Things On And Off Track

    Friday, 092-1114: Early evening
Cleaning Up After The Operations
     Zimzod had helped while Mikah surgically implanted Fesic's neural stent, and Sekea settled into one of the beds in the med-bay to recover from his surgery.  They couldn't leave the ship because the berth had been attacked and station security had fought off the attackers before Aali lit the ship's aft thrust engines.  Rol, Jocelynn and Aiden were gathered in the suite's living room, logged into terminals and on comms, to help those in the ship during the fighting.  Colinne was off-station, having booked a day aboard a tour craft exploring the geology of Ghandi Prime.  So she was "stuck" aboard that craft until the tour returned to the station.  When word reached her, Colinne asked if they could turn back to return to the suite or if the station would open a path for her to get onto the ship?  Especially since their ship had to be moved to a new berth now, with the damage to the compartment in the attack.  But that wasn't permitted.

Station security called saying they wanted to talk to each of the crew stuck there.  Aali was the first to be connected on an individual line and the next person they asked for was Mikah.  Each person was eventually asked for their perceptions and experiences during the attack on the berth.  Mikah said she'd been in surgery throughout the events and had little awareness of what happened.  She remembered feeling the explosion and how the ship lurched, but was having issues even so soon after the attack remembering the details thanks to the confusion.  She wanted to say the ship was shoved to her right, but the sheer rush of events showed how sophont memory had issues.  Ironically, the one person who had an eidetic memory was on the table being cut on, and couldn't really comment on those details.

Mikah continued that she was pissed her assistants had run off to see what happened, even though she'd ordered Zimzod to do so and Fesic was observing, and about to be a patient.  He'd chased after Zimzod on his own.  Those listening new these weren't critical memory issues, but it did put a stamp on how stress affected perceptions.  Mikah continued that Zimzod had reported hostiles were in the ship's berth with station security teams trying to back them off.  With nothing else she could do, Mikah told them she continued with the surgery.  Mikah said she'd eventually gotten a comms from Aali, their engineer, saying she should hold on to something.  Mikah continued that the ship then shook and she realized the ship's engines were started!

After that, Mikah said she ordered everyone to stay on the ship and had Zimzod return so she could finish Sekea's surgery.  Then, they waited while she worked to see what would happen?  After finishing the first surgery without more shit happening, she was there so she figured they'd move forward and do the second surgery.  While finishing that, Mikah said they got the first call from the port and confirmed they'd stay put until the berth could be cleaned enough to make it safe to leave their ship.  So, Mikah finished Fesic's surgery and they were then waiting until that call came.

When they asked Mikah if she remembered a contact early in events from the port, Mikah admitted she remembered the harmonic port blast.  Still, she said she was concentrating on the surgery and didn't recall what the message said?  She did say she'd gotten the bulk of her information from Zimzod and Fesic.  That meant Zimzod was the next member of the crew they connected to on an individual line.  Zimzod said Mikah had told him to see what happened to make the ship rock?  He'd gone forward and below decks, getting into one of the ship's dorsal gun turrets to investigate.  He saw there was nothing he could do from inside the ship or out and reported that, so Mikah called him back to help finish the surgery on Sekea.  He said he left Fesic in the other turret to keep reporting and went back to the med-bay.

They next connected to Fesic on an individual line, for his report, and he said he'd gotten to the turret and seen there wasn't anything he, or they, could do.  Accepting that, he started armoring up to fight in case the mercenary force managed to board the ship.  Fesic said, "A lot of people showed up in the berth and then some nice person turned on our engines.  And that burn a lot of them up.  Those were the bad ones, not the good ones."  Sadly, while Fesic spoke, he didn't realize the body of the ship had blocked his view of the ships aft.  He hadn't seen the station security teams hiding behind the ship in the engine's baffles.  When they questioned how Fesic knew only "bad people" had been burned, he said, "From my perspective, that was all I could see.  And I know the person who lit the engines and she wouldn't have burned up good people."

Finally, that drove the investigation back to Aali.  When she was asked, she recalled being warned to shelter in place and wait for the port to resolve the situation.  However, she also heard reporting from Fesic and, to an extent, Zimzod saying things were getting worse.  Aali admitted she'd seen more than one situation start out looking good for the defenders only to turn out to be a disaster.  She said her understanding of the situation was that the mercs had started using high explosives and heavy grade weapons in the berth.  She also admitted guessing it wasn't likely many of the defenders had survived if any at all.  Because of that, Aali felt she had no choice but to defend the ship and prevent it from suffering disabling damage.  Especially when she heard reports the mercenaries were launching explosives into the berth.  So, she lit the ship's thrusters in self defense.

Those in the berth had been told the situation there was secure and port security teams were cleaning the space before they could unbutton the ship and return to the hotel.  Not able to do anything to help those in the ship, Aiden realized he was at loose ends until things there changed.  With nothing better to do, he decided to update his journal for a while.  Then, he'd spend time looking for music recordings to listen to and download to his collection.  Aiden ultimately spent Cr 45 on new music.  Also at loose ends, Rol decided to spark up the smaller of the comms training programs, which he'd installed on his handcomp, and start assessing it.  With an hour left in her tour, Colinne had been told things in the berth had worked out and events on the station were calming down.

Jocelynn had planned to meet Mikah at the Order house and seen those plans blown away by the attack at the berth.  Pivoting from that, Jocelynn planned to call the Order house and ask about the gear they were working on for her.  She'd then call InstellArms, to ask the same questions.  Then, she'd call the broker to see if he had any updates for her before sitting in her bedroom to do some psi work.  When she connected with the concierge at the Order House, that woman confirmed they were working on the projects for the crew, but had no hard estimates on delivery.  Thrilling Jocelynn, the woman told her they would like her to visit the next day to "test" a prototype slug thrower-laser pistol with her.  Jocelynn agreed to meet with them at 1pm the next afternoon.

Thanking the Order house concierge, Jocelynn cut that call and comm'd InstellArms to connect with her personal concierge there.  He confirmed they would deliver her newest Terin-dummy the next day and asked where Jocelynn wanted it delivered?  Jocelynn said to deliver it to their ship and she asked for help moving the three other Terin figures.  Her concierge also confirmed the upcoming appointment to discuss the pell 'droid.  One issue the concierge didn't push was that time to repair or modify the Pell 'droid was getting short, given when Jocelynn said they wanted to leave Ghandi.  That was good for InstellArms, since it would soon be too late for the crew to do anything other than buy a new 'droid.

Moving on, Jocelynn called the broker next.  She first checked to make sure he'd set up auctions for the crew's items and he said he did, but warned her not to be too hopeful.  Making it clear that news about what happened in the berth was getting around, he also told her the deal involving the Manufactured Goods was now off the table.  It turned out the person the broker had been dealing with didn't want to deal with the Upgrade anymore.  Still, he pointed out there were other cargoes and he'd get them set up with something for Lanth.  While buying something cheap and selling it for more would make a "per ton" profit, the key was to invest enough cash in cargoes like that so the per ton profit multiplied out to enough to cover the purchase and the ship's operational costs.

During his search for music, Aiden decided to try an experiment and reach out with his stent.  Centering himself and concentrating on his stent, he did his best to sense any connections.  The first thing he hit was the in-suite router, though he could also feel a number of "device-specific" listening connections.  Concentrating on the router, because it was the strongest signal, he could then feel other strong connections.  Choosing one of those, Aiden could sense he had connected to a station-based router outside the hotel!  This was the first time he'd managed to connect that far out, and he spent some time after that casting about mentally to look for any kind of a music server.

Finally, Colinne's tour docked and a steward aboard got her into a portCab the tour crew had called ahead for, to get her back to the suite.  They had learned in advance the port had finally cleared everyone on the ship to return to the suite.  They would then move the ship to a new berth.  While waiting, Mikah, Zimzod and the others had cleaned up the med-bay and were good to go.  So everyone had gathered back at the suite when Colinne returned and told them about her tour and Mikah's new caldera on Ghandi Prime.  Fesic was impressed while he listened to Colinne describe the sights and experiences.  He considered taking the same tour at some time before they left the system.

    Saturday, 093-1114:
Flying Bodies And Random Walkies
     The morning unfolded as the crew woke in the suite.  Colinne got a call that the shotgun she'd ordered was ready for her to test.  So she had to spend four hours on one of the Order house's ranges while they measured her movements and took the data to customize it.  The customization would take a couple of days after which they'd formally deliver the weapon to her.  Colinne decided to catch a cab and ride off to the test work on her shotgun that morning, and rejoin the crew around lunch time.  Jocelynn was also called to remind her about the prototype weapon.  They wanted her to come in to test the prototype on one of their ranges.  Jocelynn told the staffer she'd already set up an appointment to visit the Order house at 1pm.  Aali decided she'd go to where the ship had been moved and do both 'droid maintenance and work on the ship's engineering.

Aiden decided to call the Order house and check in on his custom weapons.  The concierge he connected with said the weapons were still being worked on and there was no schedule for delivery.  Next, Aiden decided to ask Aali if he could turn off the gravity in the ship's cargo bay to break out his training suit and start working on his zero-g training?  When Aali said that wouldn't affect her work, Aiden told the others he was going to the ship, at least until lunch time, to do zero-g work.  He invited anyone who wanted to join him to come with.  That reminded Fesic he also had issues with zero-g work and should likely do something to study that too.  So, he sparked up a comms and connected with his concierge.

After connecting, Fesic mentioned that Aiden had bought a training suit programmed to help teach zero-g.  When the concierge checked the records she found Aiden had paid KCr 250 for a TL E teaching suit.  Aiden paid to have it programmed to teach zero-G to a level of proficiency(3).  Hearing that, Fesic said he wanted the same thing for himself, and she checked to see if they had a suit in stock that would fit a fairly thin, five-foot, seven male?  When she found they had a suit in stock, Fesic paid for it and she said it would be delivered the next morning.

Finishing that conversation, Fesic then called the shop owner he'd connected with hoping to get micro-gyrostabilizers.  The last they'd spoken, the two had hoped to bring their different needs together to create a deal.  Sadly, after he called and introduced himself to say he was ready to negotiate the shop owner said he didn't think they had anything more to talk about and cut the connection.  Fesic was left remembering what he'd felt was "collateral damage" to his team had started turning to a much bigger thing to the station population.  Since the man still had the gear he wanted, Fesic called him back to ask if he could still buy them from that shop?

When the man answered the comms, Fesic asked, "Are you no longer willing to do business with me at all?"  The shop owner admitted he would still sell the items if Fesic wanted.  Feeling better about the situation, Fesic asked how much the man wanted for the two stabilizers?  At the same time, Fesic thought to himself that the crew should get out of the Ghandi system soon.  That feeling was enhanced when the shop owner said he was willing to sell Fesic the two devices for KCr 30!  Each.  Especially when a micro-gyrostabilizer can be gotten for as little as KCr 5 or so.  Meaning the man was hitting him for six or more times the average cost.  Hearing that, Fesic faked getting another call and broke the line with him.

Without a current hope of getting the stabilizers for cheap, Fesic decided to do something to relax.  With the rest of the universe collapsing in on the crew, Fesic remembered the station staff were preparing for a large horticultural display on some of the station's concourses.  In some cases, the locations were being cleared while others were, or hand been, set up for displays.  So, Fesic decided to go and find some nature to relax in.  Grabbing a transport map, Fesic called for a portCab to get to one of the station's mass transit systems.  That way, he'd pay as little as possible to reach a spot of nature.  Fesic then set off to find himself some green space.

Jocelynn called InstellArms to set up the new dummy delivery more specifically, and remembered Aiden had invited the others to take part in his zero-g practice.  Getting an evil idea, she told them to deliver the new dummy to the ship around 9:30 that morning.  She also said she needed their team to move the three dummies she already gotten.  Jocelynn figured she or Mikah could ram a rod down into the throat of the dummy and re-mount the head.  Knowing Mikah would enjoy that as much as she would, Jocelynn invited Mikah to come along.  Mikah was thrilled with the idea.  Especially since the dummies would weigh nothing with the ship's cargo bay gravity turned off.

Riding in the portCab, Jocelynn told Mikah about the idea of moving the dummies to the cargo bay.  She then added the idea they throw them at Aiden during his training and Mikah laughed while looking forward to the fun.  Mikah also snarked that they should steal his suit and have it modified so it would replace the normal, "You have died, please reset" to flash "MUNARSHU'S FOOT!!" first.  When she reminded Jocelynn that was how Aiden had died before he was cloned, they both laughed.  Mikah said she wanted to go to the Order house after, and have a massage.

Aiden had gotten to the ship and begun his workout in the suit.  While he began some of the suit's basic exercises he was surprised when the cargo bay door started opening.  Securing himself to a handhold while watching, Aiden soon saw Mikah, Jocelynn, a pair of InstellArms workers with four other figures waiting in the berth.  Looking closer at the other figures, Aiden got a shock when he recognized one as Terin!  Their dead navigator Terin!  Checking the next figure, he again saw Terin!  A second Terin!  Then a third!  And a fourth!  Details on the fourth caused him to look closer.  That figure seemed to have had a slashed throat and blasts to the chest.  All Aiden could do was hang there and wonder what the fuck?  Before opening the bay door, Jocelynn had given tools to Mikah so she could drill a hole down the dummies throat and re-mount the head on the one figure she'd beheaded.  The InstellArms people then moved all the dummies to the cargo bay hatch.

While Aiden worked to deal with fractured elements of reality, Jocelynn dealt with the InstellArms workers, who turned and left after she'd signed off on the work.  At the same time, Mikah edged one of the dummies into the zero-g effects inside the berth.  She then very easily picked up the dummy and threw it at Aiden!  Reacting in an "oh shit" mode as the dummy came unexpectedly zooming at him, Aiden tried to follow his suit's advice while Mikah reached for a second dummy.  At the same time, Jocelynn reached for one of the two other dummies and Aiden found himself in a storm of flying Terin's!  The bad news for Aiden was that both Mikah and Jocelynn were well-trained in zero-g movement.  because of that, they could reach and grab each of the drifting dummies and throw them again.  So, Aiden realized he was gonna have a much more exciting training session than he'd planned.  Things got even more crazy when the head came off the one dummy and both the body and head became thrown missiles.

When Aiden first wondered how there were so many Terin's Mikah reminded him he'd been the first member of the crew to be cloned.  So, as he dodged and whined, Mikah reminded Aiden he was to blame for reproducing crew members.  When Aiden complained this was taking surreal to a new level, Mikah joked back, "You haven't seen surreal yet."  Despite his hopes the ladies would get over the idea quickly, he suddenly realized he was gonna be playing 'dodge-Terin' for a good bit.  While they pelted Aiden with Terins, Rol was working at physical therapy in the suite.  Without the support androids, he was flying without a net.  Rol did try his hand at doing "normal" calisthenics, and pushed as hard as he could through the morning.  He did have to take breaks and return to the gravChair.  Still, he got through the morning without having to call for help.

Sekea spent a brief part of his morning considering his options regarding scopes for his weapons.  He decided to keep the scopes he'd bought and thought about taking them to the Order house to have them mounted.  Calling the Order house for direction, they said he could mount them himself.  Or, they said they could help him to sight zero them too.  Deciding to go to the Order house, Sekea saw Rol was working at his physical therapy and went to tell Zimzod what he planned.  When Zimzod agreed to go with him and help, Sekea called a portCab.  Zimzod had the Order house pick up his assault rifle, auto-shotgun and his pistols, pain and misery.  Zimzod was pleased the Order house would pick those up without charge because InstellArms had a Cr 50 fee.

On the range, the tech helped Sekea mount his sights for free and charged Cr 50 to help sight zero them.  Zimzod asked if they had a barrel laser to use during the process?  The tech said he could, though it seemed obvious the man hadn't planned to use the device.  Still, that didn't change the service price and he worked with Sekea to get the job done.  In the end, Zimzod burned through Cr 150 in ammo and Sekea burned through Cr 60 of gauss ammo.  They only spent an hour of their morning so they had to choose what to do next?  Being in the Order house, both men decided to sit for an early lunch and ordered Cr 20 meals.  After eating, Zimzod decided to return to the suite unless Mikah needed him.  Since they weren't together, Zimzod comm'd Mikah to check in.

While throwing Terins at Aiden, Mikah got a buzz on her comms.  Answering, Mikah was being called by the Office of the Count's seneschalate.  They told Mikah they wanted to speak to her and Dame Piirirshu-Meshrumiikiim that afternoon.  When Mikah asked what time, they said to meet at the seneschalate offices on station at 2pm.  Mikah agreed to that and, after the call was cut, called Aali to let her know about the meeting.  Since Aali was on the ship, she told Mikah she'd have lunch from ship's stores and Aiden joined her.  Jocelynn also ate on the ship before leaving for the Order house.  Mikah also decided to have lunch on the ship and said Aali could ride with her to the government offices.  Colinne spent Cr 30 on lunch at the Order house and got a call from InstellArms in which she told them to deliver her completed Combat Armor to the ship.

Before Aiden and the others went to eat, InstellArms had turned up with Sekea and Colinne's combat armor suits, to stow them in the cargo bay.  Mikah was just finishing up before she and Aali left for the Count's offices when Zimzod's call came.  When Zimzod asked, Mikah said she didn't need him for anything at the moment but joked that he might have to bail her out of jail later.  Zimzod asked about that and she explained the summons to the Count's offices.  Zimzod nodded and said he'd be at the suite if she needed help.  When he got back to the suite, Zimzod relaxed and started doing stent work. 

In the suite, Rol had surprising successes and felt less pain than he'd expected.  Given what he'd been able to do, Rol decided it was time to start challenging himself by moving out to wander the port proper.  He still had lunch in the suite before anything else.  While eating, Rol considered the idea of taking a walk.  At first, the "goal" of taking a walk didn't matter to him and Rol began looking at the area around the hotel for distance-based destinations.  He looked for a "target" that wouldn't push his body too far even though he did want to push himself somewhat.  He also worried about getting so far from the hotel that he'd have to called for medical or rescue services if he'd gone too far and had issues returning to the suite.

Still, Rol realized that there would be top level support and even rescue services no matter where he went on Ghandi station.  Given that, he began to realize it didn't matter where he went to walk.  Considering that the goal might be a reward for the effort, Rol figured he could hire a portCab and go to any concourse he chose in the station.  Then, he could walk as he could, and sit when he needed to.  And, if he over-did it, there would be portCabs or even medical services to get him back to the hotel or even treatment locations if needed.  So, Rol widened out his options.

In the end, Rol called a station guide up on a terminal and highlighted the concourses listed as "entertainment".  He then chose one and figured he'd walk the concourse while seeing the sights.  If he found a vid he wanted to see, or a viewing theater to choose from the available offerings, he might even see a film, and play it as he felt.  Rol paid the Cr 20 for a ride to the concourse and then began wandering.  Soon, Rol started checking theaters and saw a number of vids already selected.  Those would be shown in variable size viewing spaces that accommodated all those who'd bought tickets for the viewing.

Looking at what other viewers had an interest in he saw, two dramas, four comedies, one science fiction, six horror, two movies Rol would refer to as "chick flick" dramas, one family-oriented vid, one animated and four subtitled presentations in non-galanglic languages(Aslan, Vargr, etc...).  Seeing a comedy he'd not heard of, which was scheduled for an hour and a half, Rol bought a Cr 10 ticket for that and then spent the time before the performance wandering the concourse and sitting as he needed to.  Eventually, he got out of the theater after 2pm and went looking for food.  Sekea decided to go out and wander an entertainment concourse.  While he wandered, Sekea got a call from InstellArms to say they were ready to return his combat armor to him and he told them to deliver the armor to the ship.

Sekea eventually looked at what kinds of performances he could attend?  He finally chose a comedic tragedy where the lead player uses a tech trick to hide his identity and sneak aboard a warship.  After boarding, the man finds a niece of his serves as a lower officer, but is prevented from advancing because she's been mis-assigned and can't earn rank.  Things play out and the ship is engaged in hit and run battles with a Zhodani ship while the ship's commander is revealed to be less able than he should be.  During the events, it is revealed that the hero had commanded the ship a few years earlier.  But he'd been politically replaced by the current commander in an act of nepotism.  The hero confronts his replacement just before a climatic naval engagement and that officer admits his fault.  He appoints the former officer Captain and resigns his commission.  The battle that follows is a shining victory.  During the fight, the now-Captain's niece is forced to step into the role she should have been assigned to, and earns a battlefield decoration assuring her future.

Sekea enjoyed the play, which had combined farcical comedy, drama which would have been more biting during periods where some Imperial commands had been seen to be rife with nepotism, the tragic deaths of crew members, a scene of denied love where a dying crewman admits his love for the hero's niece and more.  The over-all arc of the story combines the all elements with the attempted and successful mutiny led by the hero against the incompetent Captain and his loyal officers.  On the whole, especially as a former officer of the Imperial Navy, Sekea enjoyed the story and even the laughs based on the less-current failings of the Navy and planned to tell the others how enjoyable the play was.  Even at the cost of Cr 50 per seat.

After having lunch, Aiden went to his stateroom to pull out a few of his "training drones" and try practicing with them in the cargo bay.  For that, he turned the gravity on for the lowest level of difficulty.  Colinne had called a portCab after lunch, heading to the ship.  In the cab, she called Mikah, who was in a portCab riding to the Count's offices with Aali.  When the call connected, Colinne told Mikah she wanted permission to install the decompiler software she'd gotten.  Mikah was mystified why they had to talk about it?  When Colinne again said she wanted permission, Mikah pointed out she was the ship's computer officer.  So, she was the expert Mikah relied on and trusted to make those decisions.  Accepting that, Colinne thanked Mikah and decided to install the decompiler.  Then, she would install Rol's Communications software.

Colinne thanked Mikah and then set about her plans for the afternoon.  She started by loading and testing the decompiler.  After she confirmed that was settled into the system, she would next load Rol's communications software.  Done checking and confirming that, she'd get started stepping into the decompiler before loading the lock cracking software and getting some basic work started there.  Still, she had to call Rol and get the information she needed to connect to, access and download his software package.  After she got that information, Colinne told Rol he should be able to use the software, either on the ship or by remote connection to it, that afternoon.

Surprises All Around
     Fesic had left the suite heading for the concourses on which station staff were setting up topiary, floral and vegetation displays.  From what he'd read, the displays were curated from a number of the regional systems including, ironically, displays from the Denotam system.  Looking forward to the displays, he knew he arrived when he started seeing both established displays and staffers working to set up planting systems.  The more he moved into the work zone, the more he could smell the loam, and the scent of air which had actually been exhaled by leaves from green plants.  That smelled, tasted and even felt different than the canned air of a station or starship.

Moving into the space, it wasn't long before Fesic was noticed by a number of people working there.  Fesic's masterful plan was to ask lots and lots of questions while using the names of whatever plants he knew he could pull out of his brain.  He asked if the collections were each separate and derived from a specific system or if they were mixed in clusters that combined vegetation from combined systems?  He also asked if they were working to create hybrid breeds or were keeping unmodified species?  That meant he was soon talking to a number of the people about the displays and he was asking questions that made it clear he wasn't just a lookie-loo.

Fesic was quickly reminded there were organizations in Imperial space that curated and presented botanical collections from not only the local system clusters, but of the subsector and sector.  While there were no reserve systems for the subsector, there were Spinward Marches Reserve systems like the Marastan system in the Glisten subsector.  And that wasn't just a Sector reservation.  It was officially designated as an Imperial Reserve world.  Much of the population there worked directly in preservation, curation and the active work of supporting radically different biomes on the surface of one world.  When Fesic asked about the risk of interaction with invasive species, one of the women stepped forward and mentioned that many such events had been documented.

She then launched into something short of a lecture in which she talked about how a number of different plants were transplanted from Denotam to the Carse system.  The issue they failed to protect against was that plant life from the colder Denotam system would thrive even more so in the warmer regions of the Carse system.  Because of that, a number of plant species became rogue invaders.  The rumors suggested the system authorities were still currently fighting against sudden outbreaks blossoming from latent seedings.  The ironic thing was that Fesic missed the fact Sekea had collected seeds from Denotam and had been sending x-mails home pushing just exactly that kind of invasive threat.  And, Fesic was so devoted to working his way into the display space he missed the bit, which he should have brought back to Sekea.

Still, Fesic did his best to keep up with the conversation by asking questions.  Especially related to creating hybrid plants that could spread desired crops into systems hostile to Terra-evolved plants.  That work was mostly done in botany labs or corporate facilities, and there were none of those on-station.  The woman explained she'd started work as a laborer in the station's hydroponics and worked her way up to head the station's botanical services division.  That surprised Fesic, since people with that much authority rarely get their hands dirty working at the level this woman and her team were.  As the botanical administrator moved from 'instructor' back to the work she needed, another woman introduced herself as Kuki Gilir, and offered to guide Fesic.

Following her lead, Fesic widened their conversation to questions about herself while she guided him through the displayed, answered his questions and introduced him to others.  He also added in a bit of syrup and interest as the time passed.  Continuing through the day, they shared a lunch and spent the afternoon together.  Soon enough, their conversations turned to plants appropriate for a starship stateroom while they also talked about conservation and pollination.  Especially when they shifted from public concourses to Kuki's quarters.

Before ending up in private, Kuki brought him to one of the shops on station.  There, Fesic got to see a number of plant options to decorate his stateroom.  What he eventually bought for Cr 15,000 was a dome-enclosed Bonsai miniature tree.  The dome in which it was sealed had AI controls that not only told the owner when resources were needed, but also unsealed and partly retracted the dome when conditions allowed.  That feature was specifically designed to protect the tree if the compartment it was in lost atmosphere.  The tree came with a bonsai tool kit for maintaining the tree and data crystal with the files and video instructions on how to care for the plant.  It would also mount firmly to stateroom furniture to secure it against loss during explosive decompression.

Jocelynn and Mikah had entirely enjoyed throwing Terins at Aiden before having lunch from the ship's stores.  After that, Jocelynn grabbed a portCab to the Order house where she was led to speak with the weapon designers.  As she walked in, Jocelynn couldn't miss the fact the designers were smirking in anticipation of what they were about to show her.  Jocelynn also noticed there was a "lump shape" on a display table which was covered under a work cloth.  Nodding to her, the lead tech said, "We feel we've figured out how to get this thing done, more or less.  So we need you to test it on a range so we can confirm how it works and what tweaks may be needed."  Before we proceed, we also need to see if it meets with your approval?

With that, another of the designers lifted the cloth to show Jocelynn the weapon below.  The weapon sat exposed, with the frame, components, wiring and gear-works visible, along with everything else that would be hidden and protected by an outer metal, ceramic or hybrid surface.  So, the weapon was obviously not "Done".  Still, the grip and trigger housing were close enough the weapon was range and testing ready.  The cable powering the laser could was plugged into a converter connected to a standard fusion power outlet in the lab, instead of a backpack or Jocelynn's battledress in the field.

Looking the weapon over as it sat, Jocelynn could see the dual barrels where one was obviously a slug thrower with the other being a laser barrel.  Looking more closely, Jocelynn could see the magazine inserted in the well had two files that could each feed a different class of ammunition sized to the caliber the weapon could fire.  Jocelynn looked over what appeared to be delicate works to select which ammunition type to fire, including blocking the magazine while activating the laser.  She could tell that trying to use the weapon in rapid succession was gonna give her thumb a workout and she'd have to get used to shifting the selector in combat.  Still, she knew every advance in combat also had related drawbacks.

After discussing the design, the smiths wanted to spend time with Jocelynn on the range both testing the prototype and taking measurements.  Most of those measures would be used to customize the weapon to her hands, given she was ambidextrous.  If Jocelynn did buy the weapon, they priced it at Cr 60,000 which she felt was inexpensive.  Of course, it would have been much more expensive if it had been designed to fire from internal batteries, but that wouldn't have been possible with the slug-throwing magazine in the weapon's mag-well.  Not to mention the amount of lab time to design mechanisms that were only being released from the labs of high-end weapon design corporations.

Asking permission, Jocelynn lifted the weapon from the table saying, "I don't know how you guys did this but well done."  As she grabbed it by the grip and hefted it, Jocelynn could feel the pistol was a bit heavier than expected.  Still, it wasn't so heavy that it would be hard for her to manage.  Especially when she did while in her battledress.  Jocelynn then spent the afternoon on a range at the Order house and also stayed to have dinner there before returning to the suite.  Aiden had been practicing with his drones in the ship' cargo bay until he decided to square things away and go back to the suite.  There, he played video games until dinner time.

When Mikah and Aali arrived at the Count's offices, they were led into a meeting room and asked to sit while the Count and his people arrived.  When they did arrive, the Count stepped into the room first.  He was followed by the Imperial Legate, the port's Executive Director, the Imperial Ministry of Justice's Head of Investigations on world along with a number of support techs and assistants.  As they entered and found seats, none of them looked pleased to be in the room.  Getting started, a seneschalate officer introduced the people in the room and said that the discussions would be based on a report not released to the public, which would contain some facts that would be made public.

The meeting began with a recitation of the facts that had been gathered from testimony from those of Mikah's crew who were aboard the Upgrade during the time of the attack on the berth.  Mikah and Aali were specifically told some of that centered on what Dame Eikusdi Piirirshu-Meshrumiikiim had stated and confirmed during her comments.  The report first, and most importantly, indicated that thirteen members of the station's security force had been taking cover in the ship's engine baffles.  They were all killed when Dame Eikusdi lit up the engines.  The only mitigating factor allowed was that the troopers likely never were aware of what happened to them, though that was a very grim statement in itself.

Continuing, twenty other victims from both the security teams and captured mercenaries were being treated by medical services with injuries ranging from critical to minor.  A point was made that additional station security teams had both contained and detained the members of the mercenary company who they could confirm took part in the attack.  They also secured the remaining elements of the company and removed access to all their equipment.  That included all Company assets and any personal gear each member of the unit had which could be considered offensive in use or mis-use.  Which included any personal computers or other gear that would outwardly appear to be entertainment related.

With the basic situation properly described, the MoJ senior officer asked under what circumstances the ship's Captain and Engineer felt it had been appropriate to ignite the ship's engines while it was confined in a berth?  Especially when they had specifically been told to shelter in place and take no action while the port's security forces responded to the threat?  Mikah jumped into that reminding the assembled officers she had no knowledge of Aali's actions because she was in the midst of an open-brain surgery.  So, all her attention had to remain on the work she was performing while events overtook her crew and ship.

Mikah affirmed she only gave one order to Sir Zimzod, who had been acting as her nurse, to find out what had exploded and caused the ship to rock?  A replay of recordings the berth workers recovered from the ship's systems confirmed that, even if the ship's security systems hadn't had eyes in the med-bay.  Discussing that took nearly half an hour, before the room's attention firmly shifted to Aali for her response.  Despite being firm in defending her need to protect the ship and crew, Aali did her best to be conciliatory too.  Over the next hour or more, Aali worked to pull details from the data investigators had pulled from the ship to make a number of points.  The main point was that the attacking troopers had been armed with heavy weapons and appeared to have started using field-grade weapons to overwhelm the port defenders.

Aali next said it appeared, to her, that the station defense line was broken and the attackers could now fire their field-grade weapons on the ship itself.  She defended that by playing back reports that were made by Fesic and Zimzod, and clips of video from the ship's internal and external camera systems.  While regretting the fatalities, Aali made a firm case that she and the crew in the ship were threatened with deadly force.  So, she felt the need to respond with deadly force in their defense.  Responding to charges related to the death of station troopers, Aali did her best to show she had no reasonable way to know survivors had taken cover in the engine baffles.

While some of the officers clearly weren't ready to accept Aali's defense, both Mikah and Aali could tell some had been impressed.  They then took the time to deliberate while Mikah and Aali waited.  In the end, Mikah was told Aali would be put into detention for the remaining time her crew spent on station.  She would be released in time for the ship to make final preparations for departure so she could leave with the crew for Lanth.  Count Sokne said he would also petition the Arch Duke Norris to remove from Dame Eikusdi the "Right to Lawful Dissent".  They also made it clear Aali was to pay Cr 10,000 to the families of each of the officers who'd been killed along with Cr 5,000 to the families of the station's wounded.

The Station Director also said they would hold an official funeral for the fallen, and Aali would be allowed out to dress properly and attend that.  He also said Mikah and the rest of her crew would be expected at the funeral too.  That would include all of the station's fallen both from the berth defense and the engine ignition.  Mikah was told that would happen on the 95^th day, or two days' time.  The station officials also wanted Mikah to impress on her crew the fact that people who live on stations and planets are real people and not just objects of collateral damage related to their actions.  Mikah firmly agreed she would do that and insure they took the point to heart to prevent something like this happening again.

Turning, Mikah told Aali that in all good faith, she should be paying for the funerals for all the troopers whose deaths she'd caused.  Hearing that, Aali agreed because she felt she'd so far been dealt with fairly under the circumstances.  Accepting that, the station director said he would be in contact with the actual cost of those funerals.  Mikah asked the man for a list of those affected families who were also dealing with disabilities.  She said she'd make additional donations to those families.  The assembled officers were very pleased and thankful for that offer and they discussed how to make that happen for a bit more.  Following that, the Count excused those officers who weren't needed, and had Aali escorted to detention, before he and the Legate gave Mikah more information on the attack.

With the Count, Legate and a handful of seneschalate workers in the room, he told Mikah there were additional reports that hadn't been released to the media and public.  One of the key bits of information suggested the attack happened in the first place because her crew may have been involved in some "looting".  Raising his hands, the Count made it clear he wasn't making any accusations, but said he'd gotten some word from an outside intelligence agency that the people they looted from had a grudge against the ship and crew.  So, it appeared a rather sizable price had been put on the heads of Mikah and her crew!  And, that included destruction of their ship too!

When Mikah asked for more information, like a name for who was behind the price on their heads, the Count had to admit that was all the information he and his people could get.  The only data he had which he refused to give her was the name of the intelligence agency.  And, while Mikah had her opinions, there were many organizations from the top levels down.  While very few knew IRIS was real, Mikah knew there were the Imperial Ministry of Intelligence, the Military Intelligence Agency, the Naval, Army, Scout Intelligence services and more.  Easily tens and tens of independent agencies before you get to the many agencies each world government had.

And, few of those even talked to each other much less revealing uncovered data to anyone not directly in their command chain.  So, this could even have been from a local Ghandi-based intelligence agency or something as high as the Imperial Navy Intelligence Service or the Imperial Ministry of Intelligence.  The fact the Count refused to give a name for the service suggested it wasn't any of the agencies he held power over, so it suggested someone had tapped into an Imperial service.  Or, that one service or another had paid off a favor owed.  In the end, officers in the mercenary unit had gotten hold of the offer and - with or without authorization from their command - decided to try and earn the bounty.  the Legate was firm his people were trying to confirm how much of that company was compromised.

The Count said he was letting Mikah know the situation because they had no idea how widely spread the kill offer was spread?  There was no way to determine how the word was being spread and how many systems may have been contacted?  Nor, from the Count's point of view, where the offer had originated and may still be spreading from?  Mikah had to think back to Zach's death in Rhylanor after a crime boss had put a price on his head.  So, now there was a price on all of their heads.  Mikah did ask both the Count and Director to tell her if they find out who put the bounty on her crew?  The Count assured Mikah anyone who pays for murder or to inspire terror will be pasted all across the media while they are hunted and visited by an Imperial Intervention.  That brought up thoughts of recent events on Natoko(Rhylanor).  That done, Mikah returned to the suite to tell the others what happened.

In the viewing auditorium, Rol turned out to be one of twenty people in the audience.  He had the chance to enjoy most of the trivid, but ended up missing segments thanks to whispered comments while some of the others began realizing that was Sir Rol Kaihvos!  Soon enough, one of the others actually asked, "Excuse me.  Are you Sir Rol Kaihvos?" and Rol knew the jig was up.  Not only was he recognized, but once the trivid ended, and Rol felt the need to eat, a family of four decided they wanted to share the meal with him.  Accepting the situation, because he couldn't run away from them fast enough, Rol went along with the foregone situation.  He even went as far as to spend Cr 120 buying dinner for them all.

Rol then shared the meal with a mom, dad, semi-adult and tweens-aged children.  While they all enjoyed their evening with a celebrity, it was obvious the youngest of the family was most influenced.  It was also obvious the kid would remember "the evening my family and I spent with Rol Kaihvos" for the rest of his life.  Done with dinner, Rol finally got to tell them he had crew business to deal with and couldn't let them tag along.  He then went back to the suite while he considered the fact that if anyone had started shooting at him, he'd had four meat-shields helping to keep himself safe during the meal.

While Rol and Sekea arrived late from their various afternoons out, the entire crew was gathered at the suite except for Aali.  The only person they were missing was Fesic, who's absence hadn't been explained, and Mikah was sure she'd get another call from Station security when he turned up.  Mikah told everyone there what had happened while meeting with the Count, Station Director and their people.  Everyone understood Aali was taking one both for the team and because she'd acted harshly.  No one had no illusions about the loss of life her actions had caused.  So, no one thought what had happened was harsh and Mikah told them Aali had also agreed to the penalties.

The chatter continued while everyone talked until they were interrupted by a female voice none of them recognized.  As the woman happily said, "Oh!  You've set a place for me.  I don't mind if I have a helping."  They were so relaxed that several at the table said, "Sure!" before looking up at a tall, winnowy, red-headed woman in a professional looking dress/jacket outfit.  Despite the happy tone, as she sat, they could see she had an almost flat-line smile on her face.  Almost at the same time, Mikah asked "Who are you?" as Jocelynn asked, How'd you get in here?"  Rol had only grunted, "Oh no."  Ignoring the others, the woman simply gave Mikah an insincere smile while saying, "You already know who I am" as she sat, made herself comfortable and scooped some of the food from the serving plates onto the setting in front of her.

Mikah acerbically responded, "Well, let's see who you could possibly be?  You can be an agent with a nonexistent intelligence agency or you're someone I'm gonna shoot right now unless you tell me who you are!"  The last part of the sentence was spoken with a rising tone of anger and threat.  Smiling back at Mikah, the woman only answered, "Let's just say I'm with that non-existent intelligence agency."  A slight bit mollified, Mikah told her, "You could have just said that in the first place."  Mikah then demanded, "What do you want?"  Still as apparently pleased as she had been, the agent said, "I have an answer for you."

Mikah asked, "What's the answer" while Jocelynn asked, "What's the question?"  Looking back at Mikah, the agent asked, "How up to date on you on news coming from the Porozlo system?"  When Mikah answered, "Yeah, I heard they're having some sort of civil war or something." the agent off-handedly told her, "That country no longer exists."  Privately, outside of the agent and her issues, Mikah was thrilled to hear the Stepozhevaci nation was now history, and a tendril of thought considered those bank accounts they'd raided.  Still, Mikah didn't link that to the comments the Count had made about her crew having done some looting until the agent spelled it out for them.  And that disappointed the agent.

While enjoying her serving, the woman mentioned that one of the country's ministers who'd still had access to their funds did some moving around of finances.  While part of that was to move a nest egg of his own into a secure account, he apparently also reached out to the nation's remaining friends after the fall of the Natoko regime and began broadcasting a KCr 300 price on the heads of Lady Mikah, her crew and calling for the destruction of their ship."  When Mikah accepted that and asked what the woman's agency planned to do, the woman said they were only letting Mikah know so her crew could act accordingly.  About then, the lights dawned in Jocelynn's eyes as she said, "The Stepozhevaci government put a hit out on us?" in a tone of wonder and surprise.

Sitting at the table, Colinne and Sekea had little idea what the details meant?  Other than the hit on them.  Both had heard of the nation, and heard the crew talking about incidents dealing with them.  Both had also heard news reports about the foundering nation on the world of Porozlo.  But it was astounding that an entire nation on a balkanized world and in the midst of its own collapse would single out Mikah and her crew to mark them for death!  When Mikah asked, "Well, is your boss going to do anything about this?" the agent answered, "My boss is the head of operations in the Ghandi system so I don't know what boss you're talking about."  Still trying to connect the woman to what she knew of in another system or subsector, Mikah said, "I mean your ultimate boss.  On Rhylanor."

The woman only answered my ultimate boss is not on Rhylanor.  They're on Capital."  She added, "I don't have anything to do with the structure on Rhylanor."  Mikah then asked, "What about a certain Duke's brother?"  The woman casually shrugged telling Mikah, "I don't know anything about any Duke's brother."  Her blank look said, 'I have no idea what you're talking about'.  The only thing the agent could guess was that Mikah really didn't have a clue that the same agency could easily compartmentalize data from system to system so agents would not know what was happening even on the next system over, much less subsectors away.

Dropping that, Mikah demanded, "OK, you've told us.  Now what?"  The agent said, "You let me sit down and share dinner with you.  Would you like to introduce me to your new crew?"  With that, she gestured to Colinne and Sekea.  Mikah then then sweetly asked, "Sure.  What's your name" to which the agent said, "Jhieanisse".  Still using a sweet tone, Mikah asked "Jhieanisse, what agency do you work for?" and the agent said, she worked for "a branch of Imperial Intelligence."  About that time, Mikah and Zimzod felt a bit of buzzing in the back of their brains and Mikah noticed Colinne's eyes had a glossy look.  When Mikah asked, "Colinne, are you alright?  You look a little drunk", Colinne answered, "I feel pretty surreal right now."  She then excused herself and went into her bedroom.

As Colinne stood and left the table, Mikah asked her, "Should be aware or concerned about something", and Colinne off-handedly said "No" as she walked away from the table.  Mikah thanked her as she watched Colinne walk away.  After she left, Sekea politely introduced himself and asked how long Jhieanisse had been working in intelligence?  She only waved her hand as if she were sweeping time away while she said, "Sometimes it seems decades and decades." though she certainly didn't look that old.  Hearing that, Mikah acerbically snarked, "Agnathics work wonders."  When she dismissively answered, "Sadly, I can't afford agnathics on an Imperial worker's salary" Mikah shot back, "Yeah.  Sure."

Making assumptions instead of gathering facts, Sekea asked, "Had you been killed and gotten cloned?" and she answered, "No.  Members of your crew are far ahead of me on that road."  Not catching the clues everyone else at the table had been throwing, Sekea pleasantly said, "Well, it's nice to meet you.  Do you have any questions for me?"  Jhieanisse only shook her head and said, "No.  But you don't want me to have any questions for you."  Getting the conversation back on learning more about their situation, Jocelynn asked the woman, "What are these so-called looting charges being brought against us?"

That surprised Jhieanisse, because she thought the subject had been well covered.  In a tone showing her surprise, Jhieanisse asked, "Didn't the Count tell you?" as she looked from Jocelynn to Mikah.  When Mikah played dumb and answered, "No", Jhieanisse said, "According to the information I got, that was their way of letting you know that Imperial auditors are pretty sure you dipped into Stepozhevaci bank accounts."  Privately, Jhieanisse had to wonder if they somehow hadn't put it together that they HAD looted the bank accounts.  Unless, Jhieanisse admitted to herself, they had looted so many accounts they couldn't remember which was which?

When Mikah answered that saying, "Yeah?  They owed us", Jhieanisse prompted, "That's looting."  She then added, "That is the Imperial government letting you know they know what you did." and Mikah waved that away with a carefree "OK" as if she didn't care.  Still, Mikah asked, "So, how much is the bounty on our heads?" because she wanted to know.  Jhieanisse said the bounty was Cr 300,000,000, which staggered some of those around the table.  It explained the mercenary unit because that's enough cash to make a lot of people become very stupid.  The amount didn't surprise Mikah because she remembered that when Colinne had first "dipped into their accounts", she's said the Stepozhevaci had billions of credits spread through many accounts.  So, that was likely all the minister could move at the time.

When Mikah suggested they start spreading the word the Stepozhevaci were known for not paying their bills, the agent pointed out that wouldn't likely have an effect on those who wanted to grab for the prize.  Most would have no idea who the Stepozhevaci were, and would only see the amount.  And she reminded them, the minister had apparently moved the cash to another account, so the money "was" still potentially out there to be earned.  Turning to Sekea with a friendly and inviting smile, she asked him, "Do you remember when you were children, and your parents would tell you about dark dangerous creatures or Imperial agencies and assassins who would come for you if you were bad?"  She was certain he lied when he said he didn't recall his parents ever telling him those kinds of tales, but it didn't matter to her.

Still, she looked askance at him and admitted she was surprised, saying most parents use some boogeyman or other to get children to behave at certain stages.  Her smile was friendly but her eyes called Sekea a liar all day long.  Letting her smile become wider and a bit predatory, she told Sekea, "I'm an agent of IRIS." in a straight conversational tone.  As soon as she said that, Mikah nearly exploded, crying out, "She said it!  Not me!"  Of course, everyone else in the room knew that already, and their crew were considered a closed item.  So, informing Sekea wasn't technically a breach of classified data.

As for Sekea, he had heard of an organization called IRIS back in his school days.  He remembered being taught that the 'Imperial Regency Intelligence Service' had been created by then "Regent" Arbellatra Alkhalikoi at the end of the Imperial Civil War.  At the time, his schooling taught him the Regent had refused to take the Iridium Throne and created IRIS to seek out and find any legitimate heir after putting down the last of the barracks emperors and ending the civil war.  The "Official position" was that Arbellatra had finally been forced to assume the throne when no proper heir was found.  So, IRIS was supposed to have not existed for centuries.

And, now, this Agent was telling him they not only still existed, but that she was one of their agents.  Nodding, Sekea told her what he'd learned in school and mentioned that led to a very different ending than what her comments suggested.  With her smile turning even more predatory, Jhieanisse told Sekea the agency had continued operating while their mission was adjusted.  She explained they were an ultra-secret agency tasked with making sure no one kills the Emperor or Empress, and to prevent actions and cabals that might trigger a civil war.  And they do that by appearing in the dark of night and making people "disappear".  Her smile, at that point, made it clear she was very comfortable with the role of disappearing people if the evidence suggested that might be needed.  Based on the boogeyman question she'd asked him, Sekea could only assume their tactics were dirty tricks, death and destruction.

Jocelynn turned to Mikah and said, "Man, she spilled all the goods this time."  Hearing that, the agent impressed Sekea with the fact that IRIS took their ultra-secret role very seriously.  She added that she could read him into the secret because Lady Mikah's crew had contact with IRIS, and agents could show up as Jhieanisse had that evening.  So they needed everyone on the crew to be aware of the connection.  She also impressed on Sekea the fact that people who couldn't keep their secrets quiet could very well end up disappeared themselves.  Including Sekea, if he spread the word they existed.  The last was said with a smile that Sekea could only assume was meant to unsettle him.  An unspoken promise IRIS wouldn't hesitate to disappear him.

After Jhieanisse finished the serving she'd plated for herself, the crew were surprised when an unknown man moved up next to her and set a small plate down with a "from Terra" pastry called napoleon on it!  As Jhieanisse thanked this new stranger, Mikah also said, "Oh. Thank you."  But the agent made it clear she had no intention of sharing her dessert.  When Mikah complained, "You're not gonna share?" the woman answered, "We're IRIS.  We don't share."  Annoyed, Mikah asked, "So, other than telling us what we already knew, why are you here?"  The woman told her, "I came to give you the finer points you didn't know." as she continued eating.  Mikah's first thought was to begin advertising that the Stepozhevaci were gone and so was the money.

The agent corrected her, saying that IRIS understood that the original minister may or may not be alive still.  And, as had already been said, that person shunted the money to another organization which had done business with that government.  That meant it didn't matter if the minister survived.  The money would still be out there, handled by a third-party, and the job offer was still being broadcast by someone.  Sekea suggested they find the organization and buy them off, though the amounts of money involved suggested any buy-out would involve insane amounts of cash.  The agent heard that and could only wonder how little this Sekea knew?  She did welcome their efforts if Mikah and her crew went off looking to find this unknown organization, but she doubted they had the brain power to actually do it.  Still, Mikah jumped on that and asked the woman who the organization were?

When Jhieanisse said IRIS didn't have that information, Mikah dragged that out trying to mock the agent because IRIS wasn't all knowing.  But IRIS had never been as all-knowing as Mikah had been suggesting, so that was Mikah's misinterpretation and her attempted taunts only sounded sad to the agent.  Sekea asked if she'd call them if she got the name of the organization and the agent only told him it depended on her upper management.  Again, she wondered about Sekea, because she'd not given him any reason to think IRIS was friendly and fun to play with.  He just wasn't getting it.  Rol asked if IRIS was aware of any termination date on the payment.  She reminded him they didn't have the name of the group holding the money.  So, it was obvious they couldn't just connect to people and ask those questions.  That was a question that should have been thought through first, because the answer was self-evident.

Hearing that, Jocelynn grouse that they'd be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives and the agent suggested that might have been the intent.  Rol said they'd been getting used to living dangerously and that was likely to increase.  Zimzod smiled and said, "More and more fun times." with a thumb up.  The agent also confirmed the mercenary unit was a company in strength, though the station had evidence that the entire unit may not have been involved in the attack.  With the crew considering the new information, the agent and her "friend" left the suite without any evidence how they got into the space to begin with.

Someone suggested the agents were much better at picking locks than Fesic, and got laughs.  Another of the crew joked they hadn't been wearing coveralls, Jocelynn suggested they might have teleported in.  This based on the experience they'd had with the Zhodani jump commando in the Dinomn system.  She was surprised when no one agreed with her though.  With things settling down after dinner and the show, Aiden asked if anyone wanted to play poker?  Mikah said she wanted to, but wanted a private word with Jocelynn first.  Rol also wanted to play poker.  Sekea wanted to finish reading the manual for his new 'Maker' system and Zimzod decided to do more stent work.  And Fesic was in his lady friend's quarters enjoying cross-pollination.

Before Mikah joined the forming poker game, she asked Jocelynn to check on Colinne and see what happened?  She wanted to know why Colinne simply got out of the room and didn't communicate more of what she sensed?  Jocelynn agreed to do that but also wanted to speak to Sekea first.  Moving up to chat with Sekea, who was reading some sort of electronic document, Jocelynn told him she was sending a number of documents to his hand computer.  Seeing what she sent, Sekea realized they were cargo lading bills.  More or less generic bills of lading from the cargoes they had carried to Ghandi.  Jocelynn told him what she wanted wasn't urgent, but something to work on in his free time.

What Jocelynn wanted him to do was to start working on forging shipping documents so he might be ready when the time came that they needed him to do so.  Nodding, Sekea selected one of the documents and considered the fact the documents had a "visible" layer and one or more layers of invisible data.  He also expected that what he could see would be tied to the data inside the document that he couldn't see.  That meant that just creating a "look alike" document wouldn't work.  Any attempts he made to forge any of those documents would demand he find the correct software to crack the files so he could get at the invisible sub-forms.

Then, he'd have to figure out what changes he had to make there to match the visible changes he wanted.  So, if he had to change the month name 'July' to 'August', he would also have to find and modify the invisible data.  That also meant that if the invisible data were cryptographically locked, he would have to defeat the cryptology.  Looking at that, Sekea was concerned his current skill levels wouldn't be up to the job Jocelynn had assigned him.  But he told Jocelynn he'd certainly try.  After she got that from Sekea, Jocelynn went to talk to Colinne in her bedroom.

When she knocked Colinne had been meditating and Jocelynn stepped into her room closing the door behind her.  Alone together, Jocelynn asked Colinne what had happened in the dining room and if she was OK?  Colinne considered her words before saying she'd tried to read the agent's surface thoughts and ran into a mental shield!  Still, she'd gotten a brief glimpse before she was shut down, and she knew the woman worked for IRIS before the agent had told Jocelynn and the others she was.  Colinne said that hit her hard because she had never come across any suggestion IRIS still existed.  As soon as the woman's shields came down she decided to get out of the room in case things got bad.

Moving into some psi practice, Colinne confirmed her eyes had gone glossy because she'd been trying to read the IRIS agent.  That was something else she had to teach Jocelynn to manage, because you didn't want people noticing that and asking questions.  She'd just had no chance to hide what she was doing at the dining room table, and hadn't expected the agent to be a psion.  Colinne did say she thought it was funny when Jocelynn said she thought the agent had teleported into the suite.  Nodding, Jocelynn told her about the jump commando.

While Colinne and Jocelynn did psi and stent work, Aiden, Mikah and Rol played poker.  Despite her skill and other advantages, Mikah's night was just not in the cards.  When they finished up, Aiden had slightly beat out Rol and Mikah had come in a distant third.  So, she was pleased they'd only been playing for points.  While they'd played, Mikah asked if anyone had seen Fesic before dinner, or heard from him?  When she got no answer, Mikah decided to call him and ask if he was still alive.  But the call went to voicemail because Fesic and his lady friend were too busy - - pollinating for him to answer his comms.  Mikah just shrugged and figured Fesic was an adult.  So, she'd kill him if he did something that meant someone would call to wake her in the middle of the night.

    Sunday, 094-1114:
Robats And Romance
     Mikah woke under the cloak of an unconscious Zimzod and was annoyed to see it was 5:15 i the morning.  She asked the ghods why she was awake so early but got no answer.  When trying to get back to sleep failed, she got up and told the android to cook for her while she did her morning routine.  After she was ready, Mikah sat to have a serving of breakfast and turned on the suite's main vid to watch the news.  While Rol woke in his bedroom, did his morning routine and left his bedroom to find Mikah eating breakfast and watching the news, Fesic woke slightly on top of Kuki in her bed.  Checking the clock, Fesic decided to wake her by arousing her into morning sex.

    Skull (C2237C7-9  N  Na Po  G  601  Im  M1 V  M0 VI)                            Date: 058-1114
    In a significant release today, a spokesbeing announced word from Arch Duke Norris regarding the vacant Marquisate
    in the Skull system.  Due to the failure of Marquis Ladupnuku Arshu to help protect the system government from a
    slowly-organized attempted coup, Arch Duke Norris had officially disenfiefed the Marquis in a proclamation on 040-
    1113.  To this point, following that act, the Skull system had been managed by a team assigned by the Count of Ivendo,
    along with senior officers from the Imperial Navy and Imperial Army.  With continued operations by both the Navy
    and Army seeking out remaining disruptive elements of the coup attempt.

    This situation continues while The Arch Duke, The Grand Duchess or event Duke Rakaa Kiraarri of Lanth chose to
    designate a new Marquis for the system.  This has apparently changed when Lord Sir Akuegvarr notified his commanders
    of his pending retirement.  The General also notified the Duke of Lanth and Arch Duke because he commanded all
    Imperial Army forces involved in the recovery of the Skull system.  Where the Imperial Army will assign a new
    Commander for all ground forces in-system, Arch Duke Norris has seen fit to nominate Lord Sir Akuegvarr as the next
    Marquis of Skull.

    Cheering this news, the General is recognized for his decades of service to the Imperial Military.  Ironically,
    a native of the Lanth system, Lord Akuegvarr was born in 1050 TI.  His Lordship had been raised in a military
    family with a long tradition of service.  The family had sent him to a prestigious military finishing school and
    university before he gained a commission in the Imperial Army.  Lord Akuegvarr served as an efficient officer,
    gaining a senior rank during the Fourth Frontier War.  Lord Akuegvarr had then gained and served in a General
    grade rank before and during the Fifth Frontier War.  This move by Arch Duke Norris is seen both as a reward
    for his service to the Empire and his experience with the crisis in the Skull system.  Further congratulations
    for the nomination have been released from the Office of Grand Duchess Delphine and Duke Rakaa Kiraarri and
    the other nobility of the Spinward Marches sector.                 

    Tureded (C465540-9  Ag Ni  G  614  Im  M3 V)                            Date: 035-1114
    An emergency alert was broadcast from the office of the Marquis of Tureded, due to events which escalated into
    vessel to vessel weapons fire in-system today!  The incident, which involved a number of ships from the on-going
    port upgrade work and a number of other craft appears to have also touched upon the Marquis' emplaced ban against
    allowing the Spinward Development Corporation to conduct work as the project continues.  In this event, it appears
    a small element of SDC-registered transport ships claimed they were attempting to deliver construction supplies
    and work teams to the project.  The initial dispute appeared to rise from access permission to dock with one
    of the projects logistics stations.  During that, it appears the SDC cargo haulers attempted to dock in slips
    assigned for Tukura haulers.

    Becoming aware of the issue, docking management teams ordered all craft to hold off until permissions could be
    confirmed.  Despite that, the Tukura vessels not only continued to drive for the slips, but a number of smaller
    escorts for those freighters moved to position themselves between the SDC ships and the stations.  It was then,
    when Retired Admiral Daannuur Ikuur Khurkaar. Late of the Imperial Navy, issued orders for the Tukura ships to
    clear a path for the SDC ships that a limited round of weapons fire occurred.  The three small craft which had
    opened fire were later identified as gunships assigned to Tukura's "Vermaine" security force.

    A follow on investigation with vessels of the Subsector Navy, present as project security, moved in to isolate
    all involved vessels.  Early comment from someone with access to the deliberations suggest there was no authorization
    for the Spinward Development Corporation vessels or their teams and hardware to be present.  This is being further
    investigated while the actions of the Vermaine officers have put the Marquis in an unfortunate place.  Due to the
    Marquis' refusal to allow SDC to be involved in the project, the actions of the Vermaine commanders would seem to
    be backed by his position.  Especially since an investigation by Subsector Naval officers confirmed the weapons fire
    specifically targeted a number of each SDC ship's spent and empty fuel cells.  Because of that, any damage was minor
    at best, and there would not have been any risk of fatalities.  Still, it is not likely the Marquis could even consider
    such unwarranted and illegal actions.  Pak. Taurman Kakhiikhu, spokesbeing for Tukura, was quick to apologize and
    offer to let the actions of the Vermaine Captains stand for review by Tureded system authorities.

    Admirals of the Subsector Navy have called for an Imperial Navy review of the presence and actions of the Spinward
    Development Corporation's action in the system.  Retired Admiral Khurkaar blustered and blasted the decision to
    secure all SDC vessels in system and hold all their crews and personnel in detention until he too was threatened
    with imprisonment!  Despite his titles and rank, a direct order from the office of the Marquis slammed what appeared
    to be a covert attempt to slip SDC elements into a project to which they were barred access.  That was hammered down
    hard when the system's Imperial Legate, ultimately independent of the Marquis' office, warned that he would invoke
    Imperial edicts to review every bolt and line of code to seek out other unapproved SDC infiltrations.

    Local experts in the Ghandi system were struck by the unauthorized lab which had so recently been involved in a
    crisis which could have destroyed the Ghandi-Prime station.  While that station was centuries old and pre-dated the
    Spinward Development Corporation, it screamed volumes to those investigating the incident locally.  Even now, the
    uneducated and those hoping to stoke ratings were demanding investigations of SDC's activities in-system.  While
    local Naval and Station authorities denied any connection, it did highlight the amount of work it would take to
    back track the history of that lab.  Not to mention the virus which had been released to so frightening a result.
    Still, local experts advise TAS that a "nuts and lines" level investigation could delay work in the Tureded system
    for months.  This was a key consideration since the new route would shift traffic from Rhylanor to Regina more
    directly, instead of the route to Ghandi via the Lanth system.  This is forcing Ghandi authorities to plan for
    a feared loss of traffic and business.                 

    Ghandi (B211455-A  N  Ni Ic  G  303  Im  F8 V  M3 D)                            Date: 092-1114
    Port security offices report a sudden and extreme event in the area of ship berths!  In and around a berth
    assigned to the IMV Upgrade, owned and operated by Lady Mikah Kirlim and her crew.  As details began coming in,
    what appeared to be at least a platoon of armed and armored mercenaries seemed to coalesce near the berth and assault
    facilities around the ship.  Initial investigations suggest the mercenaries had dispersed from their rented lodgings.
    Each small cluster, according to security video, had been pushing individual trollies designed to allow venders to
    move merchandise displays about the station.  A security officer confirmed that port workers had noted the gathering
    of teams but were provided with paperwork stating there would be an exposition aboard a cargo vessel berthed not far
    from where the attack took place.

    Reports state the mercenaries were, not surprisingly, well trained in gearing up.  Because of that, workers in the
    area of the Upgrade's berth were taken by surprise when the teams suddenly pulled equipment from the trollies and
    geared up to make their attack.  Because the movement had been unusual, the port had security teams in the area,
    which responded to augment normal security in the berth spaces.  Initial reports being reviewed suggest a heavy and
    destructive assault by the mercenaries tried to simply blow their way into the Upgrade's assigned berth.  One surviving
    berth worker said the attack came with sudden force and did not seem to consider mercy.

    While the status of the Upgrade was listed as short-term, unmanned berthing, port leadership indicate they had been
    made aware members of Lady Mikah's crew were aboard the ship.  That leadership also confirmed to TAS that methods
    were used to warn those crew to shelter in place and take no action while security routed heavy forces to support
    teams already present and reacting to the assault.  Heavily armed and armored teams were routed to that section
    of the port berths to get workers clear and augment defense of the berth, as required by port contracts.

    Initial data available suggests the estimated platoon may have been the lead element of the mercenary company which
    is listed as "In transit" on station.  The unit had arrived on a transport from the D'Ganzio system to the Regina
    system, with the documented intent to cross the Imperial border to the independent Ruie system.  Station management
    have confirmed the staff of Count Kybe Sokne have been fully briefed on the events on station and Count Kybe has
    ordered his intelligence teams to assist in researching this attack while the remaining assets of the mercenary
    company have been secured and all remaining officers and troopers held pending an understanding of this attack.

    Station Executive Director Irshimunmu stated he and high-level members of Count Kybe have been in contact with
    Lady Mikah and her crew regarding their actions during the assault.  While having been told to shelter in place,
    the port confirms crew aboard the Upgrade did activate their ship's thruster systems during the attack.  It is
    unclear, at this time, if the crew were aware of station security forces who had taken up defensive positions
    including cover behind the ship's engine baffles.  Station medical and security personnel are still working
    to determine if the deaths of some security teams were due to the crew's actions rather than the attack.  Port
    security leadership and Director Irshimunmu have assured everyone the actions surrounding the attack will be
    understood and resolved legally.

    Under the circumstances, some sections of the port will be off limits to all but authorized personnel.  Ships in
    berths located in that section of the port, including the Upgrade will be moved out of that port section.  It is
    expected that, due to offensive weapons damage and the ship's thrusters, significant repairs will be demanded
    in the attacked berth.  Unconfirmed reports suggest Lady Mikah was present aboard her ship, and conducting some
    type of medical procedure at the time of the attack.  There is, as yet, no suggestions why an unengaged mercenary
    unit in transit would suddenly carry out an attack on the berth, ship or crew?  TAS will update this story as
    data can be confirmed.                 

    Ghandi (B211455-A  N  Ni Ic  G  303  Im  F8 V  M3 D)                            Date: 093-1114
    In a follow on to the reported attack on the IMV Upgrade Station Executive Director Irshimunmu has announced
    that he and the Count have spoken with Lady Mikah Kirlim and members of her crew.  Following investigations
    using data recovered from the ship's internal and external security systems, Station Security have determined
    there was significant confusion within both the berth and the ship during the assault.  Security officials have
    stated that it appears the fog of war had a large effect on the actions of the crew in their own defense.  The
    Count has made it clear this is not an excuse or any level of forgiveness for the actions taken by members of
    Lady Mikah's crew.

    As a result of her actions taken to defend her ship and crew, Dame Eikusdi Piirirshu-Meshrumiikiim will be
    paying a total of Cr 175,000 to those families where security officers were killed or significantly wounded(KCr
    10 or KCr 5 each depending on death or wounding).  Her Ladyship will also be held in custody for her further
    time spent in system and further punished through the curtailment of her rights as a Noble Person.  Despite
    that detention, she will join her crew during the station's formal funeral for the lost.  That will happen on
    the 95th day with organization beginning at 9am and services to be held at 10:30 am station time.

    In addition to the punishment commanded, Lady Mikah has elected to provide funds to those families challenged
    with illnesses or disabilities who suffered a loss in the attack.  Her Ladyship hopes these additional funds
    will help those specific families overcome the new and unique challenges they will face after having lost a
    family member to the station's service.  Lady Mikah also mandated that Dame Eikusdi pay all the costs for the
    funerals as we mourn our losses.  With four families affected by disabilities and a loss, Lady Mikah has said
    she will add Cr 30,000 to the funds Dame Eikusdi has committed to pay to those families.

    Representatives of both the Office of the Count and the Office of the Station Director state they are still
    investigating why this attack occurred.  All members of the mercenary company involved have been placed into
    detention to be held until this event is more fully understood.  A number of officers identified as having
    direct responsibility for decisions in the attack have been charged with crimes for which the sentence
    is death by spacing.  Given the severity of the crimes committed, this process will be dealt with using extreme
    deliberation.

    An early statement from investigators suggests there had been some kind of bounty placed on the heads of Lady
    Mikah and her crew, though this is being investigated.  Despite that murky factor, Lady Mikah would like to
    give thanks for the heroic and selfless efforts of the station security officers who defeated a well-trained
    and surprisingly elite mercenary force.  The Count would remind all Imperial citizens that paid murder and
    vigilantism violate Imperial laws and those who chose to carry out such attacks will face the unified strength
    of Imperial law enforcement and the capabilities of those who will defend themselves.                 

Zimzod woke and did his morning routine before joining the others to eat and watch the news.  He then joined the others talking about the events of the day before.  When that wound down and the others went about their business, Zimzod did physical therapy mixed with the calisthenics he could.  Eventually, at 8:30, Jocelynn's alarm went off to wake her because she had things she had to do.  While eating breakfast, Jocelynn let Mikah know what Colinne had told her the night before because the computer officer was still asleep.  Next, Jocelynn wanted to call station security to see if they could speak to or visit Aali.  That was because she'd set the meeting with InstellArms to settle decisions on the pell android and she was damned if she'd reschedule the meeting yet again!  So, she wanted Aali's thoughts before she and Sekea finally went to make decisions.

Colinne eventually wandered into the suite's living room and let Rol know his communications program had been installed on the ship's computer.  She let him know he could connect to the ship remotely and use the class but would be limited to the gear in his location.  As an example, she pointed out many of the terminals in the suite couldn't project the holograms the ship's systems could.  So, he'd deal with more flattened TriVid images in those cases.  When Rol asked if they would still present the higher quality educational content, Colinne said it would.

Colinne also told Mikah the decompiler she'd gotten hold of was installed and tested properly.  She also said she'd taken the precaution to create two pseudo-computer systems onto which she'd load the lock pick program to work investigate it.  She told Mikah that working on her pseudo-computers, she was as certain as possible she could crash them if any problems developed.  Because she was about to start her investigation, she couldn't guess how long it would take to do the work.  Mikah nodded that off and told Colinne to work on it when she had the time because managing the ship's computer was her main job.  That way she could show the lock pick software wasn't a crisis.  Colinne planned to log into the ship from the suite and connect to the computers there to spend the day working on disassembling the lock pick program.

Aiden was the last to wake up, having managed to sleep in.  Aiden began his day by sitting to eat leftovers, catch up with the crew and watch the news.  Calling security, Jocelynn was told there was no way to speak to Aali via comms.  She was welcomed to visit anyone incarcerated in their cells.  When she asked, she was told she could visit a prisoner after 11am.  While she did that, Fesic and Kuki had moved from the bedroom to the shower to dressing and heading out for breakfast, which Fesic paid for.  When his comms began alerting, he checked the ID.  Seeing it was the Order house, he assumed they were calling about his weapons and said, "I have to take this.  it's the Order house."  Of course, Kuki had no idea what 'the order house' meant and asked?  Realizing she had no idea what he was talking about, he said he'd explain after the call.

Speaking to the tech, Fesic was told they had his new shotgun ready and needed him to spend four hours on the range so they could take the measures to customize it.  While Fesic spoke with the caller, Kuki looked around and spotted a display apparently set to a news channel.  As it happened, the news had just shifted to a story about the Upgrade and crew.  As Kuki watched the crew images shift, one after the other, she suddenly realized she was looking at her date!  While she'd not asked who he was, because they'd bonded over botany and common interests, she'd only known him as Fesic.  And, she'd known by his attitudes, that he was a spacer.  But it wasn't until then that she realized "her Fesic" was Sir Fesic Anfertirkåsmokt!

Then, while Fesic was finishing up his call, Kuki had a moment of realization as she remembered all the station news items!  The virus, chaos and fear they'd all have to evacuate when they thought the station would be destroyed!  At certain times, that was almost as horrific as when the Zhodani had invaded.  She also remembered the fear and uncertainty the news reports of attacks on a ship in the port had brought!  She wasn't even certain if Fesic had actually been in the middle of that crisis, but something in her memory said he had been!

At the same time, Fesic realized he'd have to spend a chunk of time shooting on a Order house range, but he didn't want to end things with Kuki.  Working things out in his mind, he suggested he arrive at there at 2pm and then invite Kuki to meet him there for dinner around 6pm.  When they had that set, Fesic was ready to end the call when his comms again started to buzz!  This time, the caller ID said it was InstellArms and he gave Kuki an apologetic look while getting an odd look back from her!  Hoping that wasn't trouble, he answered the other call to find they were preparing to deliver his ordered training suit.  When they asked, he had them deliver the suit to the ship.

Finishing his calls, Fesic had every intent to explain the whole "Order house" thing, but was interrupted when Kuki said, "So, Sir Fesic Anfertirkåsmokt is slumming, huh?"  Still, her expression didn't suggest she was upset.  Suddenly a bit defensive and concerned because he'd not "Read the room", Fesic said he didn't consider her slumming and started blurting out their common interests.  She only smiled at his concerns and asked what meeting he had to attend?  Avoiding the mention of a weapon, Fesic told her he'd ordered some custom equipment and had to take part in calibrating it.  Nodding and tracing a non-existent pattern on the table, Kuki asked how soon he had to leave?

When Fesic told her they had time and could wander the shops and spend time together, she said she'd like that.  While paying the bill for the café, Fesic considered offering to invite her to join him while they worked on his shotgun, but gave that idea up because she'd have nothing to do but stand there and watch.  He eventually explained about calibrating his new shotgun and asked her if she'd be interested in joining him?  To say the least, spending hours on a gun range while he shot targets and worked with techs wasn't a thing that excited her.  She still wanted to know what an Order house was, while Fesic tried to shift to, 'Can we meet up later'.

Fesic shifted mental feet and gave the circumspect explanation that those people who held certain ranks were permitted to hold membership in certain organizations, or could do business with those organizations.  Wanting to learn more than that limited blurb, Kuki only asked, "And?"  Seeing he wasn't just walking away with a 'nothing answer', Fesic more completely explained what the Order houses were and their relation to various chivalric orders.  She nodded and learned, since she'd also learned he was a Knight to begin with.  He did take a bit of a detour to highlight some of his heroics, and then suggested he treat her to dinner at the restaurant in the house after he was done.

Kuki accepted the invitation to dinner and told Fesic she'd spend the hours he was on the range taking care of things she'd planned to do.  She also promised she'd meet him at the Order house and said she looked forward to seeing how the upper crust lived.  They then spent the rest of the mid-day together, stopped and had a snack and saw the sights.  Along the walk, they saw several oddly named places like the "Big Bang Burger Bar" and a place called the Hard Rock Cafe.  Looking into that place, it seemed all the diners changed into bulky old-style pre-starflight vacc suits and sat in a voided chamber eating their meals from squeeze bulbs, like it was believed the early Terran astronauts did.  They finally parted as Fesic ordered her a portCab home on his Ident before catching another cab to the Order house.

Leaving the suite, Jocelynn and Sekea first took a portCab to Station central to visit the security offices and meet with Aali.  Jocelynn wanted to pick Aali's brain and see what questions Aali had, and "look for" items Aali was concerned about.  She would take those with her and Sekea to InstellArms.  Identifying themselves at security, they were escorted and directed to where they wanted to go while it very much felt like they'd entered enemy territory.  The emotions were easy to explain because Aali's actions had, in their minds, murdered and wounded many of their team members.  And, Aali wasn't going to be tried and killed for her crimes.

When they'd been moved into a cubicle, they sat until Aali was brought in to meet with them.  Both Sekea and Jocelynn welcomed the engineer and asked how she was doing in their holding cells?  Aali only shrugged and said she was being treated as well as could be expected.  Aali admitted she understood how the security people felt about what she'd decided to do.  Given the situation, Aali was disappointed about the deaths but said she'd do it again to prevent heavy fire targeting the ship.  In a bit of dry humor, she said it was a week's vacation in a low-end motel with less than stellar food offerings.  Jocelynn and Sekea laughed.  With a grin, she also said she'd served aboard Imperial naval ships so she'd seen worse.

When Jocelynn asked about the 'droid, Aali admitted she just wanted to understand, from an engineering standpoint, where they stood with the 'droid they'd already bought?  Aali also pointed out Sekea's questions about repairing and upgrading the unit they had were right out.  In her opinion, they'd have to waste weeks redesigning the 'droid, then literally re-engineer it to install things like grav-movement.  Then, after that was done and they were rebuilding the unit, they'd have to have teams in to re-write the 'droid's programming to do the things they now re-designed it to do.  Added to that, they had no idea what the 'droid's current capabilities were.  They may find they needed to add whole lots of new software so the unit could manage training on all the weapons forms the crew had and used.  The price tag for that could be insanely massive.

Given that, they talked about the pros and cons of simply buying a new android.  The major values were that they knew their existing unit didn't move.  They also could only guess what weapons the unit was programmed to train with and to what skill levels.  So, paying to get that unit operational would only get them to a point where they might find the pell 'droid lacked the programming to do them any good.  And, after that was done, they'd be hard up against their planned departure date to pay even more money to buy a new unit and the software they wanted to have it programmed with.  So, they all eventually agreed the best move would be to forget their existing unit and have a new unit programmed for what they already knew they needed.

After leaving Aali, they rode to InstellArms where their concierges looked forward to shaking their ship until all the cash inside fell out.  Sitting down with their concierges, Jocelynn and Sekea launched into a discussion of repairs they needed on their existing pell 'droid.  They'd been told needed 11 percent of the parts for that android replaced and that could be done at a cost of Cr 50,000.  They also admitted that would be a craps shoot to see if the android would be able to handle their needs?  That said, they also reviewed the existing designs the Ghandi InstellArms site had in stock and discussed the capabilities of those items.  In the end, Jocelynn and Sekea said they'd simply buy new and they wanted the base design for their android to be the humanoid 'droid.

Along with a base unit, Jocelynn and Sekea wanted the unit to have in-programmed ambidexterity so it could fight in single or two-handed mode.  Sitting and working with the InstellArms techs, they came up with a device that had two arms, two legs, looked Human, had enhanced sensors, Dexterity and other modifications it would need to provide a real challenge to the crew.  They upped the brain storage space for running the programs it would need not only to Instruct, but to move, fight and carry out all the needed actions a pell android had to.  Eventually, the cost for the machine alone came to Cr 2,091,000.  Next, came paying for the skills, including a max level of "Instruct" so the device could teach.

That's where Jaw's started dropping.  Jocelynn and Sekea learned that each level of any skill added to an android would increase the cost by a factor of 10.  So...
      A "Level 1" skill would cost Cr 1,000.  As there were none of those, this was a null line.
      A "Level 2" skill would cost Cr 10,000.  There were 2 of those costing Cr 20,000.
      A "Level 3" skill would cost Cr 100,000.  There were 2 of those costing Cr 200,000.  There were actually 3 but one of those
                  was superseded by a Level 4 skill.
      A "Level 4" skill would cost Cr 1,000,000.  There were 5 of those costing Cr 5,000,000.
      A "Level 5" skill would cost Cr 10,000,000.  Zimzod had 3 of those costing Cr 30,000,000. 
      Add a Level 6 Instruct skill which would have cost Cr 100,000,000 but they'd offered the crew a break at Cr 10,000,000

So, the total cost for the "Skills package" was Cr 45,220,000!
Jocelynn's first reaction was, "Yeah.  That's not happening.

    Sunday, 094-1114:
Where everyone is at the end of the session:
     Aiden: at nearly 10am in the morning, Aiden is in the suite watching news and deciding what he wants to do with his day
     Mikah, Zimzod and Rol: at nearly 10am in the morning, they were watching the news in the suite
     Colinne: in the suite, connected to the ship's computer working on the lock pick program until lunch
     Jocelynn and Sekea: at nearly 3pm, the pair are sitting with designers at InstellArms designing a pell 'droid
     Fesic: Is at the Order house while they take the measurements to customize his shotgun
     Aali: Spending her days before the ship lifts in one of the station security's detention cells

_________________________________________________________________________
Next: Pending