, so why tell us what we should have been able to work out for ourselves," he looks at Jake Carling, who is dealing this hand, "Card. Besides, doubtless our minders are keen to see the looks of doubt, fear and guilt crossing our faces at this development." He beams at Tuan as he says this, "Fold".

Everybody:
     On the brdige are:
     Lt de Paolo
     Sgt Kurushii
     A marine private
     All of you, unless you specifically absent yourselves.

      Lt De Paolo, "Captain, I understand that you have a dead body and a sensitive imperial situation. Would you care to explain please?"


----------



## doghead (Aug 1, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*

--- THE BRIDGE ---

Saanath deliveres the Navy detachment to the bridge. He would like to say, but realises that someone needs to remain with the passengers.

"If you don't need me, I'll be out back," he says to Ruzz'koff. Assuming Ruzz'koff doesn't need him at the moment, Saanath departs.

--- THE MESS ---

Saanath arrives just in time to catch Malico concluding comment. Saanath grins. He can imagin how the rest of the conversation had gone.

"If there is room for one more, deal me in. There is not much to do now except wait for the Imperial machine to grind into action.

"A conclusion Malico has already beaten us to, it would seem."

Which makes Malico rather more canny than the others, or more than the others are letting on, at least. While Saanath doesn't really expect the killer to give themselves away at this late date, Saanath will keep his eyes open nevertheless.

- ooc -
Gamble +8, no ranks in sence motive, Gather Info +12 inc Bluff and Carousing syn.


----------



## Radiating Gnome (Aug 1, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Lt De Paolo, "Captain, I understand that you have a dead body and a sensitive imperial situation. Would you care to explain please?"




Ruzzkoff nods and begins his narrative once he is sure they will not be overheard.  "We are making our way to xxx, by way of this system, and have passengers for both destinations.  During our recent jump, a passenger died.  Our investigation of the death leads us to believe that his death was the result of someone unknown tampering with the environmental controls for their cabin -- specifically the gravity controls.  

"This would still not be a matter for your review except that we found in the dead passenger's effects a collection of data disks -- disks that contain, among other things, what appears to be top secret information about disposition of the imperial fleet.  One of the disks appears to be missing, presumably taken by the killer.

"That, Lieutenant, makes this a matter of supreme importance to the imperial navy, a matter of grave military espionage.  

"Since making the discovery we hae taken the precaution of locking down all of the passengers, permitting them no access to the ship's computer system or any outside communication.  They're getting restless, as you can image, but that seemed to be the most prudent thing to do.  

"To further complicate matters, we have on board an important government administrator and his staff, doing their best to travel as discetely as possible. 

"The crew of the Vykris will support you and your investigation in every way.  Our only hope is to resolve this matter quickly so that we may try to make amends with our other inconvenienced passengers and continue our voyage. " 

With that, Ruzzkoff will turn over the passenger manifest and his notes about the chain of events leading up to this moment.  

-rg


----------



## DrZombie (Aug 2, 2006)

Gwydion keeps an eye on the passengers, and on the marines as well, scout-marine relations being what they are.


----------



## Maerdwyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Ktarle takes in the scene, hoping that this lieutenant turns out to be someone Ruzz'koff can work with.


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## Wilphe (Aug 6, 2006)

Saanath, Tuan, Gwydion:

    The card game continues. Malico still looks at ease, a few of the passengers, Maxine Zdrac, Elizabeth Black and Govindra Ishaga most obviously, are very ill at ease. From the murmer of conversation coming your way, they really want to get off this ship as soon as possible.
     Zdrac, "It's intolerable. We've important business to go about. First the Emperor drags everything to a halt, now our own petty tyrant keeps us hanging about at the Navy's pleasure. Someone has to keep commerce going you know."
      Ishaga, "Maxine, the simplest and quickest way to get out of this situation is to be nice, polite and cooperative with the Navy. Then we can go about our business."
     Black, "He's right. We'll just have to bite our tongues and deal with it."

Gwydion:
     The marines manner falls into two main catagories. A couple have the "alert but bored" stance of people who aren't really expecting anything to happen but are too well trained to get complacent. The rest are equally alert but seem glad to be doing something other than the routine, you get the impression they'd like a little action.

Ruzz'koff, Ktarle:

    The Lieutenant is rather taken aback by Ruzz'koff's revelation about the disks but composes himself quickly. The sergeant is unfazed, but the private's ear's nearly pop off.
       Sgt Kurushii, "We didn't hear that Private."
       Private, "No sergeant sir."

       Lt de Paolo, "The information on these disks is accurate so far you can ascertain? Never mind I shall have them checked out. De Paolo to Gig 07, the bandits are hidden behind the rock?"
       The reply is presumably affirmative as he contiues, addressing the bridge crew, "_Lashing Tail_ has passed behind the planet, we are out of sight of the horsies. Please set a course to take up an orbit with _Coronel_ as a prepatory to docking."


----------



## Radiating Gnome (Aug 7, 2006)

Ruzzkoff directs the crew to comply.  

-rg


----------



## DrZombie (Aug 7, 2006)

Gwydion keeps an eye on the enthousiastic marines, making sure everything runs smoothly and that noone gets trigger-happy


----------



## Maerdwyn (Aug 11, 2006)

Ktarle tries to make herself useful on the bridge, but mainly confines her self to watching as the Ruzz'koff and the others handle the military.


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 11, 2006)

The _Yykris _ takes up a holding position under a dorsal hatch in the Coronel, docking is quickly accomplised and the two ships mated. Lt de Paolo marches back to the Common area, "Ladies and gentlemen, we apologise for the inconvenience and hope to have you away and about your business as soon as possible. To this end, when I call your name, please exit through the hatch where my colleagues will ask you to give a statement. Thank for your cooperation."

     The passengers file though, Malico Sharisgara goes first, but with every apperence of confidence. Curtis Foster is next and looks uncertain perhaps as the late Antonescu's room-mate he still feels somewhat implicated. Elisabeth Black, Maxine Zdrac & Govindra Ishaga leave quietly, displaying varying degrees of relief at getting off this dirty little tramp and into a 6* hotel and without saying goodbye. Eleanor Carnot takes the time out to "Thank you for the trip, I just wish it could have ended another way."

      The administrator and his party are called next. All this takes a good couple of hours, it is now towards mid-morning. "We'll do you now," says De Paolo, "But first I've got the civvies from Shrigegge on the line. They're frothering at the mouth wanting to get their grubby dirt-side mits on your cargo. Something about 60 tons of Agricultural Machinery and the harvest not being able to wait. Frankly I don't give a damn, but they are talking about penalty payments, so I guess you want to talk to them. We'll patch them through, nothing about the sensitive situation though pelase"


     An irritated looking woman in a worn, blue, business suit comes on the vid screen in the lounge, "Good morning, I am Loretta Hanson, Undersecretary of Trade to the Government of Shirgegge. You would be the crew of the merchant Vykris yes? We are in desperate need of the equipment you carry, I am also aware that your terms of shipping include a significant penalty clause in the case of delay. We want your cargo delivered and released within 18 hours, or your penalty clauses will be invoked in full."

     "I am aware that you are under Navy jurisdiction right now. Howver, this was your own choice, as you could have landed on the planet and resolved your difficutly there. We therefore consider ourselves justified in invoking the penalty."


----------



## doghead (Aug 11, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*

--- THE MESSROOM ---



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> Saanath, Tuan, Gwydion:
> 
> Zdrac, "It's intolerable. We've important business to go about. First the Emperor drags everything to a halt, now our own petty tyrant keeps us hanging about at the Navy's pleasure. Someone has to keep commerce going you know."




"Better one tyrant than a thousand, each trying to carve out his own little patch of space." Saanath shrugs and adds. "The Imperium might be a bit of a pain at times, but they pretty much are the ones who keep space free so the commerce can keep going."

Saanath's beeper beeps. 

"And speaking of tyrants, our own seems to want me on the bridge. Looks like I fold," Saanath concludes with a grin.

Saanath heads to the bridge. 

--- THE BRIDGE ---

Once he finds out what Ruzz'koff wants, he settles down the pilot's chair and puts the ship into gear.


----------



## doghead (Aug 11, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant.*

Once he has finished the docking and is no longer needed, Saanath returns to the Mess. Saanath does what he can to keep the passengers calm and comfortable. But otherwise Saanath just keeps his head down and himself out of the way as the Marines process the passengers. Eventually the Marines will want to do the same with the crew. But until then, there is not much to do but wait.

--- THE BRIDGE ---

Saanath listens to the messages with the others. Saanath can't really see why they shouldn't be able to deliver the cargo immediately, and do the processing later. They could take the ship down with a contingent of marines on board if the Navy don't want to let the crew out of their sight. The navy could take the ship down themselves if they wanted. But that would probably raise too many eyebrows. Given the situation with the Emperor at the moment, Saanath can't see why the navy wouldn't want to do what it can to stay on the good side of its citizens. Jeez, they only have to land, unload, and lift off again. With the navy in orbit, its not likely that they could go anywhere the navy didn't want them too.

Saanath opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again and glances at Ruzz'koff. Saanath has as much right to speak as Ruzz'koff, but Saanath knows how much the navy likes its chain of command. Ruzz'koff has done a good job so far, so Saanath decides to hold his tongue for the moment and see what Ruzz'koff has to say.


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## DrZombie (Aug 11, 2006)

"planetside groundhugging miserable greedy backstabbing dishonest cheap sheep-farming cowhandling idiotic retarded sons of dogs"


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## Wilphe (Aug 13, 2006)

Lt De Paolo looks at Gwydion, "Pretty much my sentiments on the subject. You've just got here, we've spent over a month here. If you think she's charming, you should see her colleagues in the Shirgegge Tourist Board."

     "Passangers had access to the cargo bay, right? In that case the missing chip might be there and I can't clear your cargo until it's searchedprocessed. We can do that next, but it'll take a few hours and then only if the seals are unbroken on the containers. In any case the ship will be staying here for a few days. They can have the cargo when we are done with it, how you get the cargo planetside is up to you."


========================

ooc: Radiating has access troubles, and in any case, please don't feel you have to defer to him all the time before making a decision. Saanath is Purser, so cargo matters are his responsbility.


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## DrZombie (Aug 14, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Lt De Paolo looks at Gwydion, "Pretty much my sentiments on the subject. You've just got here, we've spent over a month here. If you think she's charming, you should see her colleagues in the Shirgegge Tourist Board."
> 
> "Passangers had access to the cargo bay, right? In that case the missing chip might be there and I can't clear your cargo until it's searchedprocessed. We can do that next, but it'll take a few hours and then only if the seals are unbroken on the containers. In any case the ship will be staying here for a few days. They can have the cargo when we are done with it, how you get the cargo planetside is up to you."





"Allright, let's get going then. The sooner you guys start inspecting, the more chance we have of getting paid. I never thought I'd say this, but could you take us to your intell guys, so we can get cleared and start looking for a vessel to take our cargo downside to those lovely nice firendly people?"


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## doghead (Aug 15, 2006)

*Saanath, male human Merchant.*

Saanath nods as De Paolo shoots down the plan to get the cargo down first. He's right, and Saanath is a bit annoyed he didn't think of it himself. Assuming things had gone to plan, it would be a fairly safe way of getting the disk to ground without risking carrying it personally. 

Saanath gives Gwydion a sideways glance. Getting a third party up to collect the cargo isn't a bad idea. Assuming that they can arrange ship-to-ship transfer. And Shirgegge picks up the tab for the delivery. Saanath doubts that the Navy will let them use one the _Coronel's_ bays in which to manage a hand over.

"Right, I'll get you a copy of the cargo manifest. Assuming that you do not already have one?"

A thought occures to Saanath. He wonders if Shirgegge's keeness to get their hands on the cargo doesn't have some connection to the events on the ship. Saanath decides to keep it to himself for the moment. De Paolo has probably had the same thought already.

[sblock=ooc]Are we externally docked to the Coronel or inside a bay?[/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Aug 17, 2006)

You are externally docked, with hatches connected via an access tube. This shouldn't be a problem as you can just decompress the cargo hold and transfer cargo in vacumn. You've not anything in the cargo hold that'll be damaged by that, and even so the containers should be airtight anyway. So that aspect shouldn't be a problem.


       De Paolo "offers" to send a navy team to transfer the cargo. I say offers, because he doesn't want ground-siders up tramping around a ship that he's currently searching from top to bottom.

Anyway, here's the relevent part of the manifest:

60 dt	Dukh	Shirgegge	CIF	721 (Agricultural Machinery)Containerised (6 x 4B, 6 x 4C)



Saanath (and Trelene):
[sblock]The key point here is the terms of shipping CIF. This is cost, insurance and Freight.



			
				GURPS:Far Trade said:
			
		

> The seller is responsible for the costs and freight charges necesary to bring the goods to the port of detination. The goods are delivered when they pass through the ship's hatch at the port of origin, but the seller must pay for insurance against the buyer's risk of loss or damage to the goods during carriage




In other words, Shirgegge own the goods right now. However, they might not be willing to pay for a shuttle to come get them on the grounds that you've been hired to deliver them and that's your responsibilty. [/sblock]

OOC:
So: Shirgegge will send up a shuttle, but won't pay for it. Saanath and Trelene can explain why.
You don't really want to pay for it either I imagine.
So you either have to persuade them to compromise or find another solution.

Gwydion, Tuan, Ruzz'koff:
[sblock]The _Coronel_ has it's own small craft[/sblock]


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## Radiating Gnome (Aug 18, 2006)

Ruzz'koff shakes himself out of his reverie.  "Lieutenant de Paolo, please do make the inspection of the cargo the next step in your inspection.  Once we have permission to move the cargo, then all we have is the secondary logistical problem.

"As to that, I believe the Coronel has it's own small craft.  If we were to use that to transport the cleared cargo to the surface we could move the cargo without exposing the crime scene to new people.  I would send one member of my crew with the cargo to make the delivery. "

Ruzz'koff will bring all of his considerable diplomatic powers to bear on this.  

-rg

ps -- Sorry to have been so absent for the past week or so -- the bad news is that it isn't going to get better any time soon.  I'm here for a week, then I'm out of town for two weeks, and thanks to hightened security I won't be taking a laptop with me, so I don't expect to have any access to the internet for about two weeks.  please ghost me as you see fit, and don't let me hold up the game.


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## Wilphe (Aug 21, 2006)

Moving on.

    It's not necessary for someone to accompany the cargo, and in fact De Paolo will not permit anyone to leave. The same shuttle will carry the passengers that the Navy have finished with, if any.

     de Paolo returns from the search of the cargo and reports, "It's clean, and can go. Now it's your turn. Don't bother taking too many clothes with you, you won't need them."

     One by one you are called though the hatch on board the _Coronel_, strip searched and issued naval fatigues, all with more or less as politeness and courtesy as someone can show when they are inspecting your bodily cavities with a torch.

Then you are interrogated, individually and alone, by members of the flotilla's intelligence detachments. To some of you this last part is eerily familar, though this time it may be rather less pleasent...

Ruzz'koff:
[sblock]Well, Captain, you seem to be making a habit of getting into all sorts of adventures. If we could have a statement please, please don't hesitate to mention even the most trivial details. Anything can help.
When did you find out that the deceased was engaged in treason and espionage?
How did you feel about this?[/sblock]

Saanath:
[sblock]Mr Saanath, sir, please sit down. Doubtless you have much to tell us, though we are more interested in finding the missing chip than investigating the murder. I mean Antonescu, was a traitor and spy, some would say he got what he deserved.

       However, we understand you took the lead in securing the computer system and analysing the "hack" into the environmental controls. It seems a most unlikely attack if you don't mind my saying.
   [/sblock]

Trelene:
[sblock]Ma'am, please sit down, this won't take long. You have a piece of paper for your statement. Anything else you might like to tell us? This is certainly an unusual case, unusual means of death, uncommon motivation. What do you think lies behind it?[/sblock]

Ktarle:
[sblock]Doctor, you carried out the intial post-mortem on the deceased. What lead you to the conclusion that he had been killed in such an unusual way? Do you think it credible that his cabin-mate would not only be unaffected but also not notice?[/sblock]

Tuan:
[sblock]Please sit down 2nd Officer Nguyen, we apologise for the indignity, but these things are sometimes necessary. You just recently joined the _Vyrkis_ yes? You know the Dvonn affair that your other officers were involved with before gaining thier ship? Well, we are concerned that when someone takes the law into their own hands once, however justifed, they may get a taste for it, and if a similar opportunity arises again they may again turn vigilantes for the most flimsy of reasons. What are your thought on this?[/sblock]

Gwydion:
[sblock]Good morning 1st Officer Letharan. If you could write down any pertinant facts here pelase, even minor details you think may be unimportant may be significant when pieced together. You just recently joined the _Vyrkis_ yes? You know the Dvonn affair that your other officers were involved with before gaining thier ship? Well, we are concerned that when someone takes the law into their own hands once, however justifed, they may get a taste for it, and if a similar opportunity arises again then vigilantism is addictve. What are your thought on this?[/[/sblock]

     If anyone reckons they have a handle on whodunnit, then now is the time, otherwise I'll move things along in a few (RL) days.


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## DrZombie (Aug 21, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Gwydion:
> [sblock]Good morning 1st Officer Letharan. If you could write down any pertinant facts here pelase, even minor details you think may be unimportant may be significant when pieced together. You just recently joined the _Vyrkis_ yes? You know the Dvonn affair that your other officers were involved with before gaining thier ship? Well, we are concerned that when someone takes the law into their own hands once, however justifed, they may get a taste for it, and if a similar opportunity arises again then vigilantism is addictve. What are your thought on this?[/[/sblock]



[sblock]
"Good morning. Hmm, well. I know the crew from just after they landed, making sure no 'accidents' would happen" gwydion says while scratching his pet behind the ears.
"Can't say they strike me as a murderous bunch, and from what I've heard in the mess during lunchbreaks, and during the evenings, they went through quite a lot.  The doctor, especially, strikes me as sincere and decicated; The rest are just a slightly irregular spacecrew, like so many slightly irregular space crews on freetraders. They aren't scouts, but I think they can be trusted.
As for Tuan, I know him from before. He's Ok as long as you don't play poker with him.
As for the passengers"
He shrugs.
" I ain't no spacedetective Schlock. I'm a tattood barbarian. I'll leave that to you guys."
[/sblock]


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## doghead (Aug 22, 2006)

*Saanath, male human merchant*



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> Saanath:
> [sblock]Mr Saanath, sir, please sit down. Doubtless you have much to tell us, though we are more interested in finding the missing chip than investigating the murder. I mean Antonescu, was a traitor and spy, some would say he got what he deserved.
> 
> However, we understand you took the lead in securing the computer system and analysing the "hack" into the environmental controls. It seems a most unlikely attack if you don't mind my saying.
> [/sblock]




Saanath does what he is told and tries lets the investgators get it over as fast as possible. He checks himself out in his new fatigues. _These should do great for working on the ship when all this is over._

Before he goes, Saanath makes sure he thanks dePaolo for helping out with the cargo.

[sblock=Saanath]Saanath ignores the investigator's assessment of Antonescu's character. Saanath really doesn't know, and sees no point in jumping to conclusions. But he nods in agreement with the last statement. 

"It was very clever, and it took a bit of finding. After we realised what had been done, I set up some security and monitoring systems in the computer in order to prevent any access to the ships system computer. But given how the killer out-witted us the first time, I could never really shake the feeling that they may have slipped past again.

"I've tried to remember back to when cabins were allocated. But it was all a bit chaotic as departures usually are. I can't really say whether it was just an opportunistic attack, or the killer set things up from the get go."

Saanath shrugs.

"I also linked all the anti-hijack cameras and door activation records to a data dump so we could monitor who went where. I was hoping that the killer, if they had hidden the disk, would give away its location by checking in on where he, or she, had hidden it. But I never found anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't know, perhaps you will see something I didn't. The data should all be there."

Saanath does what he can to help the investigation. He is a bit nervous about the fact that he hacked the disks. But if he hadn't known what was on them until he done so. So Saanath figures he will be up front about if if they ask and hope that they are not going to get difficult.


----------



## Maerdwyn (Aug 22, 2006)

> Ktarle:
> [sblock]Doctor, you carried out the intial post-mortem on the deceased. What lead you to the conclusion that he had been killed in such an unusual way? Do you think it credible that his cabin-mate would not only be unaffected but also not notice?[/sblock]




[sblock] "If he was present during the attack, he certainly would have noticed.  The gravity necessary to induce heart failure in a man of Antonescu's health would have been crushing.    She relates the manner in which she conducted her autopsy, and it's results.*  "The best theory is that gravity was alterered within that stateroom only. As Foster never complained about the gravity or brought it to the crew's attention, even after Antonescu was found, he either knew about it and is concealing the fact, or was out of the room at the time of death, approximately 19:00.  There was no shift in gravity elsewhere in the ship."

*Ktarle is truthful and holds nothing back, it's just that Maerdwyn wasn't around for much of this     Can't remember if it was established whether Foster was in his room or out playing cards with Tuan or what att he time of death. - But she tells what she knows. [/sblock]


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## Watus (Aug 22, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Tuan:
> [sblock]Please sit down 2nd Officer Nguyen, we apologise for the indignity, but these things are sometimes necessary. You just recently joined the _Vyrkis_ yes? You know the Dvonn affair that your other officers were involved with before gaining thier ship? Well, we are concerned that when someone takes the law into their own hands once, however justifed, they may get a taste for it, and if a similar opportunity arises again they may again turn vigilantes for the most flimsy of reasons. What are your thought on this?[/sblock]




[SBLOCK]Tuan laughs and shakes his head.  "I take it you haven't interviewed the captain yet."  He leans back in his chair, examining the ceiling tiles above his head.  "When the captain retired from the Navy, they shoves his epaulets so far up his...."  

He pauses as though remembering where he is and lets the front legs of his chair drop to the floor with a thunk.  He smiles.  "Let's just say the captain likes to do things by the book, and the rest of them pretty much do what he says."

"Besides, what would we be doing here, if that were the case?  We could have just spaced the disks, notified the authorities of a natural death aboard, let them conduct their undoubtedly perfunctory inquiry, and gotten our cargo planetside on time with far fewer complications."[/SBLOCK]


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2006)

DrZombie said:
			
		

> [sblock]
> "Good morning. Hmm, well. I know the crew from just after they landed, making sure no 'accidents' would happen" gwydion says while scratching his pet behind the ears.
> "Can't say they strike me as a murderous bunch, and from what I've heard in the mess during lunchbreaks, and during the evenings, they went through quite a lot.  The doctor, especially, strikes me as sincere and decicated; The rest are just a slightly irregular spacecrew, like so many slightly irregular space crews on freetraders. They aren't scouts, but I think they can be trusted.
> As for Tuan, I know him from before. He's Ok as long as you don't play poker with him.
> ...




Gwydion:
[sblock]The ensign gives a low and apparently amused snort at the "not scouts, but can be trusted" bit, but doesn't press any further.[/sblock]


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2006)

Saanath:

[sblock]







> "I also linked all the anti-hijack cameras and door activation records to a data dump so we could monitor who went where. I was hoping that the killer, if they had hidden the disk, would give away its location by checking in on where he, or she, had hidden it. But I never found anything out of the ordinary.




"Thank you, we are certain that nobody took the chip off the ship, so it must still remain aboard. That will be all."[/sblock]


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2006)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> [sblock] "If he was present during the attack, he certainly would have noticed.  The gravity necessary to induce heart failure in a man of Antonescu's health would have been crushing.    She relates the manner in which she conducted her autopsy, and it's results.*  "The best theory is that gravity was alterered within that stateroom only. As Foster never complained about the gravity or brought it to the crew's attention, even after Antonescu was found, he either knew about it and is concealing the fact, or was out of the room at the time of death, approximately 19:00.  There was no shift in gravity elsewhere in the ship."
> 
> *Ktarle is truthful and holds nothing back, it's just that Maerdwyn wasn't around for much of this     Can't remember if it was established whether Foster was in his room or out playing cards with Tuan or what att he time of death. - But she tells what she knows. [/sblock]




Ktarle:

[sblock]"Thank you, we'll keep an eye on Mr Foster. A fact you may not be aware of however, he was born, and has lived most of his life, on a fairly dense, high gravity planet. That may have been a factor.
The killer may or may not have known this, did he talk about his home that you can remember?"


OOC:
He was killed during the ngiht, and Foster was inside at that time.
Ktarle knows that he was fairly trim, as he spent a lot of time keeping fit (a source of considerable friction between himself and Antonescu) - which would explain how he survived.
It is, as Ktarle says, highly unlikely that he wouldn't notice, even if it was increased only gradually. Therefore he was either complicit, elsewhere or unconscious, drugged perhaps.

Post 209 in post 154 (the reconstructed one)
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2837498&postcount=154

Time of death was around 5am
[/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2006)

Tuan:
[sblock]







			
				Watus said:
			
		

> Tuan laughs and shakes his head.  "I take it you haven't interviewed the captain yet."  He leans back in his chair, examining the ceiling tiles above his head.  "When the captain retired from the Navy, they shoves his epaulets so far up his...."




"No please, do go on"



> He pauses as though remembering where he is and lets the front legs of his chair drop to the floor with a thunk.  He smiles.  "Let's just say the captain likes to do things by the book, and the rest of them pretty much do what he says."
> 
> "Besides, what would we be doing here, if that were the case?  We could have just spaced the disks, notified the authorities of a natural death aboard, let them conduct their undoubtedly perfunctory inquiry, and gotten our cargo planetside on time with far fewer complications."




The interrogating lieutenant looks somewhat discomfitted, "There's a fine line between criminal genius and highly complex stupidity. In any case, it might for example, have been the Captain and Engineer who arranged the killing, and the Medic and Purser whose suspicious minds turned up foul play. However, I can see you don't believe that."[/sblock]


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2006)

Everybody:
      About six hours go by, and as your interrogators finish with you are left to wait, together, in what appears to be a petty officers' mess aboard the _Coronel_. While you aren't technically under arrest, there are a couple of marines posted outside the door. Back to you.


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 31, 2006)

It's now about midday, and a marine sergeant enters the mess, "We've finished, could you accompany me back aboard your vessal please."

      Doing so you return aboard the Vyrkris to find a a large chunk of _Coronel's_ command staff present and sat at one end of the main table in the lounge. All officers, and the marines leave you and return to guarding the docking port.

      Present are:
      Commodore Angela Marsh - Flag officer commanding escort detachment. A short middle age human woman with short, greying hair.
       Lieutenant Commander Massena - Executive Officer, Imperial Navy Vessal _Coronel_. A tall, distinguished looking Luriani.
       Lieutenant de Paolo - Deck Officer, INV _Coronel_. Commanded boarding party and security detachment.
       Ensign hault Propter - A young, sly looking human who was present during your interrogations.

Trelene, Gwydion, Ruzz'koff:
[sblock]You note that de Paolo is now wearing Naval Intelligence insignia [/sblock]

       After the introductions, the Commodore seats herself at the foot of the table, "You will be relieved to know that we have finished our investigation, and that the matter is now closed. Lieutenant de Paolo, you may present your report."

      de Paolo stands, "Thank you maam. With your permission I will skip the pointless reiteration of facts of which we are all we aware and come to the point. Issue number 1; we have located the missing data disk. It was in the waste bin the common area, as almost everyone on board has had occassion to place items there since it was last emptied, this does not help us identify who took it. However, it is accounted for, and does not appear to have been copied, therefore we can consider this data not compromised."

      "We are not really any closer to finding out who was responsible for the murder of Mr Antonescu. A review of the various accounts suggest that only Malico Sharisgara &
Curtis Foster had access to the deceased's room before you sealed it off and were thus in a position to steal the chip. However, there is no other evidence to connect them, and they both were clean when searched."


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 31, 2006)

"We are also reasonably certain that you, individually or collectively, were not responsible for the murder."

       Massena interrupts, "Once Occam's razor had been let loose upon your wilder theories?"

       "It's his job to be suspicious and distrustful," says the Commodore lightly, "I wouldn't want a naive security officer now would I?"

       "May I continue Maam?" after the affirmative nod, de Paolo continues, "so, there is insufficient evidence to hold any of the suspects involved and they have been released, this includes yoursleves. Thank you for bringing this matter to out attention, we regret that we were unable to bring the matter to a conclusion, but the file will remain open and the investigation ongoing. You are cleared to leave."


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 31, 2006)

"However," the Commodore lets that cut through the air and leaves it hanging, "Off the record, we have a proposal to put to you."

      There's a pregnant silence.

      Massena sounds uneasy, "You want me to do this ma'am?"

      "No, let the snotty do it. It's his idea. Come on kid, this is your big scene, make the pitch."

       "Thank you Maam," the Ensign, who has hitherto remained silent, stands and addresses the gathering. "We believe, but we cannot know for sure, that Mr Antonescu intended to sell this information to the K'kree gathered at Shirgegge. That this has been thrwated should be a cause for satisfaction, however, I propose that we exploit this opportunity that has fallen into our lap and mount a sting operation."

      "The plan is thus: we will alter the information so that it appears correct but in fact is subtly wrong, the crew of the Yyrkris will then sell the disks to the K'kree for whatever they can get. Done well, this will mean that we have severly disrupted their own intelligence assesments of Imperial capabilities."


----------



## DrZombie (Aug 31, 2006)

"Sell false goods to the horsies? And I guess we are deniable assets when they wanna trample us, right?"


----------



## Wilphe (Sep 2, 2006)

"They might want to trample you, if they find out. I don't expect they will, I wouldn't suggest this if it meant heading into Centuar space - at least not without a greater incentive for you. But they are guests in Imperial territory, so they have a vested interest in keeping this quiet too. They are a trade mission, not a spying mission at all. No sir. Getting caught trading for classified data would be an embarrassing diplomatic incident at the very least; resorting to violence would be another matter, and if they start shooting at your ship," the Ensign grimaces.

      "The _Coronel _ would vaporise _Lashing Tail_ in under an hour. Even if they manage to jump out, it's a long way back to K'kree space. So no, they won't try anything direct. The patriarchs Bodyguards might rough you up a bit if they get hold of you, but cooler heads will prevail and that'll be it. You might have made some interesting enemies, but you stand to make a decent amount of money, and if you play it right, they'll never know they were duped."


----------



## DrZombie (Sep 3, 2006)

Gwydion looks at the Ruzz'koff, then looks back at the Navy people.

"We might wanna discuss this in private, if you don't mind, sirs. You'll have your answers in a few hours."


Later, when they're more private.

" I've seen what those 'vegetarians' have done to the planets they've pacified. I can honestly say that giving 'em one up their @#&&éç is something that I wouldn't mind at all"


----------



## Watus (Sep 3, 2006)

"I've never seen K'Kree in person," Tuan says.  "I suppose I'd be up for it."


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## Wilphe (Sep 4, 2006)

"That will be fine ladies and gentleman," replies the Commodore, "Ensign hault Propter will be your liason if you accept, and he and Lieutenant de Paolo will undertake to answer any questions you might have and brief you accordingly. We not detain you further, you are clear to depart."

       They take thier leave, and you are ready to begin your descent to Shirgegge.


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## Wilphe (Sep 9, 2006)

Shirgegge down port is not the largest or the most modern port you'll ever find, and it certainly lacks any charm whatsoever. Traffic control direct you to what is possibly the grottiest, smelliest berth they can find, apparently out of spite.

         About a dozen customs and environmental health personell are waiting for you, apparently Maxine Zdrac wrote out a lot of complaints about you, they inspect the ship to see if said complaints have any validity. Given that they are all groundless they find nothing and leave, almost apologetically.

     A vid-message from administrator Gudeli tells you that he and his party have checked into a four star hotel and plan to spend some time ashore seeing the delights of Shirgegge - this shouldn't take long.

      Your new cargo and passengers will be ready to come aboard over the next few days, so you've at least that long to get everything done before arousing suspicion by hanging around for no readily apparent reason.


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## Maerdwyn (Sep 11, 2006)

Watus said:
			
		

> "I've never seen K'Kree in person," Tuan says.  "I suppose I'd be up for it."




When they make planetfall, Ktarle finds herself glad to be on solid (even if completely backwater) ground.  Being on the "informed" side of this operation has her intrigued as well.

"How shall we proceed?  I somehow suspect that an Aslan may not make the most believable K'kree agent - is there a way for us to use that to our advantage somehow?"


----------



## Radiating Gnome (Sep 11, 2006)

*Back!*

OOC:  Just a quick note to let you know I'm back and I'm trying to get caught up.  Sorry to have been away for so long.  I'll make an IC reply in another post.


----------



## Radiating Gnome (Sep 11, 2006)

The ensign's plan (for review):



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Thank you Maam," the Ensign, who has hitherto remained silent, stands and addresses the gathering. "We believe, but we cannot know for sure, that Mr Antonescu intended to sell this information to the K'kree gathered at Shirgegge. That this has been thrwated should be a cause for satisfaction, however, I propose that we exploit this opportunity that has fallen into our lap and mount a sting operation."
> 
> "The plan is thus: we will alter the information so that it appears correct but in fact is subtly wrong, the crew of the Yyrkris will then sell the disks to the K'kree for whatever they can get. Done well, this will mean that we have severly disrupted their own intelligence assesments of Imperial capabilities."




Once alone with his companions, Ruzz'koff curses and rubs his temples.  "I don't like this at all.  There's much more going on here -- there must be -- and I have far too many questions to feel safe taking this mission. 

"First of all, I don't understand imperial security's assumptions about Antonescue and the data discs.  Their supposition that Antonescue planned to sell the data to the K'Kree is unsupported, as far as I can tell.  And not particularly valid.  Antonescue could have been the buyer, and making his way back to handlers with the stolen data.  He could have been an agent of a sovereign power or a mercenary trying to sell the data to the highest bidder.

"But the most troubling thing is that someone still on board that ship took the disc and discarded it when the dragnet was closing in.  That person knows we have the data, and will know that it could easily have been compromised.  And, given our obvious willingness to play by the rules and report this obvious espionage to the imperial authorities, if we approach the K'Kree there's a far too good chance that they will be aware of our behavior and very suspicious about anything we try to sell to them.  

"So.  I'm not going to sign us up for a plan sketched out by a young ensign on his brand new 'The Navy is Wicked Cool' trapper-keeper notebook, especially one that puts our ship, passengers, and our own lives at risk.  But I'm not opposed to refining the plan, amongst ourselves.  

"I want to do the right thing, and I want to help with the Navy's efforts in this matter, but I am troubled that the Commodore would toss such a poorly-planned scheme at our feet. It is hard not to suspect some deeper motives moving behind the scenes -- what if Antonescue was already in the employ of imperial intelligence, and was trying to sell misinformation to a K'Kree spy -- and his death was either the result of his real motives and affiliation being discovered, or the activity of a third party, neither Antonescue or his K'Kree buyer.  Antonescue is dead, and I prefer not to follow his example.

"So, the first question for the group is whether or not we want to be any further part of this  particular shell game or not.  I'm willing to go either way, but if we do get involved, I think we need to rewrite the scheme significantly, and I think that we keep some details to ourselves for our own protection.  What are your opinions?"

-rg


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## DrZombie (Sep 11, 2006)

"Anything to give these k'Kree basterds a good square kick in the general groin area. Now, navy intelligence being what it is, I don't really mind playing our cards as we see fit, not as some snot-nosed smart aleck fresh from academy seems to think how they should be played.

Maybe having some marines combing the dockyard for one of the crew wouldn't be too bad. Something like that. Something to give a little credit to our story.
"
He grins an evil grin. "Never been to a port where I couldn't get into tropuble wih marines. 'specially on a planet in the arse-end of the universe."


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## Wilphe (Sep 15, 2006)

OOC:
[sblock] While you discuss, here's the blurb on Shirgegge[/sblock]

IC:

Shirgegge, Ley 1511

Guadix Drift Subsector

B55778B-B  Ag. Ni  905   K0 V G5  D

Starport - Class B, though not a very good class B at that

Size 5 - 8000km or so, lowish gravity

Atmosphere 5 - Thin

Hydrographcis 7 - 70% water

Population 7 - Ninety Millions

Government 8 - Civil Service Bureaucracy

Law Level B - Extreme. Rigid control of civillian movement, possession of weapons prohibited

Tech Level B - Low Average Interstellar

No planetoid belts, 5 gas giants


Shirgegge is a tightly controlled world, ostensibly this is to prevent unnecessary human impact on a thin atmosphere, and generally fragile ecosystem. As a predomiantly agricultural world, any disruption could be catastrophic. Large parts of the surface are considered reserves, farmers on the rest of the planet are subject to strict controls as to what they can plant, and what techniques they can employ.

In practice however, the system has become self-justifying, people put up with it because the standard of living is okay, even if it's intrusive and oppressive. Live in the cities is closely monitored, it's less so in the countryside, but you need a permit to travel outside the urban areas.

Stock raising is disfavoured and largely forbidden, as it is considered wasteful of resources. This probably explains why the K'kree have stopped here, it's hard to find a human world with a lot of open space that doesn't have a significant meat industry.


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## Wilphe (Sep 29, 2006)

The ring goes off to let you know you have an incoming message, Lt De Paolo is waiting on a secure channel...


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## DrZombie (Sep 29, 2006)

Gwydion looks around. "so we all agree then? we'll do it, but our way? And we don't let mr pipsqueek know about it?"


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## Wilphe (Oct 1, 2006)

"You have one new message, message recieved today at 16:44 pm. To listen to your messages press 1"

     You can get back to de Paolo in your own time.

     Meanwhile a little bit of independent research reveals that the K'kree are staying a few hundred miles away from the captial in a small town named Unterhaven - a place renowned for nothing except its production of soft fruit and mild climate. Several large K'kree tents have been pitched there and the K'kree Patriarch _Talks Little Laughs Much_, his wives, family and retinue have taken up residence. Most of the crew of the_ Lashing Tail _ are on shore leave as well, with only a token crew left in orbit.

      The little community is therefore:
      20-25 ships crew (another 10-15 in orbit)
      50 K'kree soliders as bodyguards and security (another 10 in orbit)
      100-150 K'kree Civillians, 2/3 females and children, the rest diplomatic staff, servants and retinue.

       Shirgegge's weapons laws have been applied to the K'kree, so they shouldn't have any firearms at all. However their guards have been allowed to retain their polearms as "ceremonial weapons" and no one goes hand-to-hand with even an unarmed K'kree if they can avoid it.


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## Radiating Gnome (Oct 2, 2006)

While chewing on his ideas for a revised plan, Ruzz'koff presses 1.


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## DrZombie (Oct 3, 2006)

"Maybe we should just try to contact them fairly directly. Sell them something and pass a message that we wish to see them privately? Make the deal, get he money and get the hell outta here?"


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## Wilphe (Oct 3, 2006)

The message is, unsuprisingly, from Lt De Paolo, _"Good afternoon gentlemen and lady, I hope that local customs have not been not uncooperative.

PS: If you've decided about the chess problem I sent you, I've got another piece of the puzzle for you._"

OOC:
Trans:
        If you have made your mind up to take the job, I have the altered data ready to go.


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## Radiating Gnome (Oct 3, 2006)

DrZombie said:
			
		

> "Maybe we should just try to contact them fairly directly. Sell them something and pass a message that we wish to see them privately? Make the deal, get he money and get the hell outta here?"



Ruzz'koff bares his teeth.  "I prefer something a little more secure, I think. 

"Whomever killed Antonesque, had the disc and discarded it into the trash knows that the imperials will have searched the ship and found the disc.  If we still HAVE the disc, without any sort of explaination, it will be highly suspicious, and probably be enough to get us killed.  

"What we need is a plausible way for us to possess the disc and be in a position to sell it.  And, unfortunately, that is very problematic.  I have already demonstrated a great deal of rigidity to our shadowy opponents -- were I to suddenly be willing to sell the secrets of the imperial navy, that would send up red flags that would make the most mentally retarded groundpounder suspicious.

"What we need to do is create the illusion of a split in the crew -- one or two crew members, probably Tuan and one other, who see the potential for a quick buck and who can be resistant to my military bearing and strict morality.  

"I dislike the ruse, because it divides our strength, but it's the sort of situation that our shadowy enemies will believe, and will be likely to try to exploit.  So long a we can come together and support each other when the time comes, this is the safer course.  

"So what I'm suggesting is that we return to the ship and I go about the daily business of running the ship -- perhaps stomping around and showing a bit more of the tyrant.  And Tuan and one other start to twitch and struggle under the strain, until Tuan reveals that he was able to make a copy of the disc, and Tuan and his ally start looking for a buyer as we make our next few stops.  

"We should also assume that there may be new watchers/killers in the next group of passengers -- this plan needs to be laid out before we return to the ship, and we should not break character until all of the cards are played out -- we'll need to have a code word or phrase that any of us can say to call the whole thing off.  The passengers should see the split in the crew, the tension and the stress.  And they should overhear Tuan and his conspirator talking about the disc.  At the same time, we need to protect Tuan and his conspirator very carefully -- a killer, the same or a different one, may try to kill Tuan and take the new disc.  

"What do you think?"

-rg


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## Wilphe (Oct 4, 2006)

OOC:

The only passengers for the next run to Bleue Mer are the Administator and his party + a Vet working for PharmaCorp; the Administrator and co are getting some shore leave. Where you go after that is up to you, but you are still a long way from the borders of Imperial Space (10+ jumps)

In addition the Navy apparently expects you to do this deal in the system.
If you try this in a different system and get caught then you are on your own and facing Life for a breach of Imperial High Law. Not to say that the same wouldn't happen here of course...


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## Radiating Gnome (Oct 4, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> OOC:
> 
> In addition the Navy apparently expects you to do this deal in the system.
> If you try this in a different system and get caught then you are on your own and facing Life for a breach of Imperial High Law. Not to say that the same wouldn't happen here of course...




OOC:  So . . . what you're saying is that the Navy has released the suspects who know that the disc was recovered . . . and now they want us to try to sell it here in system, where it could ONLY be an imperial trap or the work of a bunch of criminals dumb enough to be in the running for a Darwin award?  And given our demonstrated insistence on turning this over to the Navy, this would be a pretty transparent ruse.  

What I'm hearing, basically, is that the Navy wants to dangle us out on a very dangerous limb just to see who kills us so they can hopefully use our murder to expose the conspirators.  And then you hint that should we survive, somehow, we might be charged with treason?  

If we want to make this work _at all_ I still think we need to make it obviously a rebellious act of a few crew members, and not a concerted act committed by the crew -- that's the only way I can see to make the ruse credible enough.  

I get the feeling that I'm playing badly here.  I mean, as I read Ruzz'koff, I think he would be happy to help the navy, and not at all willing to be used as such transparent bait, and downright resentful and suspicious about the officers asking him to do such a thing.  At the same time, in meta game terms, this is the opportunity for adventure put in front of us -- it's either this or get back to the work of driving the school bus to the next system.  

At this point, if Ruzz'koff were not retired, the only reason he would take this gig is if he thought it would help him find out who was behind the whole deal on the imperial side -- who is it that has it in for him?  But now that he's retired, and he's a merchant captain of a sort, he isn't really a part of the imperial navy chessboard anymore . . . we have to assume he retired for a reason, and that sort of politics is probably a big part of it.  

At this point, I think it's time to tell the Navy to find another piece of bait and move on.  If it's important that the Navy have us do this thing, they're going to have to come up with a stronger inducement -- probably some sort of irresistable leverage.  They're going to have to force it on us. 

-rg


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## DrZombie (Oct 4, 2006)

"Yeah, that would work if we're all good actors...." He sighs. "The k'Kree can't read human body language that well, but to fool other humans all the time?"

His face lights up. "What if I pulled a switcheroo on y'all, finding the disc before the rest and switching or copying it before it was found, and then went out looking for a buyer. You could come looking after me, trying to find me before I damage our good reputation with the Navy, and the good name of our ship. I mean, I only came on last trip, and after all I am a barbarian, good for nothing but stealing sheep, drinking and whoring, like that marine sergeant said a few months ago."
He grins at Tuan : "Remember him? They called him sarge strawberry after that"
"Anyway, we could go out on a piss tonight, as expected, and I could try to disappear. You'd notice I was gone tomorrow morning, and start carefully enquiering after my whereabouts, then go after me, taking care not to find me too soon, but trying not to find me too late either."





			
				Radiating Gnome said:
			
		

> Ruzz'koff bares his teeth.  "I prefer something a little more secure, I think.
> 
> "Whomever killed Antonesque, had the disc and discarded it into the trash knows that the imperials will have searched the ship and found the disc.  If we still HAVE the disc, without any sort of explaination, it will be highly suspicious, and probably be enough to get us killed.
> 
> ...


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## Wilphe (Oct 6, 2006)

Radiating Gnome said:
			
		

> OOC:  So . . . what you're saying is that the Navy has released the suspects who know that the disc was recovered .




Does anyone KNOW that it was recovered apart from the crew?
They know the Marines were looking for something, but I don't think anyone ever said what they were looking for or why.
The killer(s) of course knows what they were looking for and can expect that it was found but they don't know for sure.



> And then you hint that should we survive, somehow, we might be charged with treason?




Here it would only happen if things go very badly wrong and the Navy decide to treat you as a deniable asset. But it's a lot MORE likely that something bad would happen in a system several jumps away from the _Coronel_ where no one knows what you are up to.



> I get the feeling that I'm playing badly here.



He's your character now, not mine. Anyway, I'd be cautious too.

Or I could be providing a implausible plot that the PCs aren't willing to bite on, that's possible too. That doesn't bother me, I don't want people to feel _obliged_ to take plot hooks just because they are there. We've already got plot waiting at Bleue Mer, this was just an incident on the road.



> At this point, I think it's time to tell the Navy to find another piece of bait and move on.  If it's important that the Navy have us do this thing, they're going to have to come up with a stronger inducement -- probably some sort of irresistable leverage.  They're going to have to force it on us.




Then see how badly they want it. At the moment they aren't offering you anything except the chance to make a lot of money off the K'kree (I'd expect hundreds of thousands of credits to begin with). However that little negotiation is better done IC.


----------



## Radiating Gnome (Oct 13, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> The killer(s) of course knows what they were looking for and can expect that it was found but they don't know for sure.



Since the killers and their allies are the ones we're worried about, this is exactly the problem I'm trying to get my head around.  As I understand it, the plan is for us to sell to the killer or his buyer the disc -- and since the killer wasn't able to make his delivery, we need to assume that the buyer ALSO knows that the disc was more than likely found by the marines.



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> Or I could be providing a implausible plot that the PCs aren't willing to bite on, that's possible too. That doesn't bother me, I don't want people to feel _obliged_ to take plot hooks just because they are there. We've already got plot waiting at Bleue Mer, this was just an incident on the road.
> 
> Then see how badly they want it. At the moment they aren't offering you anything except the chance to make a lot of money off the K'kree (I'd expect hundreds of thousands of credits to begin with). However that little negotiation is better done IC.




I'm inclined to let this one drop and move on to the next chapter.  The more they're likely to "want it" the less I think we should take it.  I mean . . . from where Ruzz'koff is sitting, he's doing what he wants to do.  He's out of the navy, he's doing the free trader thing, and the more he screws around with this political/military espionage stuff the more he's screwing up that plan -- and that's his retirement, that ship, those people, that cargo.  Ruzz'koff is going to vote for leaving this mess behind and moving on.

I also struggle with not having more players chiming in on this, and feeling like the decision is mine for some reason.  I mean, as I understand the party culture, Ruzz'koff's "captaincy" is a convenience for the passengers and public, and he doesn't really hold any true position over the other members of the crew.  But Dr Z and I are the only ones chiming in here, and everyone still seems to be waiting for me to make a decision.  And, since I'm the newest player to the game and the least familiar with the setting, the campaign history, and so on, it's a problem not having the other voices here.  
-rg


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## Wilphe (Oct 15, 2006)

Ruzz'koff relates his less-than-stellar enthusiasm for the proposed mission to the Lieutenant who accepts it stoiclly "Understood Captain, good luck and please don't mention this to anyone, thank you."


       You now have 60dt of various types of animals in low passage crates to load aboard for the run to Bleue Mer. Passengers will be the Administrator and his party and two Pharmacorp employees: A local vet named Toled Omslaw and an animal handler named Elizabeth Shaw.

Anything you want to do before you leave?

OOC:
[sblock]For those unfamilar with these events, or who are in need of a refresher (which I think is most of us) they can be found here:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=65776

Also:
On page 3 of this thread and page 9 of the current OOC thread[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Oct 16, 2006)

[sblock=for wilphe only]
When the rest of the crew has left the room, Gwydion presses redial. 

"Good afternoon, Lt. Seems like the scouts are needed again. Get me the disc this evening, and a partial copy with some of the good bits to make 'em want more. Get one of your men to pick a fight with me later this evening. I'll punch him, and a few other navy types can grab me to pull me off of him. Have one of 'em slip the discs in my vest. I'll make the deal tomorrow or the day after.. Just make sure they don't gun us down when we leave."

OOC : he'll try not to drink too much tonight, watering the local plants and walking around and 'forgetting' his beer somewhere.
[/sblock]

Gwydion gets ready for a good night out after beeing cooped up in the ship with the passengers for way too long. Since the planet seems a little dull, he'll head out for the downport and see what the local spacebars and  floating poker and dice games are like.
"C'mon you guys, let's go and have some decent food, and a lot more decent drinks. First round 's on me"


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## Wilphe (Oct 18, 2006)

Tuan and Saanath take Gwydion up on his offer, though Ktarle and Trelene prefer somewhere slightly higher class than you typical dives. Besides they really want to look at somebody else after 10 days in space, not that you three are especially uncomely or something.  

Gwydion:
[sblock] The Lt is somewhat suprised to get your call, but eagerly takes you up on the offer. "Okay, we'll find you, but stay inside the X-T line*, the local fuzz don't like any trouble at all and have a zero-tolerance for boisterous spacers - even bar room brawls are too heavy for them, and we've had a devil of a job getting our own people out of custody. If you stay port side then local security are mellow."
[/sblock]

     It's another anonymous port dive, there are places like this all over charted space and when you come right down to it none of them are especial or remarkable. You've been in three already tonight and the only thing you've noticed that might stick with you about them is that are all cramped and packed. Standing in the corner, or to be exact, huddled up together in the space they can find under a stairwell, you note three naval NCOs, though it's too dim and crowded to mark out rank tabs. The smaller of them gives you a brief but significant look and heads unsteadily though the crowd towards you, apparently heading towards the toilet behind you.
  As he gets close he seems to stumble and looks like he is falling over, his drink sloshing in his hand.

Ruzz'koff:
[sblock]Your 3rd Officer is going behind your back, is this with your implicit approval or nay?
Also, as you don't want _anything _ to do with this, do you want a solo vignette whilst Gwydion does his thing?
You do have an associate aboard one of the _Coronel's _ escorts.
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2877625&postcount=176[/sblock]

Tuan:
[sblock]You have a contact on planet, want to look them up?
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2877625&postcount=176[/sblock]

OOC:
* X-T Line - A port is Imperial Territory, not planetary (kinda like a RW Embassy). The Extraterritorality (X-T) line marks the boundary between the two.


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## Radiating Gnome (Oct 20, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> Ruzz'koff:
> [sblock]Your 3rd Officer is going behind your back, is this with your implicit approval or nay?
> Also, as you don't want _anything _ to do with this, do you want a solo vignette whilst Gwydion does his thing?
> You do have an associate aboard one of the _Coronel's _ escorts.
> http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2877625&postcount=176[/sblock]




My answer:

[sblock]
Ruzz'koff isn't really aware that he's up to this -- they had talked about the possibility of trying this, and then Ruzz'koff had decided to let the idea drop.  So he doesn't know.  For the time being, I think he's going to stay put on the ship, probably catch up on some of the sleep that he's been missing for the past several days.  His one potential imperial contact doesn't sound too promising, and he's pretty much exhausted, and happy to be a simple ship captain for a few hours.

[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Oct 23, 2006)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> The smaller of them gives you a brief but significant look and heads unsteadily though the crowd towards you, apparently heading towards the toilet behind you.
> As he gets close he seems to stumble and looks like he is falling over, his drink sloshing in his hand.





"Watch where you're spilling that drink, navy boy." Gwydion rumbles at the drunk navy. "You spill it on me and you can take your teeth back to the ship in a paper bag."


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## Wilphe (Oct 26, 2006)

Ruzz'koff:
     ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Gwydion:
      The man bleerily focus on you and looks up into you eyes, 
      "Are you a scout or a speedbump? hat are doing blocking the way to the toilets anyway. You enforcing an interdiction to protect the developing culture in the U-Bend or what?", he points to the spilled drink on the floor, "I just bought that, you gonna buy me another or what you savage?"


----------



## DrZombie (Oct 26, 2006)

"Savage? Naah, spilling drinks isn't savage. You're not worth it, little man"

Gwydion says, as he turns his back to the navy officer......

Only to snap around and sucker-punch him full in the belly, followed by a nasty headbutt.

"You want savage you pussy navy cissies? I'll bloody show you bloody savage."

(OOC attack: +24, +25
Dmg :  4,6 
Initiative :  4)


----------



## Wilphe (Nov 5, 2006)

The Petty Officer sees your punch coming and decides, unwisely, to try and ride it out. He drops his beer which shatters on the floor as his own punch slams into your shoulder with little force behind it, Gwydion's follow up catches him genuinely unaware and opens a gash above his eye.
    Shocked he makes no effort to counterattack and before Gwydion can follow up and his two companions are on the scene pulling the two combatants apart, "Hey, easy there. No need to fight." "I'll tear this punk apart", "You try, you'll probably lose and you'd definatly loose the pips you just worked you **** off to get back. Leave it." The other one of them talks to you as he holds you off, his hand on your chest, "Listen mate, better go, leave it okay?"

     Leaving seems like the obvious choice, and a sudden, slight but noticeable weight in your shirt pocket suggests that this little scene has served it's purpose.

    There are three discs in Gwydion's pocket: The teaser disk, the altered one, and a briefing document that contains a certain ammount of intel on the K'kree he'll be dealing with, but can in no way be traced to the Navy. It includes this:


> This is your call for how you do this. Approaching the K'kree alone may work, but it's hard to do so discretely as they are never found in groups of less than half a dozen and really don't like people creeping up on them. I'm not sure this is the sort of thing you make an appointment to do. They do have five Girug'kagh Interpretors with them who get to talk to the filthy vermin so the Lords don't have to, you should be able to get to one of them alone.




ooc:
Girug'kagh are the K'kree's most favoured servent race. This involves draconian vegetarianism, total economic, social and cultural subjugation and formal acknowledgment that the K'kree are incarnate deities. There are _less_ well favoured K'kree servent races, including some humans, who are only allowed to serve the Steppelords as cannon fodder as well as far more potential servents who did not survive contact with K'kree culture.
[sblock]
Init: 8
To hit: 20
Damage: 1
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?u=Wilphe&limit=on
[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Nov 5, 2006)

"Allright, allright." Gwydion says as he eases off. He takes a step back and adjusts his clothes.
"I mean, where's the sport? He punches like a bloody girl." he says smiling."I've had worse punches from my younger sister."


He turns around and heads for the bar.
"Bartender? A beer for me and my friends and a glass of milk for that navy guy with the bloody face."

As the night goes on Gwydion goes from bar to bar, trying to get saanath and Tuan as drunk as possible as quick as possible without drinking too much himself.

He'll get them safely back to the ship, takes a small backpack with a few clothes, tells Tommy (his reptile pet) to stay with Tuan untill he gets back, and quitly leaves the ship in the early morning, telling that he's gone looking for his wallet if someone challenges him.



Then he'll figure out where those K'Kree are and how to get there.


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## Wilphe (Nov 8, 2006)

> "Allright, allright." Gwydion says as he eases off. He takes a step back and adjusts his clothes. "I mean, where's the sport? He punches like a bloody girl." he says smiling."I've had worse punches from my younger sister."




"Yeah, and he holds his beer like one too. We'll get him out of here and back to bed okay?"

Thus defused the situation ends as quickly as it began, the other bar patrons, seeing that the fight is over return to their drinking. Saanath and Tuan get drunk enough to be well out of it* and no one notices or objects when Gwydion slips out early the next morning on a little private espionage mission.

      The K'kree are staying  a few hundred miles away from the capital city and Starport, at a one and a half horse town called Untergard. Any travel on Shrigegge outside the major cities requires a permit and a good reason.

        Ordinarily this might be a problem, however you've already clocked that the Starport does have a PR booth that the K'kree have hired on a short term let for PR and BS purposes. It's not staffed by their own people and no K'kree or even Girug'kagh are on site, but instead it is being run by local humans. Their main function appears to be to hand out glossy flyers inviting people to the:

"2000 Worlds Cultural Expo"
An exhibition of K'kree culture, art, craft, and, especially cuisine. They seem to be very evangelical about their vegitarianism, but in the "No, Lentils really are tasty!!" way and not in the "Put down the steak knife or we kill you" way. It's that way thus far anyway, and as long as the _Coronel _ is watching them, that's about as far as it'll go. Of course if anyone is dumb enough to have a barbacue next door to where there staying they'd probably be regarded as signing their own death warrant...

     This should be happening on Dukh, and the K'kree are probably not overly happy about wasting their time on what is frankly a backwater world. However, the locals, and especially government, on Shirgegge think this is the greatest thing that's happened to their planet for a generation or more and seem to be proud and generous hosts. As such they're actively encouraging people to go and visit and getting a travel permit to Untergard is fairly easy, and, shockingly, free. The short hop by gravbus is only 15cr and the first one leaves at 07:30 Starport, 0745 Shirgegge Imperial, 09:00 Untergard, thereafter every half an hour.

     Security is tight, even for a world with this restrictive a law level, so don't even think about taking a weapon. Or a ham sandwich for that matter. The Pre-trip briefing is very explicit that the whole town of Untergard has been declared a meat free zone so that "Untergard extends traditional Shrigegge hospitality to their Interstellar guests". Anyone wearing Leather shoes is obliged to take them off and be issued plastic replacements.

    Basically you are faced with an already intrusive government being incredibly PC towards unsusually picky alien guests.


OOC:
Unless they state otherwise.


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## DrZombie (Nov 8, 2006)

Gwydion puts on his best cotton-and-woolen clothing and buys tickets for the first available flight. He catches up on his sleep in the airplaine and on the bus.
When he gets at the site he just walks around a little at first, looking around, before sitting down at a foodstand where he has a nice view of the crowds, while eating a large and healthy breakfast.


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## Wilphe (Nov 12, 2006)

Untergard is an otherwise anonyomous place that you reckon normally has 10,000 or so inhabitants. It's also the sort of place were nothing ever happens, ever. The poeple like it that way, if they don't they get out of town and off the planet ASAP. The governments, both planetary and local, also try hard to ensure that nothing happens unless they want it to. Most of the time they succeed.

     If you thought Shirgegge was proud to host the K'kree, then Untergard has left pride and moved into full-scale Megalomania with their new found temporary importance. Banners, Posters and Holovids are everywhere - it's also fair to say that the mini-tourist boom is making the locals a lot of money, a lot of new barns, tractors and off-world holidays are going to be bought off the back of this. You pay well over the odds for a hastily produced and not very good breakfast.

     At first sight local security forces seem practically invisible, they might seem a bit overwhelmed and outnumbered, but generally speaking the Shirgeggeans must more or less learn from birth not to cause trouble. However, after watching for a bit longer you see that plenty of locals appear to have been deputised as extra security personel and crowd control, albeit it in their own clothes with just an armband.

     Picking up one of the leaflets and glancing at the map shows thatThe K'kree themselves have taken over several acres of waste ground to the west of the town, some of this is open grassland, some is large open, spacious, temporary K'kree tents and the rest - the parts that mostly see Human traffic - is locally hired and built tents.









OOC:
    You know the small town where the original Rambo took place? Well it's like that, but a lot flatter, surronded by fruit trees, and has the equivalent of a County Show taking place by it


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## DrZombie (Nov 17, 2006)

Gwydion looks at the various stands, trying to get a clear picture of the layout, where best to go when in a hurry, where to hide....
At a larger general store he'll buy some local clothing and a hat, and moves on to a drugstore.

He looks confusedly at a paper, scratches his gead, and looks around in the makeup stand.
He peers amongst the myriad of boxes, bottles and sticks, looks at his paper again, and selects something covering and skintoned in his shade of skintone, something for eye-makeup, and then sighs, and makes a phonecall.


"Hi sweety, me here".
"........"
"yeah, I"m at the store, and I can't find your lipstick."
"........"
"Look sweety, they don't have a red moon here, so they don't have moonglow red"
"......."
Yeah I looked everywhere."
"....."
"No I didn't ask, there's only one panel of lipstick in this store, and I've read the label on each and every one of them."
"....."
"Look, they're all red. How the hell should I know what comes closest, I'm a bloke."
"....."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll ask. See ya later".

He looks around.
"Eeuhrm, excuse me miss. Which red comes closest to moonglow, and does this eyeliner 'works' with it, whatever that's supposed to mean?"



 Next he'll rent a small hotelroom to change clothing and get rid of his tattoos, slipping out at noon when the place is busy and then make his way up to the K'kree or their servants, with his usual clothes and a make-up remover in his backpack.

(OOC :he'll 'take 20' to apply the make-up, checking in the mirror to see that he gets the result he wants.)


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## Wilphe (Nov 19, 2006)

Well it's hard to find anywhere you are going to be alone if you need to be, but there are a couple of alleys that Gywdion recces out the routes too. The local orchards are either walled or fenced off, so getting into them would be a bind (Shirgeggean agriculture is rigidly controlled after all...) That's in town.

    In the Expo itself? Well the 3 tents detailing the horrors of meat-eating, complete with the "Death Ride", where you get an interactive animals eye view of a slaughterhouse are almost certain to be deserted. Or maybe not, they might get treated like a haunted house and attract thrill-seekers, though you expect that the K'kree set out to shock people with that exhibit and have probably succeeded. Might be a good place to hid if your nerves can stand it, or be alone for a meeting.

      Most of the rest can expect to be packed, that, you are pretty certain won't be.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++​


> "Eeuhrm, excuse me miss. Which red comes closest to moonglow, and does this eyeliner 'works' with it, whatever that's supposed to mean?"




The assitant is helpful, loving to know which moon you are trying to match, what planet you are from and a whole host of other biographic details. Eventually, after making whatever story you feel like, you make your escape.


      Renting a home is expensive and requires a certain degree of searching, but eventually you find one at a mark up that is merely "outrageous" as oppossed to "extortionate". You rekcon you've done a fair job covering yourself up and slip out during the lunchtime rush.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++​
      Entrance to the expo has a bevy of hired local human security, not the people you want to talk to. In a paddock off to the left of the entrance about a dozen K'kree soldiers are resting and ready to go, two are stood on guard. None of them are carrying firearms or projectile weapons, but all are carrying ceremonial polearms as well as shock batons that might prove mildly more useful.

      Finding a K'kree alone is going to be impossible, getting to speak to some unobserved by fellow humans rather more difficult unless you leave the public areas and make your way into their private areas. That has obvious dangers but you are welcome to try.

     You probably will be able to find a Girug'kagh and get to speak to him alone, if you can get her to take you seriously.


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## DrZombie (Nov 22, 2006)

Gwydion wanders around, looks at the site and tries to see if he can figure out some sort of pecking order between the Girug'kagh, so that he can go straight to the head honcho.


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## Wilphe (Nov 26, 2006)

Gwydion hasn't studied K'kree or Girug'kagh culture in any depth, but he knows a fair bit about their biology - their skin still retains some vestigial scales and these patters are stained in various ways to indicate caste and status. That he knows, but trying to work out what marks mean what is beyond him without further observation.

     A couple of hours, walking and observation enables him to make a solid guess as he sees one of them another to task for some minor infraction - knowing the language would help here, but it certainly looks like a verbal tongue lashing. Following this one about enables the Scout to reason that he holds some sort of position of authority.

     Most Girug'kagh are squat muscular with yellow-brown skin, this one is obese and a vaugely nauseting pale mustard colour with prominent blue and red caste marks on his chest. Long, but powerful arms hang below his chest and he wears a portacomp at his belt, otherwise he is stripped to the waist - the better to show of his caste marks. Beedy, calculating green eyes look at Gwydion.


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## DrZombie (Dec 4, 2006)

Gwydion walks over to the alien, looking him over.

"You speak Galenglic?"


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## Wilphe (Dec 8, 2006)

The alien visibly bristles at this brusque introduction, but quickly calms, "I am Proctor Dareen Tshugrawra, the great herd have honoured me by giving the opportunity to learn the languages of many foreigners so that I might better serve them by talking to alien petitioners on their behalf. Under them I supervise a group of eight emissaries and translators. So yes, I speak perfect Galanglic. Whom might I be addressing?"


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## DrZombie (Dec 8, 2006)

"Pleased to meet you, Proctor Dareen Tshugrawra. You may call me Mr. Johnson." Gwydion says smiling. "I have come across something the Great Herd will find very interesting and of great value, but it needs someone of great authority and seniority, such as yourself, to fully appreciate. Could we talk somewhere a bit more private? I assure you it wil be more then worth your time, and that of your superiors."


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## Wilphe (Dec 11, 2006)

The Proctor looks at Gwydion skeptically, "Would it indeed Mr Johnson? You are correct in coming to me as a highly favoured servent of great importance, few on two legs stand nearer the front of the herd than I. However, I have many tasks that demand my attention as I assist in demonstrating the superiority of K'kree culture, ethics and technology.

        "This means that what you have must be very interesting indeed to be worth my time, but I can grant you a few moments for a private audience."

      He leads you to a small closed off part of the tent, apparently a private office. It would be appear to be his own, as it is decorated with several photos and holos that feature him. While a human would put images of spouse and family, Proctor Tshugrawra apparently favours mementos of his own importance.

      He settles behind a desk, "Now what can you do for me?"


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## DrZombie (Dec 12, 2006)

"Here".
Gwydion slides the data disc across his deck. "A sample of some very sensitive info I have come across. The imperials thought it was worth killing each other over.  I'll give you a few hours to check it's authenticy, and to confer with your masters. The full document will cost you 300K"

He smiles. "Play this right and you'll get a bit closer to the front of the herd. But be quick. I'll be back in three hours."

He turns around to go away, then turns back. "Ah yes, and no funny stuff, okay? I've been doing this a lot longer then you."

"See you in a few hours."


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## Wilphe (Dec 17, 2006)

The Proctor looks at Gwydion sceptically, "Indeed, yes I'll be waiting for you in three hours. If what is here is worth what you say then we can do a deal. If not, well, I'll be billing you for my wasted time. Good day, Mr Johnson, speak to you soon."


OOC:
Where to now?


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## DrZombie (Dec 17, 2006)

Gwydion takes care to stay in public places, having something to drink, just wandering around looking at the great achievements of the horsies.


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## Wilphe (Dec 18, 2006)

Gwydion grabs a vegetable based smoothie that bears no resemblance to any flavour he's experience before - thereby proving the "vegetarian" & "processed to hell-and-back" are not mutually exclusive.

      The retrospective display on four millenia of K'kree furniture design is not exacty thrilling, but the display that trumpets their achievements in bringing ecosystems into balance after elminating predator species is interesting enough - if sure to get every conservationist in human space mad as hell. It's at this point that he notices that the same Girug'kagh appears to be following him - and not especially subtly either.

       The stalking horse spotted, the wily Socut also notes the human couple in the corner with their hands all over each other keep cropping up too, and appear to be proffessionals.


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## DrZombie (Dec 19, 2006)

_bugger. I could lose the manure-boy, but those two? probably have me bugged. Back for some new clothes, and off to the slaughterhouse._ 

Time for another shopping spree, it seems. Gwydion buys another set of clothes, then enters the slaughterhouse death-ride.

(ooc : is it a walk-through area, or are there motorised carts, or what? Plan is to get off, wait for the rest to pass and sneak out sideways. He'll enter the ride about ten minutes before the scheduled meeting time, enough so he can get out and go to the meeting.... but i'll need a little more detail on what the ride looks like.)


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## Wilphe (Dec 20, 2006)

Buying other clothes is fairly easy, though most of those for sale are either typically tacky cf:"I <Heart> Kirruxir", overtly politicised "No animals were harmed in the making of this sweatshirt" (slogan imprinted both in Galanglic and the K'kree script) or both along with something masquerading as wit (bib with "Licensed Cooking Inspector").

       However it's not too hard to find something more or less anonymous and discreet without being stupidly expensive. K'kree cloth is one of the few things they do very, very well and commands prices accordingly. What Gwydion can afford comes along the lines of bottom line cashmere - though as you might expect it's not an animal product.      

OOC:
     The ride is more of a slide walk affair, you queue up and go into the equivalent of an overcrowded cattle truck. Once that is uncomfortably full the back doors open and the main part of the ride begins. A key part of the design is that you do not so much walk through, as get moved through at whatever pace the designers like.
    There are a fair number of one-way doors in the design, so you can only go foward, never back. Several warning signs also indicate that there are no exits, once you are in you stay until the end.* They also state that this is not for the faint-hearted and that "riders" sign a release before going in.
      Needless to say this hype appears to collect a certain clientele, though the queue is not at all long.
* This doesn't mean that you couldn't sneak out, just that you wouldn't be using a designed exit and would be going in an "Employees only" area


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## DrZombie (Dec 29, 2006)

"Bugger it" Gwydion mutters. He  goes to a pub, sits outside and when he has his drink, he cheerfully toasts the couple, and the Girug'kagh as well.

"Cheers mates."

OOC: sorry, didn't notice the update


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## Wilphe (Dec 31, 2006)

All three pretend not to notice you, especially the alien makes a very abd job of it.

       Ball is in Gwydion's court now, heading to the meeting or trying to ditch them again?


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## DrZombie (Jan 3, 2007)

Gwydion stands up, waving at the alien and giving a smile and a conspiratory, nudge-nudge-winkle-winkle-know-what-I-mean-say-no-more-say-no-more finger to the side of the nose to the couple. He then casually wanders around the area, not hurrying, and using every trick in the book to see if someone is still following him, giving a pleasant smile and a cheerfull wink if he sees any 'familiar' face. When the time for the meeting comes close he'll wander over to the arranged meeting place.


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## Wilphe (Jan 13, 2007)

The Girug'kagh goes through what you think is it's equivalent of blushing and looks like it's ready to die of a mixture of shame, embarassment and rage. The alien then bursts into tears and runs out of the room, this causes a certain degree of comment from the patrons, but nothing more than that.

      The female half of the human pairing gives a thin, rather smug, dry smile back at you. Apparently the Girug'kagh's discomfiture is not unwelcome to her. The subsequent duel of tail and counter-tail is one that goes largely unnoticed by the surronding multitudes but passes the time until the scheduled meet, by which time Gwydion is happy that no one else is following him.

       Another, male Girug'kagh waits outside the Proctors part of the tent, he could be described as burly, except that all Girug look burly. You recognise him from when you were scouting them out, but haven't spoken to him. He however recognises you, "Come in Mr Johnson, Proctor Tshugrawra is ready for you," and waits outside. The human couple wait and watch from a bit further away.


      Tshugrawra regards Gwydion with the same beady, calculating stare he did when they first met, "Well, Mr Johnson, you certainly do seem to have some very interesting data. Might I ask how you acquried it?"


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## DrZombie (Jan 14, 2007)

"Let us say that the source was quite reliable but regrettably passed away very recently, to the discomfort of ImpSec. They did some pretty harsh searching and interrogation, but I've been through worse."
He smiles. "We do not have much time. We could waste a few minutes threatening each other, but let's just say you'll regret it if you double-cross me, and I will no doubt regret double-crossing you. You've got the money?"


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## Wilphe (Jan 19, 2007)

"You are crisp, direct and to the point. All of which I like, I could almost find myself respecting you. Hell, if you were not a traitorous _gn'aak _of grossly inferior status and I completely forgot my position in life I might even end up liking you."

      "I took the liberty of assuming that you would not want payment by cheque or direct credit, but would prefer cash," he claps his hands and a third, female, Girug'kagh with vivid yellow skin enters carrying a satchel she places on the table. She then departs without saying a word.

       "It's there, feel free to check it. I'm not afraid of you stealing it. While you do, would you mind giving me some more information on the provenance of this data?"


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## DrZombie (Jan 19, 2007)

Gwydion looks at the money, checking it. "Yeah, only problem is me getting the money somewhere without getting mugged, by the people from security or that incompetent you had following me."
"Just make it over to my account. It ain't illegal to deal with K'Kree. Just say I dropped off someones family jewels or something."

he smiles. "I'll just wait untill I get confirmation of the transfer."


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## DrZombie (Jan 19, 2007)

Gwydion looks at the money, checking it. "Yeah, only problem is me getting the money somewhere without getting mugged, by the people from security or that incompetent you had following me."
"Just make it over to this account. It ain't illegal to deal with K'Kree. Just say I dropped off someones family jewels or something."

he smiles. "I'll just wait untill I get confirmation of the transfer."

(I assume he has some sort of local account, or how does money-transfer on-site work?)


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## Wilphe (Jan 19, 2007)

"I think Family Jewels would be an appropriate, if vulgar, description for the goods in question. I'll need your account number and details please. While we set the transfer up, perhaps you would be so good as to show me that the complete data exists?"

OOC:
      I doubt if it is same in Belgium, but in my part of the world Family Jewels is a synonym for male genetalia. Mind you if it has reached K'kree space then it has probably reached Belgium.

      It is possible to do a direct credit transfer, if you have setup an account on planet to recieve it. The difficulties of interplanetary banking are one reason why so many traders use "old fashioned" methods like banking drafts and cash. However, I'll assume that Gwydion has made arrangements already.


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## DrZombie (Jan 22, 2007)

"Fair enough. "

Gwydion uploads the data on his portacomp, takes out the chip again and turns the portacomp towards the alien, allowing him to superficially check the data, making sure it isn't corrupted halfway. After a few minutes he smiles friendly and takes his portacomp back.

OOC : yeah, it's a more or less polite term for someones testicles, but it's one of those terms that you can use with an innocent smile on your face, blaming any insult on translations and cultural differences.


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## Wilphe (Jan 24, 2007)

The Proctor looks up to you and smile, "Your transfer is complete, I'd like two things now please. First, the chip with the data on if you would be so kind."


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## DrZombie (Jan 24, 2007)

_Bugger. They allways smile before they shaft you._ 

"Forgive my insolence, but would you allow me a telephone first? One of your underlings might have made a mistake with the money transfer."

Gwydion phones the bank to make sure the money is transferred, then orders it to be transferred in bank bonds to the ship. He'll try to do this without being overheard by the alien, well aware that he's under scrutiny, so he'll try avoid using the ships name. Once the money is in the spaceport it'll be under imperial jurisdiction and he hopes it'll be safe there.


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## Wilphe (Jan 24, 2007)

"Of course, even I doubt my underlings competance some times. That is, after all, why they are not sitting here having the pleasure of talking to you," he smiles at you dispassionatly as you talk, making no sign that he has overheard or understood you. The first you find out about it is when the tent flap rustles behind you as someone else enters the room behind you.

OOC:
[sblock]Not sure the best way to handle this, I'll give him a Listen check to overhear you and then oppose Bluff v Sense Motive to figure out what he is up to.
He does work out what you are up to and the first you find out about it is when the tent rustles behind you 

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?u=T20&limit=on[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Jan 24, 2007)

Gwydion turns around and looks to see what's going on, taking a few steps back to clear some space.


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## Wilphe (Jan 29, 2007)

It's the burly Girug'kagh who was waiting outside when you came back for your appointment, but for the moment he is content to stand there and block the doorway. The Proctor's voice is calm and clear, "I think you may wish to tell your bank that, you will, eh, call them back later."


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## DrZombie (Jan 29, 2007)

Gwydion smiles and takes out the disc from his portacomp. He sighs theatrically.
"Just now that we were getting to be such good friends."

He slightly bends the disc between his fingers.

"Funny, isn't it. You'd think that by now these data discs would be nigh indistructible, but they're still as fragile as five thousand years ago."
He smiles again, or at least shows something with a lot of teeth in it. "You'd get a pretty decent copy out of it's fragments, but still, you'd never know if there was some vital piece of info you'd missed. And it's read only, so it's erased from my portacomp the moment it ejected."


"So please, just play it straight, would you? We'd all be a lot hapier then, with a nice clean _karma_. I'd hate for negotiations to become unpleasant."


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## Wilphe (Jan 31, 2007)

The Proctor motions his associate to stay where he is, and remains seated, "Well that might be a risk we are willing to take, especially as how we can't be 100% certain that this information is genuine. Of course one can never be certain about anything, but I'm not sure the extra certainty we might gain from having all of it is worth 300,000 credits and the pleasure I would get from watching Ishargarun here crush your skull like a ripe grape. Perhaps I might reconsider if we had greater knowledge of the provenance of this data? Where does it come from?"


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## DrZombie (Jan 31, 2007)

"Well, it would be the pleasure of seeing him trying to crush my skull and miserably failing, for starters. I got this data from the still warm but rapidly cooling hands of a passenger on a ship who suffered from an accident. Someone I recognised from my early days, but he didn't recognise me. Apparently someone tampered with the gravity controls of his cabin. A tragedy."

He smiles.

"Send your bruiser back outside, and we'll negotiate."


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## Wilphe (Feb 2, 2007)

"You mean you killed him.", states the Proctor, flatly.


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## DrZombie (Feb 2, 2007)

Gwydion gives him a flat stare. "I have lost count a long time ago. This is not a holovid action drama where there's good guys and bad guys and the hero allways keeps his suit in a nice crease to dance with beautifull ladies. All you need to know is that the entire crew was cleared from any charges, and that there are two people who know what I am doing here. Now do we have a deal or do I seek another buyer."


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## Wilphe (Feb 11, 2007)

"Can't blame a bloke for trying now can you?" he sits again, smiling blandly and waits for you to finish the transaction, "That wasn't too painful now was it? Now you can execute your plan to get the hell out of here to spend it."

     And Gwydion's keen hearing, tempered on inumberable hunts and too many battlefields hears the sound of a body slumping outside the tent flap and a whispered command of "Go".


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## DrZombie (Feb 14, 2007)

"" Gwydion says, and dives for cover, rolling to grab something that can be used as a makeshift weapon (chair, table-leg, whatever)

(OOC : if I can follow he's got the money transferred, right?)


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## Wilphe (Feb 19, 2007)

Gwydion dives down behind the desk and the thing that comes most immediatly to hand is the Proctor's waste bin. The Proctor, moving suprisingly quickly for a sophont of his bulk, makes his way down there as well. There's a clatter as something is thrown into the office and bounces and then a <FTZZZ> as purple smoke begins to fill the room. There's a lot of shouting now coming from outside, not really coherent sentances - more the "let's make loads of noise to shock people into inaction".

       The Proctor hisses at you above the din, "This was your plan? Where's the chip?" and is trying to get one of his desk drawers open, the room has by now nicely filled with smoke and Gwydion senses rather than sees or hears that a couple more people have entered the office.


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## DrZombie (Feb 19, 2007)

"They're not with me" Gwydion hisses. He tosses the chip to the side of the protector, throws the bin in the general direction of the people entering, and grabs the gun that's in the drawer while the protector is looking for the chip, then rolls to the side of the room.


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## Wilphe (Feb 21, 2007)

Gwydion's effort with the bin merely succeeds in upending the thing over both himself and the Proctor dropping fruit peel and waste paper over the pair of them. The Proctor curses at this indiginity prompting one of the attackers to lean over the desk attempting to get a grip on whoever is hiding behind it. However he trips on Gwyidion's upended chair and sprawls across the desk, the Proctor takes advantage of the mistimed attack to grab his hair and smash his face, hard, into the desk. The attacker, wearing non-descript dark colours and a black balaclava, lashes out wildly at the Proctor but doesn't connect in any meaningful way. 

     The Proctor attempts to hold on to his attacker with one hand whilst groping for his gun with the other. A shrill burst of sound assails the eardrums of everyone in the office as the Screamer assails the eardrums of man on the desk and he tears away from the Proctor's grasp back out of sight across the desk. The second attacker strikes out wildly with a baton at whover is behind the desk but merely makes a lot of racket hitting the furniture. Frankly what with smoke, shouting, screamers and general racket no one within 100m radius should be unware that something is going on here.

[sblock]OOC:
Unfortunatly Gwydion came last in the initative order, so you may wish to reasses his actions

Stamina/Lifeblood
Gwydion 84/14 n 84/14
Proctor 40/14 n 40/14
GI   50/14 n 50/14 
GII  50/14 n 44/14

Initative:
GII  16
Proctor 15
GI  14
Gwydion  5 

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?u=T20&limit=on[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Feb 22, 2007)

Gwydion nudges the protector and, while crouched down, grabs one end of the desk, pointing towards the other end and making a pushing motion towards the door.

(OOC : hold action and then bulls rush with the desk and the protector towards the door.)


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## Wilphe (Feb 24, 2007)

The Proctor snatchs at something on the ground, presumably the chip and grunts his assent to your plan with the desk, lifting and flipping it the two of you sweep it foward. You certainly hit something, presumably the person who tried to grab the Proctor and propell him back against the wall of the tent and out the room with a strangled cry.

      The other assailant, as much by luck as judgement, manages to step out of the way of the desk and now, stood behind you, makes a firm effort to beat Gwydion down with a baton connecting firmly across his shoulders.

[sblock]
I'll assume the desk makes you "large" +4 and that you are aiding each other for +6 total

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=888830
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?u=T20&limit=on

Gwydion 84/14 n 79/14
Proctor 40/14 n 40/14
GI 50/14 n 50/14 
GII 50/14 n 44/14 [/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Feb 27, 2007)

Gwydion turns around and grabs the guard, pushing him with all his might untill he hits something solid.
(OOC:bull rushing the guard and slamming him against the nearest hard surface (door? tent pole?)


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## Wilphe (Mar 7, 2007)

The smoke clears slightly what with someone being propelled bodily out of the door, to your side the Proctor steps over the desk and out of the office. Outside you hear the harsh dull screach as he triggers his Screamer again. However, rather more urgent is the person trying to beat your head in with a baton. There isn't that much that's solid to hand, but you remember that there are tent poles in the corners of the room and try to propel the attacker into one. This doesn't entirely work as Gwydion draws another numbing strike on his arm but Gwydion's his bullrush hits square in the torso causing the assailiant to tumble backwards. A feminine sounding squeel suggests that she has lost her footing.

      She attempts to stand, and alone and facing an apparently stronger opponent, decides to cut and run out of the situation - hurdling the desk and exiting the tent.

OOC:
[sblock]
Gwydion 84/14 n 75/14
GI 50/14 n 50/14 
_Proctor 40/14 n 40/14_ }Outside
_GII 50/14 n 44/14 _      }Outside

[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Mar 7, 2007)

OOC : bugger


Gwydion pulls at the sideflap of the tent, on the side where he thinks another 'room' is, then wriggles his way under and tries to escape.


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## Wilphe (Mar 8, 2007)

There is a fair ammount of running and shouting going on outside, as well the harsh whine of thr Proctors screamer as he basically seems to activate it until it runs flat. Apart from that there aren't any further sounds of combat as Gwydion wriggles under one of the flaps emerging in what appears to be a storage area. Broken furniture and unused displays appear to be the main things stored here, though there are a couple of K'kree polearms standing in the corner. The room is otherwise deserted and unlit apart from the light coming in where the flaps meet the ground.


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## DrZombie (Mar 8, 2007)

Gwydion tries to orientate himself and goes to what he thinks is the side of the tent-encampement. He picks an oaken chair-leg from the pile of rubble and hides it under his jacket (unless there happens to be a sword hidden in the pile of debris  ).


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## Wilphe (Mar 10, 2007)

No swords, the K'kree like their melee weapons long and pointy. The shortest one here is taller than Gwydion, so a suitible chair leg it is. He quickly orientates himself to find the edge of this marquee and slips out into what is in effect an alley between this and the next. Picking his way over the guy ropes and tent pegs brings him back to the large open area at the entrance to the exhibition.

       Here the flow of people running away from the fighting is pretty much balanced by the flow of people running towards it to see what is going on. It is all a bit confused, and chaotic. In other words, excellent for slipping into the crowd and getting out of there. There is no sign of any either the Proctor or the assailants, but several security, paramedics and the like are converging on the place. There's also the tips of some K'kree polearms poking up above the crowd and about a dozen of them are headed towards you as they make their way to the fight scene.


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## DrZombie (Mar 12, 2007)

Gwydion tries to slip in amongst the crowd unnoticed, looking for a place where he can hide for a minute to change his clothing and get the make-up from his face. He drops the table-leg before joning the crowds.


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## Wilphe (Mar 16, 2007)

The table leg drops unnoticed onto the grass, there is a handy toilet facility nearby and Gwydion reaches it at the same time as the K'kree reach the tent you were just in. While it is a bit busy with crying children being placated by anxious fathers right now it isn't hard to dive into an unoccupied cubicle and adjust ones appearence.


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## DrZombie (Mar 19, 2007)

Gwydion calmly walks out and makes for the exit, trying to catch the next bus out of there.


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## Wilphe (Mar 25, 2007)

As he steps down from the restrooms Gwydion can see that once he gets through the intial crush the way out to the nearest bus stop is clear and uncongested. Making his way through the crowd he hits more or less open space, behind him there are still shouts and a fair ammount of shouting and a little bit of screaming.
       Someone is calling his name, "Gwydion! First Officer Gwydion!". Its a female voice, familar and close at hand - so not coming from the hubburb at the tents.


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## DrZombie (Mar 28, 2007)

Gwydion turns and looks at the source of the voice.


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## Wilphe (Mar 31, 2007)

It is one of passengers you brought from Dukh. Eleanor Carnot in fact, one of less objectionable ones, she is in dark grey business wear and clutching a heavy looking briefcase as she makes her way unevenly across the grass in order to catch up with you. Heels are fine in the boardroom, bad on a field.

       "Gwydion, nice to see you again! What's going on?"


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## DrZombie (Apr 2, 2007)

"No idea, miss. just a lot of noise, squeelers and the lot. Heard someone sayy they saw some armored people busting in one of these tents. Either way, I'm not sticking around."

He smiles at her.

"So, what brings you here?"


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## Wilphe (Apr 3, 2007)

"Business, talking about a furniture deal. I think it went quite well, yourself?"


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## DrZombie (Apr 4, 2007)

"Nothing else to see on this ball of mud, now is there?" Gwydion smiles.

"You heading back to the spaceport?" He leans a bit closer whispering conspirationally. "I could use a good juicy steak instead of this vegetable crap they serve here"


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## Wilphe (Apr 4, 2007)

"That would be an excellent idea, I'm done here anyway. Did you have a room here? I'm just on a day trip."


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## DrZombie (Apr 5, 2007)

"Nope, just a day trip. Let's get out of here." Gwydion says.

_Coincidence? I think not. Let's just see where this leads me....._ 

Gwydion smiles and will continue small talk, but keeps alert for any suspicious movement.


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## Wilphe (Apr 7, 2007)

The walk through the streets to the air-bus stop is uneventful, chiefly focusing on small talk about the Expo and the weather. You notice that she is walking fairly stiffly and oddly, but put that down to a long day walking in heels on what ammounts to a field.


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## DrZombie (Apr 9, 2007)

"you allright there sweety? You look like your feet are killing you."


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## Wilphe (Apr 14, 2007)

"I'm fine, it's just been a long day. It'll be okay when we can sit down," she grasps you arm for support and gives it a tight little squeeze. Unfortunatly she chooses the same spot where you caught a blow during the fight and shooting pains run up the nerve from the developing bruise.

        As you wait at the temporary airbus terminal you see it gradually get busier, apparently a few people have chosen to cut short their visit given the disturbance. You also note the security prescence be stepped up, as more than one pair of tight-lipped guards sweep the area.


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## DrZombie (Apr 20, 2007)

Gwydion just chit-chats away, waiting for the bus to arrive so he can leave.


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## Wilphe (Apr 24, 2007)

The two of you idlely chit-chat for about ten minutes or so. As you do the terminal gets busier around you. There is a group of about forty or fifty awaiting the next airbus back to space port, and you get the impression that the patrolling security forces are taking a keen interest in this party, or on someone within it. Nothing overt, but there does seem to be subtle clustering of patrols around you. Like sharks or vultures. However, nothing happens as the bus pulls in and it doesn't look like they are stopping anyone from boarding.


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## DrZombie (Apr 25, 2007)

Gwydion just keeps chatting, flirting harmlessly and telling outrageous stories of his life as a scout, hoping to get a few laughs out of his companion, thinking the guards might be looking for a single person instead of a couple.

".... so there I stood, naked as the day I was born, in a closet, waiting for the gouvernor to leave the bedroom of his beautifull daughter, hoping he didn't notice my shirt tucked away under the bed."


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## Wilphe (May 3, 2007)

Ms Carnot, "please call me Eleanor", listens interestedly and laughs at all the appropriate places. She is either very into you, or also keen to appear part of a couple. The trip back takes only a few hours, and passes pleasently enough as Gwydion spins his outrageous anecdoates. When you arrive back at the star port perimeter however, there are a couple of lcoal police waiting at the stop to check passengers as they disembark.


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## DrZombie (May 4, 2007)

Gwydion is happy to wait patiently untill it is his turn to get checked.

OOC : any possibility of making a dash for the spaceport into Imperial territory?


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## Wilphe (May 5, 2007)

There is an orderly queue to get off the airbus, you are near the end, directly behind three teenage girls who seem to think they're 21 but act they are probably 15, a nondescript  man of early middle age in a brown leather coat, and two old ladies, one of whom walks with a stick. Behind you is a couple with six young children whose harassed father occassionally and unitentionally jabs you in the back of the legs with the folded up (anti-grav) pushchair he is carrying.

      It is a couple hundred metres to the XT line, but the line itself is rather secure  - at something between an International Airport and the Berlin Wall and because of that it is rather congested so there would be a fair crowd to run through. That's not to say you couldn't do it, but it would be dicey.


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## DrZombie (May 14, 2007)

Gwydion patiently waites in line, happy that he was smart enough not to suggle in any weapons.

He pats his pockets, looking for his ID (and to see if 'someone' might have slipped something in his pockets that would be rather difficult to explain at the guards. Paranoia isn't a disease, it's a way of life.)


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## Wilphe (May 28, 2007)

It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you, but there isn't anything extra in your pockets that you can find.

       The group disembarks without hassle, the guards checking IDs and looking people over as they do so. No one seems especially suprised by the checks as Shirgegge is a very tightly controlled planet at the best of times - and if the K'kree are chosing to raise a fuss and a hue and cry they are certain to get 100% cooperation. The two old ladies are given cursory examinations and then let past, then the guards take an inordinalty long time checking the man in the brown leather (amid some fairly testing questioning about how he got that, even if it is imitation, within two hundred miles of the K'kree). The three teenage girls directly in front of you are giggling and discussing in 100 decibal whisphers which of the guards they think is cutest. Behind you one of the kids wants the toilet.

       The guards have had enough and one of them makes to call for back up whilst the other begins the arrest process and the very short reading of the suspects rights. It is at that point that the man sends one tumbling to the floor with a push to the chest and then slams the other hard against the side of the airbus before taking off towards the XT line.


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## DrZombie (May 29, 2007)

Gwydion just takes one step backwards and keeps his hands away from his sides, not making any move to indicate he's helping the man in any way whatsoever.


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## Wilphe (May 30, 2007)

As Gwydion steps back Eleanor lurches foward and grasps at your arm to steady herself. Gwydion is just about strong enough to stop her falling, but her other hand flails into the back of the teenage girl in front of her, causing all three to cascade down the steps and onto one of the prone officers.
      The other is off chasing the fugitive, but he has a good head start and is running hard.


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## DrZombie (May 31, 2007)

"Hey, stop shoving." Gwydion yells at the people behind Eleanor, indignation filling his voice.
"Are you allright my dear?" He asks, concern in his voice.

_Hmm, the plot thickens_.


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## Wilphe (Jun 8, 2007)

There is a fair amount of jostling and confusion, behind you the father drops the pushchair and one of the children starts crying. In front of you the officer is cursing as he extricates himself from several kilos of acne and puppyfat. At least on of the girls mutters under her breath, "clumsy cow", presumably aimed at Eleanor. She herself is now steady, "Yes I'm fine, that was just a bit unexpected when I've been on my feet all day."

      Exactly what has happened to the fugitive is a little unclear, as you have lost sight of him in the confusion around the XT line gate. However, you haven't seen dragged away in custody.


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## DrZombie (Jun 25, 2007)

Gwydion, unconcernedly, waits patiently in line to get the hell back to spaceport.


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## Wilphe (Jun 25, 2007)

The police ask everyone present if anyone knew the fugitive, no one admits to doing so and as a result they let everyone go about their business. Of all the passengers from the bus very few are heading into the starport - mostly using here as a connection.
       Getting back across the XT Line takes half and hour of queuing, sweeps and ID checks but passes without interest and you are soon back in safely Imperial Territory.

       Eleanor Carnot looks at you in a satisfied way like the cat that got the cream, "I want a nice bloody steak; and if I can find a restaurant that serves horse meat I shall be in heaven."


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## DrZombie (Jun 27, 2007)

"I second that motion, yer honour." Gwydion says.

"Let me get back to my ship, wash the stink of horsedung out of my hair and change into the cured hide of some dead animals. I'll book us a place in a restaurant. Call me at the ship in, say, an hour?"

He says his goodbyes and returns to the ship. He showers and tosses his new clothes in the garbage bin, changing into his comfortable, usual outfit.

He makes a short trip to the bank, transferring his credits to the ship, and then uses a public phone to contact Lt De Paulo, asking him to call back using a secure line. Next he tries to book a table at a fancy restaurant where they serve, if at all possible, horse steaks.

He then returns to the ship, sits in the lounge and pours himself a strong drink, satisfied with the universe in general and himself in particular.

(cue for saanath to enter  )


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## doghead (Jun 28, 2007)

Saanath wonders into the lounge from the direction of the bridge. He has a databook in hand, and takes a moment to notice G. is there. A moment later Saanath notices the satisfied expression on his companion's face.

Saanath pauses for a moment, tablet momentarily forgotten. 

"Somehow I get the feeling that your day has been more interesting than mine. Care to share, or are you going to make me beat it out of you over a cup of mocha."


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## DrZombie (Jun 28, 2007)

"Some painkillers would be better then mocha" smiles Gwydion, lifting his shirt to show a large purple bruise on his ribcage. "Police brutality, or secret service, or whatever. Not nice people. But not very competent, so it evens out in the end."
"I decided to follow up on the Lt's little cloak and dagger plan. Went rather smooth untill a swat-team busted in during negotiations. It added a little more realism to the whole thing, and luckily the money was allready transferred, so, all in all, things went nicely."

He tries a lazy, confident stretch but abruptly stops and rubs his ribs. "Ouch"

He wanders over, scratches his pet behind the ears and looks over saanath's shoulder at the datapad.
"So, you doin' anything interesting, or do you want to go out for a few beers?"


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## doghead (Jun 29, 2007)

Saanath proceeds to make a couple of cups of mocha in silence. From the cupboard he puts an old bottle of 'pickling vinegar' and pour a generous shot of the amber liquid within into each cup. Returning to the table, he places one cup before G. before pulling out a chair, dropping into it and kicking his booted feet up onto the corner of the table. Saanath takes a deep pull of mocha, screws up his face, then sighs deeply.

"Well you obviously think you got away clean. Otherwise you would be shoving me back to the bridge and telling me to kick her in the guts and hot burn to the nearest jump point."

Saanath falls silent again for a moment, giving G. a chance to add anything should he feel like it. Eventually Saanath adds, "It was your play. So you can do what you like with any money you made. But if there is any comeback, more than likely it will come back and bite us all. Perhaps you should pitch something into the ship's kitty. There is plenty we could do with it.

"You can tell Ruzz'koff you won it gambling. I doubt that he really wants to know the truth.

"Anyway, I need to get these astro-nav figures to Trelene to check. Then I'll be more than happy to get off this ship for a drink."

With that Saanath swings his legs off the table and moves to leave. But at the door, he pauses. "Besides, I have a idea that I want to run past you." A mischievous grin plays across his face and then the young man is gone.


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## Wilphe (Jun 29, 2007)

The rest of the crew are off the ship on business around and about, and the new cargo and passengers aren't slated to arrive until the day after - so the place is essentially deserted.

        <bzz> <bzz> <bzz> "Gwydion?" {After her verifies it is you} "It's de Paolo, I hope everything went well? We understand there was a bit of a barney."


         There are at least two places that can relied upon to sell horsemeat, one is _Brzk's,_ an interstellar chain of restaurants specialising in the Vargr equivalent of sashimi. Fairly pricey, but generally very good. Gets a lot of Aslan and Vargr custom as you might expect. The other is _The Orangery_, which serves more traditional Solomani cuisine with a strong Terran and European bias -  very upmarket, in so far as the menu is in French (which is almost the only place you see it thesedays) and it will be filled with corporate execs.


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## doghead (Jun 30, 2007)

Saanath opts for The Orangery somewhat surprisingly, given his fondness for Alsan food. Saanath can't really image the corporate exec's having much interest in what he has to say. But at Brzk's it could be different a different story. Once settled at their table he launches into his idea fairly promptly. Hopefully they have managed to score a nice discrete table. Although, give the nature of the cliental, talking business here is probably the norm, so Saanath won't make an issue of it.

"You remember the incident at Duhk? [1] I can't shake the feeling that Treth wasn't just ... what happened wasn'y just a simple overreaction by a rookie cop. There was something hard about that woman. From what we found out, Blue Mer seems to be tied in somehow. If there are answers, odds are they are there. 

"Maybe," Saanath adds after a moment's hesitation. Saanath shakes his head to clear the doubts, and plows on.

"There are two ways we can do it. Go in, stay under the radar, nose around a little and see what we can find. But if Treth was disposed in some dubious play, then whoever runs the place now will probably not be so keen to talk about it. Its a big planet. It might be hard to get any traction.

"The alternative is to go in and shake the tree a little and see what falls out. I could set up a holding corporation for the ship; we go in as Valkris, registered vessel of the Trethxxxxx [2] Trading Corporation. That name should get some attention. 

"Of course, what falls out of the tree might be quite heavy."

Saanath falls silent for a moment. It doesn't sound so clever when spoken out aloud. Still, Saanath holds his tongue for the moment. Gwydion, Saanath suspects, has more experience of this sort of thing than most. Saanath will let make up his own mind.

[sblock=ooc][1] I assume that Gwydion. would know about this through discussions on the ship since he arrived. It was one of the reasons they took the Blue Mer consignment, iirc.

[2] Can't remember Treth's full name.[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Jun 30, 2007)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> <bzz> <bzz> <bzz> "Gwydion?" {After her verifies it is you} "It's de Paolo, I hope everything went well? We understand there was a bit of a barney."




"Eleanor Carnot. Is she one of yours? Because if she isn't she's someone elses. Just happened to be there, and as eager an me to be inconspicuous and part of a couple leaving town instead of a single person. The authorities were waiting for someone at the ET-line, and she helped him escape. In the off-chance you haven't seen the footage yet, it was 10 min after the arrival of carrier 12-36B, about 16.57hrs.
She'll be having dinner with me at The Orangery in about an hour, if you want to 'nap her.

The two agents following me at the K'Kree camp were dressed as tourists. They weren't very skilled and looked like (gives description).
Then there was a bungling K'Kree slave, but you wouldn't need to worry 'bout him.

So, how's the eye of that navy officer I smashed?"


********


_The restaurant, 'bout twenty minutes before Eleanor is supposed to arrive._

"Sure, Saanath. There is a lot of fishy stuff going on, and you guys, and now me as well, are smack in the middle of it. Reminds me of my old scouting days" Gwydion says with a grin.
"Anyway, 'bout your holding. I understand you guys have all bought part of the ship. I can add 200K, which should buy me a part of the holding, and which gives us a bit of cashflow for repairs, maybe an upgrade in weaponry or sensors, whatever the rest of the crew decides, and we'll have the costs of repairs and such. And then I'll drop 50K in the crew funds for some speculative trading if we can't fill up the entire cargo hold."

"But going in under an Aslan Clan name? The Aslan Clans that are at war with the 'Trel Clan will try to screw us over, and the Clans that are united with the 'Trel will try to kill us as soon as they realise we're just assuming the name without permission from the 'Trel. Which means that, after a while, ALL Aslan will want to chew us up. We'll have to fight one duel after another, and I'm not all spit and vinigar in a fight anymore. Especially if you get one of these hardcore conservatives who won't even allow a sword, just these clawknives, I don't know if I can pull that off again." Gwydion says, rubbing one of his many scars subconciously.
He chuckles. "And that is before they realise we're doing this for an Aslan that was dishonoured and landless. That's when they'll get REALLY pissed off."

****

"Remember Eleanor, the trader that was our passenger on the last trip? She 'happened' te be at the K'Kree camp at the same time as I, was about as eager to get away unnoticed, and helped a man escape from the police at the ET-Line here at the starport. She'll be joining us for dinner in a few minutes. Horse steaks." He says with a big grin.
"I don't trust her a bit, but she's young, pretty and intelligent, so she should make for some nice company."


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## doghead (Jul 2, 2007)

Saanath's face grows increasingly long as he listens to Gwydion's assessment of his idea. At Gwydion's description of it all spiralling down to hell in a hand basket, Saanath perks up slightly.

"Sounds just like my childhood," he retorts with a grin. 

But it quickly fades away. With a slow sigh, Saanath settles back into his chair and scrubs his hands through his hair.

"OK. So how do you suggest we play it?"


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## Wilphe (Jul 3, 2007)

Gwydion:
      "That's disturbing. You know who you are dealing with don't you? Gunny* with two MCUF **. Recognise the other one? The horsies don't like their covert meetings turning into rumbles and the locals don't like the greatest thing to happen on little ball of mud since the the Old Emperor died going like anything other than clockwork. Glad to see you got out of it unscathed though.
      Thanks for the tip, we'll keep an eye on her."

OOC:
*Gunnery Sergeant (Marines)
**Meritorius Conduct Under Fire

Treth's full name:


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## DrZombie (Jul 3, 2007)

doghead said:
			
		

> Saanath's face grows increasingly long as he listens to Gwydion's assessment of his idea. At Gwydion's description of it all spiralling down to hell in a hand basket, Saanath perks up slightly.
> 
> "Sounds just like my childhood," he retorts with a grin.
> 
> ...




"Either play it straight with the Aslan, see if they know what is happening, or do some research on our own, but quietly. People who will kill an entire spaceship to test something won't hesitate on us getting a bit of an accident if we stick our noses in the wrong alley."


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## doghead (Jul 3, 2007)

"I don't think that incident with Trel directly related to what happened next. But if Trel was ..." Saanath shakes his head and takes a drink of his beer. He is silent for a moment, gazing around the restaurant at the other patrons.

"Perhaps I am going about this the wrong way. Perhaps I should focus my efforts on finding any of Trel's relatives and passing on the news of his passing.

'If there are any dark things lurking in the shadows ..."

Saanath shrugs, then grins.

"So, tell me about your day," he says lightly.


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## DrZombie (Jul 3, 2007)

"yeah. 's been a nice day, really. Long time since I had so much fun with my clothes on." Gwydion say with a big fat grin.
"I had the data with me, so I went to see the horsies. Hung around a little, then approached one of their pets. Made some vague promises, told him to get the money ready, and said I'd be back. So I hung around a little, and noticed that I was being followed. Me being my own subtle self waved at the couple following me. They tried to pretend nothing is going on. So, bold as brass I go in, exchange some threats, insult them a bit untill they cave in, transfer the money. The moment I hand over the data we get attacked by a SWAT-team, coming in guns blazing. Fortunately they miss, so I get to toss 'em around a little, throw a table at them and manage to slip out in the confusion.
So there I stand, fighting the urge to take a weapon with me. I wash, change clothes and walk out, smiling.
I'm waiting for the bus, and who happens to be there? Eleanor. I'm very happy to appear to have been with her all the time, since they are looking for a single man.
Now, I know I have a way with the ladies, but she's a bit too easy. Looks like she doesn't want to be spotted alone either. We chat, I tell some outrageous stories about my scouting and merc days, entertaining about half the carrier on our way back. 
We're standing in line at the ET-zone , under suspiciously tight police control. Suddenly, a man tries to make a run for it. Wel, Eeanor just happens to fall and push someone against the persuing coppers. Interesting, no? Especially if you know DePaulo told me she's a marine with two medals."


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## Wilphe (Jul 3, 2007)

Edit:
Realized De Paolo wasn't clear
Eleanor was the Marine in question, he was asking about the person she helped escape
The two people following you at the K'kree Expo he'll try and get a match on and get back to you


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## DrZombie (Jul 4, 2007)

Edit : edited my little rant.


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## doghead (Jul 4, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath is quiet while Gwydion tells his story. Saanath nods in all the right places, but the 1000 yard stare suggest he's not really all there. Gywdion's conclusion bring a grunt from Saanath.

"The little vixen.

"How do you know that she wasn't one of the ones who crashed your party?"


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## Wilphe (Jul 11, 2007)

OOC:
[sblock]As this conversation is ongoing I'll note move on until you are done[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Jul 12, 2007)

doghead said:
			
		

> ic - HLLJ
> 
> 
> "How do you know that she wasn't one of the ones who crashed your party?"




"I don't actually. It's another possibility. Hmmm.

The thing is, I've got what I wanted, which is a bucketload of cash and a poke in the horsies eyes. I suggest we get outta here asap.

It might make sense if she's marine cloak and dagger, and she doesn't know about navy cloak and dagger, so we're working at cross-purposes here.
"


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## doghead (Jul 13, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

"Just a thought. You said that you tackled one of them pretty hard. And Eleanor was looking a little sore when you saw her. Give her a big hug when she arrives and see what happens?"

Saanath shrugs. He still hasn't quite sorted out all the various parties involved in the transaction. The navy he understands. But where do the Marines come in to it? And why wouldn't they know what the navy was up to, and vice versa.

"Whatever, I agree. Lets blow this rock."


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## DrZombie (Jul 13, 2007)

(Wilphe, I think that's your cue)


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## Wilphe (Jul 22, 2007)

ooc:
[sblock]Sorry, missed an email update [/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Jul 22, 2007)

Ms Carnot is fashionably late, giving the two spacers plenty of opportunity to reconsider, cash their chips while they are ahead and leave. However as you have decided to call and see what cards Ms Carnot is holding (if either) the game continues.

        She arrives exactly a quarter of an hour after she should have done, which suggests either eerie conicidence, or more likely, deliberate effort. Wearing a dark grey evening dress she gives no sign of being dismayed to find out the Gwydion has company, "Saanath, what a delightful suprise, how nice to see you again."

Gwydion:
[sblock] A few tables down a waiter ushers two diners to their seat and whisks away the "Reserved Sign". Though they are in civillian clothes you recognise one of them from the party of naval personnel who slipped you the disk in the mock fight; they give no sign of having recognised you.[/sblock]

Saanath:
[sblock]
She's hiding it well, but she seems as interested to find out what you are up to as you are interested in finding out what she is up to. Make sure you use the right cutlery and guard your words[/sblock]

     Your waiter brings you the menus, handing one to Eleanor first. He then goes to hand the wine list, meaning to neutrally offer it into the middle of the table for whoever wants it to take it he inadvertently knocks over the centrepiece. Fortunatly it doesn't spill over anyone and a fluster of activity leads to its quick replacment with fresh arrangement of flowers.

OOC:
[sblock]Rather than RP _all _ of this out, I'll probably improvise it as social combat, but first I need to know where the conversation is going to go...
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1165690[/sblock]


----------



## doghead (Jul 23, 2007)

ic - HLLJ



			
				 Eleanor said:
			
		

> "Saanath, what a delightful suprise, how nice to see you again."




Saanath grins back, standing as Eleanor is seated. "The pleasure is all mine," he responds.



			
				wilphe said:
			
		

> Fortunatly it doesn't spill over anyone and a fluster of activity leads to its quick replacment with fresh arrangement of flowers.




"Actually," Saanath interjects as the waiter turns to leave after depositing the new flowers, "I'm not really a fan of centrepieces and other assorted decorative clutter."

Saanath picks up the flowers and hands them back to the waiter.

"Besides which, Ms Carnot tends to get a bit messy when she has had a few. Its safer this way."

Its a struggle to keep a straight face.

The more Saanath becomes aware of Ms Carnot's interest in their affairs, the less he finds himself caring. Soon they are going to blow this rock, and whatever little schemes are being played out. He's quite happy to enjoy a little dinner and normal conversation. But he getting a bit tired of the games. He sticks to whatever they have said of their plans during their trip here. If pushed, he tends to talk about trade; the various options and possibilities, the strategies he has been considering, the potential pitfalls. A topic Ms Carnot must surely have a bit to say about, given her background in the furniture business.

If Gwydion wants to try and pick her brains, fair enough. It was his play. Saanath plays wing-man if needed, but otherwise stays out of Gwydion's way.

[sblock=ooc]I suppose, in combat terms, blocking would be the best description for Saanath's actions. Perhaps a little assistance to Gwydion, if he calls for it.

At least for the moment.[/sblock]


----------



## DrZombie (Jul 23, 2007)

"Aw come-on Saanath," Gwydion smiles as Saanath gets rid of the flowers."After all the trouble he did to get it here."

"Lovely dress, Eleanor. You look quite stunning"

"you care for a horse deuver?" He says, quitre deliberately mangling the words.

Gwydion is content to let Eleanor do much of the talking, quietly steering the conversation back to the K'Kree camp.


----------



## Wilphe (Jul 25, 2007)

"As you wish Messieur," the waiter takes the new centrepiece away and returns with your drinks.

    Eleanor returns Gwydion's compliment, "You don't scrub up so bad yourself, for a sasquatch from the frontier that is," she glances at the menu, "Foie Gras, Fillet of Horse - Rare. I'd have tartare but I only do that if I know the restaurant intimatly."

      Her teeth flash in an ever so predatory smile, "I feel like celebrating, having eating the competiton alive."

      She seems in a fairly good mood, happy to chat about the deal she did for some designs and fabrics and it certainly appears that while her knowledge of the furniture business ad interstellar trade in general appears to be quite extensive it also seems to be largely book learning. Saanath being able to direct the conversaton in such a way as to ferret out the fact that she is largely ignorant of the practicalities.

      However, Gwydion makes little to no head way *in his chit chat with her, and indeed you both get the uneasy impression that she is getting what she wants out of this whilst you aren't and find yourselves reviewing the conversation in your heads to make sure you haven't admitted to anything you don't want her to know about.
      She on the other hand, is more interested in finding out what Gwydion was doing at the Expo, "So, Gwydion, did you enjoy the horsies little fair?"

    Oh, and it is patently obvious she has little time for K'kree...

OOC:
[sblock]*A suitible cricketing analogy would be that Gwydion's bowling cannot get line, length or pace right and she is playing a straight bat and driving straight over his head for 4 just about every ball[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Jul 25, 2007)

[sblock=OOC] Time for a yorker then, see if she steps back and whacks her own wicket[/sblock]

"Yeah, 't was a bit of fun. Sold 'em some totally useless data for a whole lot of cash. And then, to make things even more fun, a SWAT-team attacked the meeting. Silly buggers, those. Like kicking little children. You don't happen to sport a bruise, do you?"


----------



## doghead (Jul 25, 2007)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Gywdion said:
			
		

> You don't happen to sport a bruise, do you?"




Saanath snorts and struggles mightily to stop himself from spraying his drink all over the table. After a herculean effort, he manages to regain control with nothing more disasterous than a little beverage up his snoz.

Saanath realises that he looks like a buffoon. He doesn't care. _If you want to play with professionals, leave us out of your games._

Crisis over, beverage safely stowed in stomache, he watches Eleanor to see how she responds.


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## Wilphe (Jul 26, 2007)

For a few fleeting moments something like suprise at Gwydion's blunt change of tack crosses her features but she recovers her composure and takes another swig of wine, "As a matter of fact I do. And if you ran into this SWAT team what would you say to them?"


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## DrZombie (Jul 26, 2007)

[sblock=OOC] A good yorker allways get's em. Doghead, you understand any of these cricket-terms?[/sblock]

"That depends," says Gwydion. "Let's assume that a twice decorated marine doesn't switch sides and starts working for the horsies, and is, in fact, still working for imperial-minded employees. Then I'd say that I pulled my punches, and I'd thank them for the impressive show. I'd say I was a deniable asset for other imperial-minded employees, and that the whole operation was a sting. The horsies payed a lot of credits for data that is deliberately and subtly corrupted. I'd offer to pay for meals and drinks, see what this starport has to offer, and as for the bruises, I've got a nice bruise-relieving ointment in my cabin." He smiles.

"Now, if the twice-decorated marine is indeed a turncoat, and working for the horsies I'd say she'd need to get up a lot more early to get ahead of an old scout, and that I won't be pulling punches in the future. But for now, the drinks are on me, and i've got a nice ointment against bruises in my cabin somewhere." His smile is even larger.


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## Wilphe (Jul 28, 2007)

"Which is pretty much I would expect to be said, whether said person was a traitor or not."

   "However this blunt talk is fun, so long as one remembers not to confuse bluntness with honesty," she cuts a slice of steak with surgical precision, "Did you kill Antonescu?". She pops the morsel into her mouth and chews it delicately whilst waiting for your reaction.


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## doghead (Jul 29, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

This time it is Saanath's time to be surprised by the sudden change in attack. He marshals his features into a more neutral expression. He pauses for a moment to see if Gywdion wants to handle this one. If not ...

[sblock=if gywdion doesn't respond]Saanath shakes his head.

"Not our line of business."

The young merchant almost adds, "Did you?" But he realieses its unlikely given the marine's last question.

"Who was he?" he adds instead.[/sblock]


----------



## DrZombie (Jul 30, 2007)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Which is pretty much I would expect to be said, whether said person was a traitor or not."
> 
> "However this blunt talk is fun, so long as one remembers not to confuse bluntness with honesty," she cuts a slice of steak with surgical precision, "Did you kill Antonescu?". She pops the morsel into her mouth and chews it delicately whilst waiting for your reaction.




"Nope. I'm not an assassin, never was, never will be. I figured you killed him." Gwydion says, calmly eating his steak. "Thought he was a spy, and you offed him, letting the data be found by us, thereby keeping your hands clean."


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## Wilphe (Jul 31, 2007)

She swallows and implaes a few chips on a fork, "No I didn't kill him; would have liked to though. Don't shed any tears over him, all he cared about was the money. Where is the original data?"


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## DrZombie (Aug 1, 2007)

"Back where it should be." Gwydion replies. "We haven't got any copies. It's not something you want lying around your computer. Too many bad things can happen if the wrong people find out."
"So, what were you SWAT guys doing there anyway?"


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 1, 2007)

"Like you say, bad things tend to happen if the wrong people look like getting hold of information like that."


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## DrZombie (Aug 2, 2007)

"Good thing for you then that the right people got the wrong information." Gwydion says.
"Now, are you up for a dessert or do you want to go and have a few beers in town?"


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## Wilphe (Aug 3, 2007)

"I'll pass thank you. I'll leave you with the bill, I'm sure you will have done well enough from todays work to be able to afford it," she stands, "Good evening,". Then, without altering the tone of her voice but not speaking loudly enough so anyone nearby can hear, "One last thing, I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt this time. Largely, I will admit, because there is not a lot else I can do. However, if our paths ever across again you better be totally transparent in your alliegences as I don't like taking chances."


----------



## DrZombie (Aug 3, 2007)

Gwydion blows her a kiss. "Same here, my dear, same here."

He turns back to Saanath. "Now, let's get out of here and have some beers."


----------



## doghead (Aug 3, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saaanth agrees.

Once they have found a more congenial place and have a drink in hand, Saanath says, "I liked her much more once I knew which side she was playing on."

And thats about all he really has to say on the subject. It done, and there are new things to be getting one with.


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## DrZombie (Aug 3, 2007)

"So, you've given any thought about what we're gonna trade for? Maybe we should check out the TAS for any news, and see if there's some ships that have come in from where we're going."


----------



## doghead (Aug 5, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath straightens up in his stool. "Well actually ... " Saanath begins talking enthusiastically about his thoughts, plans and ideas. Its probably more than Gwydion wanted to know. Somewhere along the line, Saanath does agree that seeing who has come in from the area recently would be a good idea. 

[sblock=ooc]Wilphe, quite happy to 'roll' play the trade stuff for this leg  just to keep things moving.[/sblock]


----------



## Wilphe (Aug 7, 2007)

ooc:

[sblock]http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1196067

22 for Broker
23 for Gather Info

That's pretty good, but I need you and Dr Z to make a decision about the route you will take to your ultimate destination before I can flesh it out a bit. You have a J3 ship, with the potential to travel 5 parsecs without refuelling if you jump in ballast - that's a LOT of possible desinations, so I need you to narrow down the options a bit.

In sector terms you have two broad routes; and I'll explain these using Terran geographical terms. Overall you want to go SSE, however because of the distribution of the star systems you can't go direct.

You can:
Go South and then East a bit. This will take you through more established worlds with established trade routes and good starbases (there is even the opportunity to visit the Naval Depot)
Pros: You won't lack for cargo
Cons: You will be competing against long established shipping companies and traders with better local knowledge and contacts than you and whose ships are more efficient at moving boxes than yours.

Or you can:
Go East and then South a bit.
This will take you out to the frontier and then down until you get to where you are going. This will mostly involve less established worlds and will be off the main trade routes
Cons: You will have to work harder for your cargo
Pros:  You aren't competing against so many established lines and traders so the emphasis will be more on the "highly skilled" and less on the "newcomers". This is also the natural environment of a long legged, well armed Scout Merchant
[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Aug 7, 2007)

OOC: To boldly go where no man has gone before. Go east.


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## Wilphe (Aug 12, 2007)

In the Titanstorm Subsector you are headed too there is nothing that would be classed as an Industrial World, most are either non-Industrial or Non-Agricultural - several are poor. Mainly are sparsely populated and few possess impressive technology. As such industrial goods are in short supply.

      Within J3 of Bleue Mer are:

Missarge (J2)
       A dryish mid-tech Agricultural World, with a population of 2 million that is entirely owned by a consortia of agricultural corporations who have built an impressive Class A starport for processing exports to the rest of the subsector (which is mostly dependent on imports for anything other than basic sustenance)

960-604 (J3)
       A large Ursa settled world with unpleasently corrosive seas, the 6 million inhabitants live on the peaks and arid high plateau and maintain TL4 (c1880)

Ashiizish (J2)
     6 million sophonts inhabit this midtech non-industrial world. Laws are sparse and air sparser.

Mugdange (J3)
       Another midtech non-industrial world, although this one has more atmosphere than it really needs and is tainted to boot. Only 30,000 people remain, but it has a nice (B) starport.


Missarge is by far the best bet, as it can be more or less guaranteed to have something that several other systems will want.


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## DrZombie (Aug 16, 2007)

Do the corps on missage have a representation here in the system? Could be nice to negotiate directly with them.


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## Wilphe (Aug 18, 2007)

The Missarge Development Corporation maintains an office in the Starport on Shirgegge - and it's parent corporations have their own installations on planet. Right now they are closed except for urgent business it is possible to book an appointment for the following morning. You will have time to go to that before your cargo and passangers for Bleue Mer arrive, which is scheduled for the afternoon.

    Anything else for tonight, or shall we skip foward to the next morning?


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## DrZombie (Aug 19, 2007)

"*Let's go back to the ship to talk this over. I'll see if I can weasel some information from the ISS, then go sleep. I've had a long day*." Gwydion says.


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## Wilphe (Aug 23, 2007)

Brief ISS notes on the following:

Missarge
A544685-7 Ag Ni  213

Top quality starport, low gravity, thin atmosphere tainted with pollen, 40% Ocean Coverage, 2 million inhabitants, civil service bueraurcarcy, moderate law level. 1 planetoid belt, 3 gas giants.

It's not really any more interesting than the somewhat bare figures from the USP indicate. It's a quiet well run planet where the inhabitants are seemingly happy to work with the consortium. It's probably a great place to settle down away from the rat race, marry and raise children but the beating heart of intersteller commerce and intrgiue it is not.

The consortium is taking a very long view about the development of Missarge and happy to wait while the world grows organically rather than spend trillions on rapid development. At the current rate of growth it will be the best part of a millennia while this subsector is developed and integrated into the Imperium so they see no rush. They are however interested in developing trade within the immediate area as they see that as growing their future customer base.



    Reading of the reports suggest that they will most likely want you to go to 960-604 and thence on. That is not a nice world as it has fairly corrosive seas with therefore often acidic rain. It's Ursa inhabitants live on the arid high plateaux and a few peaks and make their main living mining phosphate deposits laid down by the seas in earlier eras for export as fertilizer. Though they also think about exporting other raw resources derived from the planets exotic hydrography.
     Living a mile up on a high gravity world where the rain can kill you and tech isn't that luxurious isn't much help is not for weaklings, so it is not suprising the place was colonised by Ursa. A few belters occassionally work the systems two planetoid belts, officially the Ursa own the whole system so this is illegal without permission. In practice they cannot do anything about it, so it is only enforced whenever an visiting Imperial patrol feels like doing something about it.

      The poor starport does not supply even unrefined fuel as the Ursa are short of potable water as it is. So corrosive oceans and the lack of a gas giant will make refuelling interesting, the Vykris will certainly use it's wilderness capabilities.


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## DrZombie (Aug 24, 2007)

The next morning, a bit more rested and less bruised, Gwydion works his way through the big champignon-cheese-and_Gryash-_ham omelet, the breakfast of champions, feeding scraps to Tommy, his pet. He passes the data and a mug of koffee to Saanath, to see if he has any plans.

"We'd better see if there's something they'd like delivered on the agriculture planet. As for the belters, that's eazy : food, booze, spare equipment and loads of _pron_."


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## Wilphe (Aug 27, 2007)

Ruzz'koff awakes, and drags himself into the common room, "Good morning everybody, where did you get to yesterday Gwydion anyway?," though he doesn't seem ready to wait for a reply, "Whole new lot of cargo being delivered today and two new passengers. Hopefully these two will be less interesting than the last lot."

On hearing Saanath and Gwydions plans for future destinations:

    "We've no idea how much of the cargo bay these animals will take up, so we can't commit to a cargo for Missarge until we know. As for any belters at 960-604, we know they are there illegally - so I'd rather not deal with them. If they've any sense they'll hide from any ship they don't know, which will make finding them to do a deal rather problematic. So let's go with the Ursa, at least we know where to find them even if all they have to offer is fertiliser. It's not interesting but at least it will have a ready market"

         "I'm almost tempted to offer to sweep the system for them and hunt down any unlicensed belters. What do you think?"


ooc:
http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=2802421&postcount=150


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## doghead (Sep 8, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath accepts the koffee from Gwydion and takes a place at the table. He leans back in his chair, enjoying the peace and quiet of a ship not cluttered with passengers. "Lets steer clear of passengers in the future, if we can help it. They are a pain in the thrusters."

He greets their captain with a nod. He listens to Ruzz'koff's suggestion but his response is a less than enthusiastic shrug.

"I'd rather take their money than their livelihoods. Ursa may not like the belters, but I bet they have no difficulties taking their money when the belters hit town.

"Instead of getting all hot under the collar about something they can't do anything about, Ursa should set something up so both sides come out ahead." Saanath pauses for a moment to think.

"Belters are a tough lot. I'd rather not tangle with them. A simple sensor sweep, maybe. It would be good practice. But I doubt Ursa can  offer the sort of money that would make getting any more involved worth while.

"Anyways, I'll put together some options for the remaining cargo space based on a Missarge, Ursa route."

[sblock=ooc]Mostly luxury consumables, entertainment, etc. Distractions for those stuck on a world with little to do.[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Sep 17, 2007)

"I agree with Saanath. It would be either killing some spacers unable to defend themselves, or we would have a really tough fight on our hands, risking the ship. I've seen my share of slaughter, don't really fancy another go at it. Wouldn't have left the mercs otherwise. And face it, either way it's a merc job. I don't see the doc agreeing in killing belters either. Some of them have their children with them on the ship, crazy fools."


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## Wilphe (Sep 22, 2007)

Ruzz'koff's tail tip twitches, in a movement more feline than canine, "You are both right of course; but my am I still itching for some action rather than this covert ops malarky. However, I like Saanath's idea of a sensor sweep - even if we don't follow it up. The equivalent of turning on the lights and seeing what the roaches are up to."

       "Do you two want to go to our appointment with the Missarge Development Corporation offices or do you want me to come?"

        He is interupted by a low buzzing, there is an incoming message, for Gwydion - Scout encoding, "Do you want it patched though here or do you want it in private?"


----------



## doghead (Sep 23, 2007)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Wilphe said:
			
		

> "Do you two want to go to our appointment with the Missarge Development Corporation offices or do you want me to come?"




Saanath shrugs. "I can handle it if you like."

Saanath finishes his koffee and pushes away from the table. After grabbing his bag he heads off with whoever wants to come.


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## DrZombie (Sep 23, 2007)

"Hoild on Saanath, let's see what the scouts have come up with, then I'll join you."


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## doghead (Sep 24, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath shrugs and settles back into his chair. "Let me know when you are ready."

When Gydion is ready, Saanath grabs his bag again and heads off to Missarge Development Corporation.


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## Wilphe (Oct 1, 2007)

The screen currently shows an Imperial Sunburst when Gwydion accepts the message it wipes away to reveal the face of Senior Scout Tjoyia Theoklitos, by the background this was recorded in her office on Dukh and is dated 9 days ago.
       She smiles broadly,
       "Hello Gwydion, I hope you are settling in okay and getting back in the swing of things. I'll be brief, I am sending someone new to join you. Sorry for the short notice and to have to do it this way without consultation but I think you will find her an asset and when she introduces herself I am sure you will understand why I've done things this way."

      "Tessa is one of us, but she is not _currently_ a Scout," Tjoyia does not seem to feel the need to explain this further, "She is also a native of Diamond Prince, and comes with more than one reason for wanting your mission to be a sucess. Her records are attached her, but I think you are best off letting her introduce herself."

       "Safe voyage and good fortune and fair winds attend you."

        <Message ends>


        <beeppppppppzzzzzzzzz>
        <You have an incoming call from a Passenger 'phone aboard the Liner _Xerxes_      Accept/Reject>
        <Accept>
        <Connecting...>
        <Call begins...>


OOC:
Authentication on this message, if anyone wishes to check, is 100%. And given that Saanath and Trelene have rather good T/Computer it'd need to be a brilliant forgery.

Enter Tessa, stage up


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## Shayuri (Oct 1, 2007)

The screen flickers, then clears to show a woman's face. She looks to be in her late twenties, possibly early thirties, though with a bright smile that 'youthens' her face significantly. Her long-lashed eyes are an unusual pale shade of green that contrasts with her tan skin complexion and dark brown hair, which is a bit windblown-looking but short enough to carry the look off without seeming sloppy. She's wearing a blue shipboard jumpsuit without insignia, with an undershirt's collar just showing over the zipper.

"Hello Gwydion. I'm Tessa Desjardes (pronouncing it 'day-yards'). I guess you got Tjoyia's message by now, which probably means you have a lot of questions. I'll answer what I can...and anything I can't now, I will when we're face to face. Scout's honor. As for me...I'm formerly of Diamond Prince, asteroid miner like my old man. I got a lucky strike, decided I wanted to see the galaxy a bit, so I joined the ISS."

"So! Tell me about yourself! Ship, crew...the whole bit."


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## DrZombie (Oct 1, 2007)

The screen shows a muscled man with long hair that'sz showing the first hints of grey. Half of his face is tattood in a tribal pattern.

"Hi tessa. I got the message. Welcome, I'd say. You've got some serious people vouching for you, so I guess welcome to the crew. Why don't we just wait 'till we are face to face before we discuss the misadventures of the crew, 'kay? We'll be waiting for you when we disembark. Just look for the tall barbarian, I'm not that easy to miss."

He checks the arrival time for the ship, then wanders over to saanath and the captain.

"The scouts just gave me a ring. They have someone whom they'd _really_ like for us to hire. Here's her data. Looks like she could be usefull."

To Saanath.
"Let's go pick her up, then move on to the merchants."


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## doghead (Oct 6, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath watches with interest as Gywdion fields a number of calls. But he begins to frown as he pieces it together from what he hears of Gywdion's side of the conversation. Recent experience has made Saanath somewhat wary of strangers. At this point Saanath would rather not even have passengers on board. They have a good team. They don't _need_ anyone else. So why slot someone new into the mix? There are already too many fingers in the pie. Things are going to be difficult enough without having to worry about hidden agendas. The fact that the decision has just been foisted upon them just adds insult to injury. Saanath's regard for 'authority' drops another notch. 

Still, Gwydion doesn't seem to be concerned. Saanath decides to hold fire until he has had a chance to meet this new addition to the crew for himself. He make a conscious decision to try and not let his irritation with the ISS bureaucracy taint his vision too much. _Judge her by her own merits._ Besides, between Trelene and himself, he is pretty sure they can rig up some systems to ensure no one starts mucking around with the ship or its systems without them knowing about it. Saanath make a mental note to have a chat to Trelene about it when he gets back.

Saanath glances over to see what Ruzz'koff is thinking. Not that Vargr expressions are easy to read.

Saanath takes the data card from Gwydion and slots it into his computer. A quick peruse of her file first can't hurt. He will take a look at it along the way.

"Right, ready when you are."

[sblock=ooc]So, anything juicy in the file?[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Oct 6, 2007)

"*Ready*."
Gwydion takes his leather jacket, puts Tommy in his shoulder and joins Saanath on the way to the docking bays. He scratches the pet between the shoulder blades, feeling a bit guilty about neglecting the little creature lately.

""*You seem a bit upset, Saanath. What's on your liver*?"


----------



## Shayuri (Oct 6, 2007)

When the message screen goes blank again, Tess sits back in her chair and purses her lips to breathe out slowly, making a hollow whistling noise. She trusted Theoklitos...as much as she trusted anyone these days. Even so, her days as a happy, carefree Scout were long gone. Now she was always listening for what wasn't said, always considering worst case scenarios.

It was kind of depressing, really.

Still...this 'Gwydion' was on remote assignment in a whole different subsector. The odds of him having any connection to the Vyrkis incident were too small to mention; roughly on par with not only getting hit by a micrometeoroid in deep space, but managing to catch it in your teeth too. Besides, the trap had already sprung...right? 

She hoped so. If it was a doublecross, the only place left for her to fall to was prison.

And it would almost certainly cost yet another Scout his career...

(bum bum BUM!   )


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## Wilphe (Oct 8, 2007)

Gwydion/Saanath:

         Ruzz'koff stands and drinks his koffee and says nothing; but his tail twitches from side to side rythmically like a pointer with a scent who is trying to work out what it is, "This place is filling up with your disreputable associates Gwydion," he gives a brief predatory grin at Tuan, "Still I am sure our Silent Partner has her reasons for not being silent."

In the file:
       [sblock]Tess is from Gashuki, about 6-7 parsecs Corewood of Glen Murdoch and Gergigi.
_"Girl next door", remarks Ruzz'koff._

     Her most recent assignment was a mission similarly to your own - if more overt. She was part of one of many teams aiming to shore up Imperial support amongst the Client States of Diamond Prince and ensure that outside, potentially hostile powers like the Hivers, K'kree and Khuur League did not gain influence. In this they were not successful, and failure was crowned when her own HomeWorld of Gashuki became a Hiver Client.

       Just about every Scout involved in the project was dismissed in disgrace and a couple of frontier nobility - already out of favour to begin with - have fallen further from grace. Tess, having previously been a fairly successful Belter was able to afford to travel to Dukh to protest this decision where she met Tjoyia.

     Tjoyia's accompanying notes indicate the following:
That she believes (and reading between the lines so does the Emperor) that the fault lies with the complacent Domain administration and nobility and the Archduke's cronies rather than the Scout Teams who were used as scapegoats.

     However, it is too politically sensitive to act on this at this time and they is a marked lack of evidence so Tess has been sent to you unofficially to assist and redeem her reputation.

[/sblock]

    On your way to the terminal you are able to keep your appointment with the Missarge Development Corporation. Without going into detail they are more than happy that you are heading there and assure you that a cargo will be waiting for you when you arrive. This of course reliant upon you taking a consignment of mail and about 10 dt of spare parts with you and arriving within 21 days from now.

Tess:
      It will be another 4 hours before the fast shuttle arrives at Shirgegge, not long after 172 hours in jump, but long enough. Local news indicates not a lot, and a cursory search of the local news tickers reveals that the Vykris had a "mysterious death" during her jump in and was detained by the Navy on arrival.
     Apart from that most talk is about the harvest - more than anyone really needs to hear about unless it directly affects them; and at least two of the local channels are showing badly sub-titled K'kree soap operas - each of which has a cast of about 100 and trying to work out who is who makes your brain hurt.


----------



## doghead (Oct 9, 2007)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Gywdion said:
			
		

> "You seem a bit upset, Saanath. What's on your liver?"




Saanath finishes reading the file before looking up. He shrugs before turning to stare into the distance. After a moment he returns his attention to the tattooed hulk beside him.

"Not at all what I was expecting," he says gesturing to the file. "Interesting. You should read it. Seems like we are once more pieces in the great game of the hob-nobs."

Saanath frowns. "If they try the  on us that they pulled on Tess, I'm personally going to kick their hob-nob butt. The Arch-Duke and his family so have it coming."


----------



## Wilphe (Oct 18, 2007)

Tess:
       Customs and immigration are prolonged and tedious, as is to be expected, but otherwise painless and unremarkable. After only an hour you clear customs and enter the arrivals concourse, seeking out any members of the crew of the Vykris according to the holos you have.

Saanath:
        Ruzz'koff reports that the animals and handlers for Bleue Mer have arrived and that he is supervising their loading. There will be 25 Dt spare, allowing you 15dt for any speculative cargo for Missarge or points onwards once you have filled up with the consingment for the Missarge Development Corporation.

Gwydion:
        There appears to be a lot of secuity effort gone into checking those leaving Shirgegge today and a lot of security bodies around. You do wonder if Eleanor Carnot will be trying to leave today, but don't spot her. In comparison immigration control appears to be comparitively lax - by Shirgeggean standards anyway, and you spy Tess enter the Arrivals concourse only a hour or so after her ship landed


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## Shayuri (Oct 18, 2007)

Tess finds her way into the terminal at last...even with it only being an hour, she still had fond memories of the ISS expedited checkpoints where you basically just walked in. Being in the service of the Imperium had its perks. Reinforcing those memories, she was wearing her olive green all purpose shipboard jumpsuit...inches away from being a Scout suit, only with the patches and badges filed off.

She consults the data displayer in her hand, cycling through the faces she would be looking for. It surprised her now how nervous she was. She really wanted this to work, really wanted to like this crew and be liked by them...maybe even be able to help out. It seemed like the deck was stacked against her though. She was coming from an event that might all but blacklist her on a reputable ship. Not only that, she was being forced onto them, basically...not an auspicious start. For the first time in a long time, Tess wished maybe she'd grown her hair out a bit...maybe worn something prettier. They were all men (though the vargr didn't really count)...maybe they'd find it easier to relate to a more traditional woman?

Then again, how long could she keep THAT up? No...better they reject or accept her on her own merits...or lack therof.

Worriedly chewing at her bottom lip, Tess looks around, searching the crowds for a now-familiar face.


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## DrZombie (Oct 19, 2007)

"*Welcome home, scout*." A rough voice with more then a hint of an accent says. The reptilian creature on his shoulder looks at the new companion.
"*Let's get back to the ship, we'll talk there.*"


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## Shayuri (Oct 20, 2007)

Tess looks up, startled, but recognizes Gwydion almost immediately. She tucks her display away and offers her hand. 

"Thanks. Good to be here. You come highly recommended, by the way. Lead the way...we've got plenty to talk about, that's for sure."


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## Wilphe (Oct 25, 2007)

Ruzz'koff, Trelene, Tuan and Ktarle have the situation well in hand by the time you return. If by "well in hand" you mean the hold is half full of straw and animals. They have finished loading and are relaxing in the lounge waiting for you.

       Ruzz'koff is a slightly built Vargr with dusky grey fur and a seemingly omnipresent navy foil at his side, "Welcome aboard Tess, I am Ruzz'koff and I am at least nominally in charge around here. The two humans are Trelene, our chief Engineer amongst other things and Tuan, who is a disreputable associate of Gwydion who you in turn have already met. Over there is Ktarle, our Doctor and science guru," he indicates an Aslan female in the corner.

      "However, I am sure you know all about us - or at least you know what Tjoyia knows," he pauses, "or wants you to know. And we know all about you," there is another pregnant puase, "or what Tjoyia wants us to know."
      He looks at Saanath, "Have you done the why are we going to a ball of spit full of scientists breifing yet?"


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## Shayuri (Oct 26, 2007)

"Nope," Tessa demurs with a grin.

"In fact, we barely said hello before he whisked us off to the ship." She gives Gwydion a curious look.

"Cute lizard though. What is that?"


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## DrZombie (Oct 29, 2007)

"*Tommy. He's a T'tlain. Keeps the ship vermin free and keeps me company*." He grins."*Ah yes. Why exactly are we going to the spitball full of scientists again*?"


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## Wilphe (Oct 31, 2007)

"A matter of old, old business. Well it seems a long time ago, even if it was only a few months back - but a lot has happened since then and I've got a lot greyer even if no one else has*. Back before the _Dvonn _ incident we were a bunch of random space bums waiting for the next ship out of Daraamm. Myself, Ktarle, Saanath, Trelene and a couple of the others Tomas, Quinn - wherever he is now - and poor Zaed."

     "Anyway, there was a disposseed Aslan noble there working as a waiter. Mostly people just called him Treth, but that was short for his real name. Treth had been dispossed of his lands in some legal difficulties and was pretty badly adjusting to human society. Saanath and Ktarle helped him out but a couple of cops came to arrest him and he was shot resisting arrest in highly dubious circumstances. In fact it was all fairly dubious."

      "However, we left planet the same day and couldn't follow it up. After the _Dvonn_ business was done Ktarle did a little digging and a couple of interesting snippets turned up."

       "One. There was a trace organism in Treth's blood that was exactly the same as the hitherto unknown oxygen consuming one that killed so many people on the _Dvonn_."

      "Two. There is no record of any Aslan ever owning Bleue Mer and the only record of any title is to Pharmacorp."

       "Now it might be idle curiousity on our part, or a dislike of loose ends or a desire to see justice done or mere casual vigilantism, but we are awfully keen to have a look around Bleue Mer because it's quite likely we'll find some answers there."

        He fixes Tess, "We are travelling with a vet and an animal handler, both Pharmacorp employees so please keep stum around them."

OOC:

For the full story, see here:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=65776

Ktarle's investigations can be found further down this thread

* Saanath: Ruzz'koff is exactly the same shade now as he was then


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## Wilphe (Oct 31, 2007)

Saanath has worked out, somewhat to his suprise, that the best speculative cargo to take to Missarge is 14 tons of statues. Apparently the Development Corporation are seeking to give the place some gravitas. It's highly unlikely that you will lose money on the deal unless you dawdle on the way, but you will need to get hold of 500,000 cr to buy the stuff.


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## DrZombie (Nov 1, 2007)

"*500K? Hmm. I bought in for 200K, gave 50K for speculative trading, still got another 50K on my account. That's 250 for the crew and 50 for me. We still need another 200 K*." Gwydion sighs.


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## doghead (Nov 2, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath shrugs. 

"We could borrow the money. Worst case, we should make back what we outlayed. But the down side is that we will probably miss our departure slot as it will take a while to organise that sort of finance. Then we have to arrange loading, customs clearance, etc. It could be done, but it would be a royal pain. Perhaps we should just move on. There will be other opportunities."

Saanath scrubs his head for a moment.

"I think we should just get off this rock, and get on with what we came here to do."


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## Shayuri (Nov 2, 2007)

Tess watches the fracas then says, "I have about eighty thousand I can put in...if you guys are reasonably sure it'll make a return, of course." She grins.


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## doghead (Nov 2, 2007)

ic HLLJ

"I'm reasonably sure we won't make a loss. But we are talking speculative trade here. There is no such thing as a sure thing."


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## Wilphe (Nov 11, 2007)

Ruzz'koff looks around the silent table, "Looks like no one has anything to say. That makes it your call Saanath, you are the trading expert here."
       "I'll admit a part of me is wondering how we will make the payments on this tub without a little risk along the way and a look at the figures makes me think this is as little a risk as we'll ever see. Another part of me thinks that we may not be welcome if we turn up anything in Bleu Mer and that a a cargo of _objet's d'art_ is not what I want to have in my hold if people starting shooting at us."

      "I can arrange a private line of credit off my own back if money is a problem."


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## Shayuri (Nov 11, 2007)

"Oh no...I didn't mean..."

Tess rolls her eyes good naturedly, smiling...

"I didn't mean no risk. Nothing worthwhile ever came from no risk. The return thing...it was kind of a stab at a joke. They, uh, don't teach comedy in the Scouts though. Guess I should stick to my day job."

"Anyway, if you need money, I'll kick in what I can."


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## DrZombie (Nov 13, 2007)

"*If you think we can at least break even, I'd say let's do it. I've faced worse odds. And what the hell am I going to do with all that money anyway. I'd just blow it on drinks and games."*


----------



## doghead (Nov 17, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

"Right, I'll set it up."

[sblock=ooc]OK. So we are good to leave now?[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Nov 21, 2007)

"Great. I'll see that the passengers are packed and ready, and see if we've got any loose ends left."

(ooc : yep, think so)


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## Wilphe (Nov 30, 2007)

The half a million is quickly brought together once the decision is taken. Most can be financed from your own resource once piggy banks are shaken. The shares break down to 250,000 put in by Gwydion, 80,000 by Tess and 80,000 from the Crews own trading partnership. The only finance is 90,000 raised by Ruzz'koff in his own name at 2% and due in a months time. It is agreed that repaying this loan will take priority. No one else is inclined to add any capital, not wanting to put all their eggs in one basket.

     The statues, mostly figure pieces in local limestone in a Corporate Realist* style with a few bits of marble and a couple of industrial pieces welded together from discarded farm machinery. No one in the crew is really quallifed to talk about the artistic merit of any of this, but those who know the value of a credit reckon you are getting value for money here.

* Which is Socialist Realism but with Dollar Signs instead of Hammers and Sickles.


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## Wilphe (Nov 30, 2007)

Ruzz'koff slams the table, "Right, okay, we are decided. Let's get Tess settled in, shown around and signed up to the articles. You'll be a Third Officer along with Tuan. We are not very big on ranks and authority here, amongst ourselves anyway. All _I_ ask is that you never threaten my charisma in front of outsiders."

+++++++++++++++​
     It is all coming together, the administrator and his party return on board looking rested but eager to start travelling again. Mr Gudeli* greets all the crew when he returns on board, including the new arrival, "Ah, you must be Tess. Delighted to meet you, hope you will do a better job of looking after us than this lot have so far." You _think _ he's joking.*

       "We will be trying not to lose anyone else on this trip sir, it's bad for repeat business," says Ruzz'koff, equally dryly.

*Gwydion:
[sblock]http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1398905
And you are dead certain that no one can have told Ashur Gudeli or his two associates Melissah or Jake that you were getting a new crew member, least of all that her name was Tess.[/sblock]

        Your cargo manifest for this run is rather complex, with 6 different lots of varying sizes headed to two destinations with 3 owners. However, the main bulk of the cargo hold is now an animal pen filled with modified cows, groats and noqul. The attending Pharmacrop Vet, a rather young and ernest looking youth named Toled Omslaw will talk the socks off of anyone about his charges if given the chance. The handler Elizabeth Shaw is a nice enough young lady on her first trip off planet and apparently rather excited at the concept. You can only imagine her reaction if she was going somwhere worth going to.


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## DrZombie (Nov 30, 2007)

"*Cattle*." Gwydion sighs. "*The reason I left my homeplanet was Cattle."*
"*I hate Cattle. Space seemed a very good prospect. I imagined it to be the most cattle-free region of the universe. Bugger."*


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## Shayuri (Dec 1, 2007)

Tess laughs at Gwydion and leans back in her chair.

"I think they're cute. Did you see those big eyes they have? And they love people. They'll come right up and lick your hand if you let them."

She turns left and right, just seeing how far she can spin in the seat, then gets more serious.

"Okay then...so I think I'm more or less caught up on where we ARE. I'm still fuzzy on where we're going and what we're planning to do."


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## DrZombie (Dec 6, 2007)

"*We're off to missarge, then onwards. Might even stop by my old homeplanet. Mom's gonna go apeshit when she discovers I'm not married yat, and have no children."* Gwydion smiles, then frowns. "*At least none that I'm aware of.*" he mutters


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## Wilphe (Dec 8, 2007)

"I'm not sure Tess needed to know the last part of that, unless you plan on making her the solution to that particular problem. First stop is Bleue Mer, ostensibley we are going there to deliver supplies and the portable farmyard we have in our hold. Then we fuel up for free including as much of our hold as we can fill and jump out for Missarge where we hawk emergent industrial art forms. After that we wing it towards space we know well," he indicates himself, Tess and Gwydion," and drop our three passengers off at Anabapar."

      "Really however we are going to Bleue Mer because of Treth; if only because that is the only link on finding out what happened to him and any connection between that and the Dvonn incident. However, keep stum on that in front of the passengers given that two of them are Pharmacorp employees."

    "I don't really know what to do when we get to Bleue Mer except have a snoop around and see what turns up. We don't really know what we are looking for."

OOC:
      (I think I have linked to that story before. If not:here it is only Saanath and Ruzz'kofff were around then)


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## Shayuri (Dec 8, 2007)

Tessa nods at that.

"Going to Bleue Mer to hunt for clues. Got it."

She gives Gwydion a grin. 

"And tease Gwydion about his mom, of course. Can't ask for a nobler cause than that."


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## doghead (Dec 8, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath set about doing what needs to be done. Last minute arrangements need to be made to get the statues secured. The cattle are a little more demanding than cargo normally is. Saanath checks and double checks the enclosures and restraints (in case they go zero-g), as well as going over the feed and water systems for the animals one more time.

He pulls Gywdion over during a quiet moment, when they can talk privately.

"Did you mention Tess to the Administrator?" Saanath frowns. "I don't remember him being around when we found out about her," he adds with a shake of the head. "Perhaps Ruzz'koff informed him?

"Perhaps I am just getting paranoid in my old age."


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## DrZombie (Dec 9, 2007)

"*You're not old. Nor paranoid. I wouldn't be surprised if our passenger knows more about us then we do*." Gwydion grumbles.
"*I'll be happy when we drop him off*."


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## doghead (Dec 12, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath sighs, scratches his head, and idly kicks at the wall.

"Right then." And with that he gets back to work.


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## DrZombie (Dec 12, 2007)

"*Can I take her out, captain? I need some more flying hours to get my paperwork settled*." Gwydion asks hopefully.


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## doghead (Dec 15, 2007)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath shrugs. "I have no problem with that.

"So long as someone who knows what they are doing is around," he adds with his best straight face.

[sblock=ooc]Saanath was doing the piloting at one stage. Not sure if he is the regular pilot or not though. Currently 11 ranks (+14) although that is for level 8. Technically he should be level 9, I just haven't got around to levelling him yet.[/sblock]


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## Shayuri (Dec 15, 2007)

"I'd like to go too," Tess volunteers. "Get a feel for the ship and so on. I've got plenty of practice operating various systems, but every ship is unique. The more shakedown time, the better I'll do."


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## Wilphe (Dec 18, 2007)

Saanath: Everything looks like it will be in order for the cargo; though it is quite a miscellany down there. Fortunatly you don't have to worry too much about feeding these things as Elizabeth Shaw is on board to do just that, when she isn't asking lots of questions and talking non-stop about space travel, "So, Mr Saanath, sir, you're the Purser right? What exactly does that mean? I bet you've some great places in the galaxy, have you been to Bleue Mer before? I understand that's obsolete for Green Sea in some language no one uses anymore? Have you been to Daramm? Do you reckon that'll be like where we are going? Sorry-if-I-ask-a-load-of-questions."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  Ruzz'koff stands, "The con is yours Mr Gwydion;" he pages over the intercom, "All hands, Mr Gwydion has the con."
     "Tess, feel free to start looking around the systems. If you and Gwydion want to fly her out by all means do so.

      "I know how to do almost everything around here, but there is usually someone else who can do some of it better. Trelene is really the go-to person for all systems issues."
     "It'll take us about 34 hours to get to our Jump point, by that point I'd like to be able to run some practice so we at least somewhat slick with our handling. We can do drills and simulations in jump, but I'd like to get some live practice first while we have the chance."

      "We are going to be jumping off into the wild blue yonder, no pun intended, into unsecured territory that might only get a naval visit once a month if that. Anything might be waiting for us."


OOC:
     [sblock]
     Gwydion and Tess can lift off whenever they like, clearence has been given.
Saanath's piloting skill is 15, Gwydion 14, Ktarle 6, Ruzz'koff 5.
     During routine operations it is a question of who is awake and on watch. In a tactical situation when everyone is involved (which won't happen that often) I would expect Saanath to be Pilot of choice but a lot depends on on what needs to be done.

    On a related note, Shayuri, can you add Tess to Rogue's Gallery please?
http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65493[/sblock]


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## DrZombie (Dec 18, 2007)

Wilphe said:
			
		

> OOC:
> [sblock]
> Gwydion and Tess can lift off whenever they like, clearence has been given.
> Saanath's piloting skill is 15, Gwydion 14, Ktarle 6, Ruzz'koff 5.
> ...




Gwydion seats himself in his chair. His usual joking-take-it-easy-w'ell-see-what-happens manner is replaced by discipline. He runs through a strickt checking procedure ad gently takes the ship out when he's got clearance.

(take 10, -4 for not having the proper feat, gives +21 on the check. That should do it.)

Once clear of the space station he'll take 12 hrs shifts steering the ship, while Saanath will take the other shift. During combat he'll be the gunner.


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## Shayuri (Dec 20, 2007)

Tessa sits the crew ops station during takeoff, concentrating on the sensors at first, then cycling through the other functions. She also handles, with permission, the communications with ground and orbit control.

(Sensors and Communications skills at +7 each, with special electronic warfare training courtesy of ISS ).

Once safely in the black, she runs a few dead turret weapons drills just to get a feel for how the far trader's tactical station responds. On seeing the readouts, she comments to Gwydion, "A missile rack...upgunned from the standard hull, huh? Been in many scrapes so far?"


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## Wilphe (Dec 27, 2007)

Gwydion and Shayuri perform flawlessly in taking the ship out of dock and en route to the jump point. Absolutely nothing will happen during that time, or during jump. There will no bombs, hijackings, murders or people complaining about the food. Honest.

OOC:
Feel free to chat amongst yourselves, if no one posts by the end of the year I will move onto breakout from jump


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## doghead (Jan 1, 2008)

ic - HLLJ

Saanath does what he can to keep himself busy during the week of Jump flight. Looking after the cargo and crew fills a few hours each day. Ms Shaw and her Endless Collection of Questions is actually something of a relief, as it helps pass the time. He does what he can to answer them. The rest of the time he spends tinkering with his computer, or sleeping.


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## Wilphe (Jan 13, 2008)

Cockpit Voice Recorder

Scout Merchant _Vykris_

0845  233/911

"This is Captain Ruzz'koff. Under Imperial Regulations we are obliged to document for the log each occassion when we turn our IFF transponder off. This is one such occassion as we are scheduled to break out into the Bleue Mer system in 12 minutes time."

     "There is no security in this system. No System Defence force, no COAAC, no guardships, no customs and the only Imperial prescence is an occassional visit from a patrol visit. We may be the only vessal here, if not any we meet may not be friendly and we are a long way from help. If not quite a frontier this is still an undeveloped backwater system, we could find anything. For these reasons I am resolved to turn off our transponder and maintain radio silence until we approach the main world. I do not even propose to engage thrusters until we have completed a full passive sensor scan.

    "Transponder off"
    "Action stations"
    The main bridge lights power down and the red lighting kicks in
    "8 minutes to breakout"

    This is all a bit melodramatic, especially the CVO commentary, but that is mostly for the benefit of Elizabeth Shaw who is rapturously watching proceedings. In truth yes the Imperium has neglected it's border recently and stripped assets for the Solomani Rim but you are quite close to the Domain Capital still and the chances of meeting a pirate or commerce raider are very slim.
       They aren't zero though, hence the cautious approach.

        Saanath is piloting with Gwydion on Gunnery and Tess on Sensors/Comms. No one else is on the bridge.
     Trelene is in Engineering and Ktarle and Tuan are with the passengers.

OCC:
If you want to be doing something else please say so


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## doghead (Jan 14, 2008)

ic - HLLJ

A shiver of excitement runs down Saanath's spine. Part of it is Ruzz'koff's little performance. Part of it is the feeling that finally, they are approaching Blue Mer, once the homeworld of Treth.

Taking a deep breath he settles himself into his seat and prepares for breakout.


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## Wilphe (Jan 29, 2008)

Scout Merchant Vykris

0853 233/911

        The jumpfield collapses and the Vykris' bluk precipitates back into normal space. Saanath triggers the viewports and you get your first look at the Bleue Mer system. Tess begins a passive scan of the system and is supremely confident  that it is empty apart from yourselves.
         While this is going on the rest of the bridge crew are able to take thier time reviewing the system. There isn't a lot to it, Bleue Mer sits a few AU off the bow and the Vyrkris' course as she glides powerless through space will require only minor adjustment and deccelaration to enter orbit. Apart from being further out than desireable it's a near perfect jump. Bleue Mer itself is only a white blob in the distance, an enlarged image reveals little more detail as there is a lot of cloud cover and a few specks of blue showing through. There isn't any radio chat you can pick from the pharmacorp base, but that may well be on the other side of the planet.

OOC:
[sblock]
Random Encounter: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1476328/ 
From now on I will post a response as each PC posts rather than wait for more than one.
[/sblock]


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## Shayuri (Jan 29, 2008)

(OOC - Argh...talk about the newbie impressing everyone. Heeee...)

On arriving at the system, Tessa quickly does the 'listening' scans, and reports, "Nothing unusual on electromagnetic or neutrino emissions. No radio noise. It looks like we're clear."

(Edit! Wilphe, Tessa has a feat that allows a "lucky reroll" for a check, attack or saving throw. Since this is a check, it'd be eligible, I believe. It's the Dumb Luck feat. I'd like to use it on that sensors skill check. )


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## Wilphe (Jan 29, 2008)

Ruzz'koff breathes a low sigh of relief, "Good, we're clear then. Mr Saanath you may plot course for orbit around Bleue Mer and ignite engines at your discretion. Ms Desjardes please continue to scan, I think we need as much information on this whole system as possible."

      "Pharmacorp are very close lipped about this place and this is probably because there is something here worth killing for. That's what we are here to find and I would rather we worked out what that was for ourselves rather than stumbling across it accidentally and only realizing that we have discovered something when people start trying to kill us."


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## doghead (Jan 31, 2008)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Ruzz'koff said:
			
		

> Mr Saanath you may plot course for orbit around Bleue Mer and ignite engines at your discretion.




Saanath nods, then sets about doing so.



			
				Ruzz'koff said:
			
		

> "Pharmacorp are very close lipped about this place and this is probably because there is something here worth killing for. That's what we are here to find and I would rather we worked out what that was for ourselves rather than stumbling across it accidentally and only realizing that we have discovered something when people start trying to kill us."




Saanath glances over at Tess. Officially, they are here on business, running cargo and passengers. Saanath is unsure about how much Tess knows the other reasons for coming here. Has she been told about Trel and his connection to Bleue Mer.

A thought strikes Saanath. It seems so obvious that he can not but think that someone has had it before. But he can't remember ever discussing it. The organism used to knock out the passengers and crew of the Devonn was also found in Trel's blood stream. Trel came from Bleue Mer, which is now run by a pharmaceutical company. And a pharmaceutical company is the type of place that could make weaponised organisms. Does Pharmacorp have any connection to the Nobbit-Bobbit family? Saanath wonders what is in the ships library data. K. might know something. Saanath decides he needs to talk to the others. But later, when they can do so privately.

With a shake of his head, Saanath returns his attention to the job at hand. 

When the opportunity arises, he pulls Ruzz'koff aside to run his ideas past the captain. When spoke out loud, it all sounds a little far fetched even to his own ears. Saanath wonders if he is jumping at shadows.


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## Wilphe (Feb 16, 2008)

Ruzz'koff hears Saanath out, "It fits. A secret like that is worth any amount of killing and chicanery. Shouldn't be too difficult to find out if it is true. If that organism can be found on Bleue Mer then we should be able to isolate it given that we know what to look for; but it is really a matter for Dr Ktarle"

    A trivial search reveals that the Nells have substantial interests in Pharmacorp; but then they substantial interests all over the Sector so in itself that is not especially suprising. In fact if they did indeed diposess Treth and erase any knowledge of his existance they would have needed equivalent connections (or a lot of chutzpah).

Tess:
There is definitely nothing out there, unless it is distant, small, or running silent. General survey of the system indicates two tiny airless rockballs further in from the main world, another Luna size rockball further out and then three small gas giants. There also seems to be a lot of comets and ice chunks floating around but not a lot of rocky bodies.

     There doesn't seem to be any satellite comms or sensors around the main world; so your arrival is probably still unannounced.

Saanath / Tess:
      Ktarle looks at the system survey, "An oxygen destroying organism is only going to be found where there is lots of oxygen that is constantly replenished; or where it has already destroyed it all - baring some freak local isolated ecosystem in a cave or somewhere in which case our chances of finding same are slim. So we might as well start at the mian world ase know for sure Treth has been there."

   Ruzz'koff looks at you all, "Sounds good?"

ooc:
[sblock]Sorry, have not had a day off since whenever[/sblock]


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## Shayuri (Mar 12, 2008)

"Sounds good," Tess reports.

(my way of saying bump...though it's been a month since the GM was on!)


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## Wilphe (Mar 18, 2008)

"To the main world then. Take your time and run thrusters on partial power so we have time to scan, I also want to wait for our landing site to come in site so check that we are the only guests in system before we get too close."
    "As we may need to leave in a hurry I suggest that we refuel first and for free in so far as we can, if only because that will enable the processors to work on cracking it while we are in port. The entire world is water, I can't see them trying to charge of for it."

====================

    The _Vyrkris _ thrusters slowly decelerate the craft towards an orbital insertion; as the destination rotates around into view. The research station is a collection of habitat modules that you reckon is consistant with 4-500 people - though if animals are also being kept here (as your cargo indicates) that would eat into that total. There is no sign of any other vessals on planet, nor of any anti-ship weapons such as missiles or turrets (of course these aren't so easy to find...)

     The downport itself, such as it is, is a simple area of vegetation that has been cleared to bedrock about a click and a half away from the main site through some thick vegetation.


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## doghead (Mar 18, 2008)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Ruzz said:
			
		

> "To the main world then. Take your time and run thrusters on partial power so we have time to scan, I also want to wait for our landing site to come in site so check that we are the only guests in system before we get too close."




"I'll take a route that will give us an orbit around the planet. That way we can see if there is anything hiding around the back, just to be on the safe side. If they get stroppy, I'll tell them I just muffed the approach vector. After setting the course and confirming the calculations, Saanath leans back in his chair.

"Where do you want splashdown? My suggestion would be here."

Saanath indicates a point a couple of miles off a nearby coast. 

"No sign of any storms. Actually" - here Saanath indicates up another window - "the climate indicators look like it might be warm enough for a swim. No sign of any hostile or dangerous species either. At least, not according to the Library data listing.

"Actually, I could really go for a swim about now."

"Or do you want me to call them up and get some co-ordinates?"

[sblock=ooc]"This is free trader Vyrkris requesting co-ordinates for a fuelling splashdown."

Bluff +11, Liason +9, +11 with bluff synergy if required to get a splashdown first. 'need time for the processors to work', 'not sitting in the arse end of nowhere out on that rock with no cover with no fuel in the tank and no way to make tracks if trouble comes knocking'. He will start with nice and friendly.[/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Mar 25, 2008)

"This is free trader _Vyrkris _ requesting co-ordinates for a fuelling splashdown."

You wait patiently for the transmission to reach planet and any reply to get back.

After a minute you try again,

"This is free trader _Vyrkris _ requesting co-ordinates for a fuelling splashdown."

Another minute goes by

Ruzz'koff sniffs in apparent digust, "Alert here aren't they? Let's keep our distance till we know what's up."


After ten minutes more you finally get a response, "Hello _Vykris_, this is Bleue Mer control, please state you business insystem". The overal impression is of someone rather flustered who is trying to sound formally aloof. You fully expect their next action to be an accustion of trespass.

Once it is established that you are in fact their overdue supply run the voice becomes far more cooperative, "Um so you want a fueling coordinate?", the controller talks to someone else, "Do we do that?" "No"

The radio goes dead for a few minutes and then the controller, who you have by now surmised does NOT do this as his day job, come back on, "_Vykris,_ please be advised that we request all fuelling be done at the Gas Giant."

Saanath, "Roger that Bleue Mer control we are on a tight schedule and would prefer to fuel from your hydrosphere so that we work on cracking it while on planet and make a quick exit."

Control, "_Vyrkis_, this is standard practice for all vessals coming to this planet"

Sanaath, "Control, we were not informed of this and we are not keen in the arse end of nowhere out on that rock with no cover with no fuel in the tank and no way to make tracks if trouble comes knocking. We have already plotted approach vectors and to head out to the gas giant will take over a week. We have a cargo of your animals on board that will suffer if unable to land and we were led to believe that our other cargo for you was urgent."

There is another pause, and then another different voice comes on line, "Vykris this is Director Thann, you may refuel at your leisure but is at your own risk and Pharmacorp accepts no responsibility for any damage to your vessal that may result. We would further remind you that this is a Pharmacorp reserve and that this entire biosphere is classified as Commercially Sensitive. Any unauthorised informatiion gathering or theft of samples will be treated as Espionage and Piracy and pursued through the limits of the law."

      "I am transmitting a disclaimer and a non-disclosure agreement, your Captain will sign and return both before you land. Over."


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## doghead (Mar 25, 2008)

ic - HLLJ

Sanath kicks the bulkhead in frustration.

"Bloody bureaucrats. They can ruin anyone's fun. How do they do that?"

Saanath does a double check to make sure that they were not broadcasting. He notes that they were not with a sigh of relief.

[comm to Bleue Mer]"Roger Control. We appreciate your understanding on this. You are more than welcome to take a swim in our tanks before we leave to check that there is no unprocessed biosphere in there."

[private comm to Trelene, assuming that she is not on the bridge]"Trelene, can you pull up all the data we have on Bleue Mere and check for anything that might cause contamination of the fuel. Actually, do we have anything on board that can be used to manually check the atmosphere for contaminants?[/comm]

[private comm to Gwydion]"Gwydion, can you round up Tuon and make sure all the external survival gear is good to go. Breathers in particular."[/comm]

Saanath glances around at the others on the bridge. "See. Look at what she made me do. And I was having so much fun. I don't feel like swimming now."

Saanath sighs, then looks over to Ruzz'koff. Saanath is finally starting to get used to Ruzz'koff's hands off approach to being captain. But the young merchant can't help but check just to make sure he hasn't overstepped his bounds.

[sblock=ooc]Wilphe, are we taking water or atmosphere for refuelling? I was assuming water. But ships scoop gas from gas giants, so would we be doing the same thing here? Could we? Any advantages either way?

DrZ hasn't been around for a couple of months. Hope that we haven't lost him.[/sblock]


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## Wilphe (Apr 10, 2008)

"Bloody bureaucrats. They can ruin anyone's fun. How do they do that?"

      "Maybe Pharmacorp are using this place to breed a race of genetic super bureaucrats? Would explain why they are so touchy about visitors yet their main defence is to threaten to sue us. If this wasn't an Imperial World I'd say it was in need of a good pillaging."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[comm to Bleue Mer]"Roger Control. We appreciate your understanding on this. You are more than welcome to take a swim in our tanks before we leave to check that there is no unprocessed biosphere in there."

Director Thann responds icily, "That will not be necessary thank you young man. Bleue Mer out."

Ruzz'kofff sniffs, "I'm starting not to care if this is an Imperial World or not; and I really shoudln't think that way. It gives me ideas."
he looks at Tess,
                  "I am of course, joking," he pauses, "Mostly".

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[private comm to Trelene, assuming that she is not on the bridge]"Trelene, can you pull up all the data we have on Bleue Mere and check for anything that might cause contamination of the fuel."

"ISS can't decide if the atmosphere is "tainted" or "corrosive", seems to change every time they survey it but no one seems to have any record exactly what they are on about".

 Actually, do we have anything on board that can be used to manually check the atmosphere for contaminants?[/comm]

"You mean apart from you? yeah, not a problem"

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[private comm to Gwydion]"Gwydion, can you round up Tuon and make sure all the external survival gear is good to go. Breathers in particular."[/comm]

"Roger that. You planning on making a crashlanding?"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Saanath glances around at the others on the bridge. "See. Look at what she made me do. And I was having so much fun. I don't feel like swimming now."

       Ruzz'koff looks up, "You are a bit too valauble to use as a canary. That's what Tess is for. Joking, again, honest, mostly"


       Saanath sighs, then looks over to Ruzz'koff. Saanath is finally starting to get used to Ruzz'koff's hands off approach to being captain. But the young merchant can't help but check just to make sure he hasn't overstepped his bounds.

        Ruzz'koff is busy reading the disclaimer and the NDA, he sniffs and looks at Saanath, "Nothing out of the ordinary, but can you and Trelene take a look for me before I send it back please?"


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## Wilphe (Apr 10, 2008)

[sblock=ooc]
ooc 
Wilphe, are we taking water or atmosphere for refuelling? I was assuming water. But ships scoop gas from gas giants, so would we be doing the same thing here? Could we? Any advantages either way?

Yeah we are talking water from the planet itself, Pharmacorp want you to use the gasgiant.

pros and cons of either:

- Water:
+ It is normally availible on inhabitated planets, terrestrial ones anyway
+ It is really hard to die getting water, as even if there isn't a hose all you have to do is stop over any body of water, sink into it and open the fuelling cocks. Bad weather can make this a bit tricky but usually nothing more than that
+ You can use ice in extremis but that requires a lot of shovelling and then you have to melt it.
+ It doesn't require a seperate journey away from the main world

- Most inhabitated planets don't like seeing their hydrosphere dissappear and will flat out forbid such refuelling or charge for it. Especially is water is short
- Water needs to be cracked into hydrogen and oxygen to be useable as jump fuel. This isn't normally a problem as most ships have power to spare, but it does take time. Normally however that time is spent on planet or travelling to the jump point

Gas Giant skimming
+ You will getting Hydrogen, not water, so it just needs to be purified, not cracked
+ No one really cares is their gas giant is a bit smaller

- Skimming a gas giant is never routine, these things have weather systems the size of planets, crushing gravity and massive magnetic fields. Not a place to make a mistake.
- It's a great place to get ambushed. Pirates, SBDs and commerce raiders love hiding in the clouds
- Gas giant dwelling life forms, of which there are a few, naturally very alien, tend to get upset if people skim their planets. The shockwaves from a passing starship can damage or kill thousands if not millions of creatures

DrZ hasn't been around for a couple of months. Hope that we haven't lost him. 
Me too. Hope he is okay [/sblock]


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## Shayuri (Apr 10, 2008)

Tess gives Ruzz a good natured roll of her eyes, but her grin shows she's no stranger to an informal crew environment. ISS ships were often...'eccentric' by the standards of Imperial military services. Long periods of time out in the middle of nowhere led to close crew bonds and less reliance on regulations.

"Hey, lemme do a quick analysis of an atmosphere sample," she suggests. "If there's conflicting reports, the least we can do is add to the confusion."

(I'll take 10 for now, I think. That means results of 16 in Survey and 17 in Sensors for the purpose of determining atmospheric composition and effects. If those figures seem inconclusive, I can try again with a roll, I believe...let me know. )


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## doghead (Apr 10, 2008)

ic - HLLJ



			
				Tess said:
			
		

> "Hey, lemme do a quick analysis of an atmosphere sample," she suggests. "If there's conflicting reports, the least we can do is add to the confusion."




Saanath considers their new crew mate for a moment. He had forgotten that she was a scout. Would probably be fairly used to dealing with new environments. Good to know.

"Take what you find and have a chat to Ktarl, and maybe Trelene. Between you, you should be able to get a fairly good idea idea of what is going on."

"You can tell Ktarle that I really don't want any uninvited guests coming back on board with us. ... Actually, If you give me a minute, I will come with you.


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## doghead (Apr 16, 2008)

ic - HLLJ

Finishing up, Saanath leaves the bridge, beckoning Tess to follow. Saanath finds Trelene and Ktarle, and somewhere they can speak in private. If Gydion is folating around, he grabs him also. Once he has them were they can talk without being overheard by any passengers, he gets straight to the point.

"I am concerned by the number of connections between Bleue Mer and the oxygen sucking bug we encountered on the Devonn. Pharamacorp is part of the Nels-whatsits empire, and I am pretty sure he knoew what was going on on that ship. Also, traces of the same organism were found on Treth. That really worries me. So can you make sure we are prepared to deal with it if we do run across it again. Would it be possible to monitor for it? Do we have the equipment for that?"

Of course, only Trelene and Ktarle know first hand what Saanath is going on about. He gives Tess and Gywdion time to ask any questions they have. Once everyone is up to speed, "Right, Ktarle and Tess, you can sort out prevention and monitoring. Gydion, you and Tuon make sure the quarantine protocols are sorted, and the survival gear ready. Work with Ktarle, she knows the details.

"Trelene, can you have a look over this. Its some wrongbadfun from planetside."


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## Shayuri (Apr 26, 2008)

(mew...I guess there won't be any response from GM re: scanning until he gets back online. No need to put everyone else off though. )

Tess listens with a concerned expression. When he gives time for questions, she has a few.

"Alright, this 'oxygen sucking bug,' this organism...do we have any library data on it? To determine if there's any infestation here, we'll need to know at least the basics about its life cycle and chemical makeup. Also, would it have arrived with an incoming starship, or does it have other vectors?"

She makes a mental note to review the mission logs from Devonn as well.


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