Thursday, 098-1114:
Offers, Refusals And Information
Aiden and Jocelynn waited for a call back from the Order house with the address of a warehouse they'd go to for zero-g operations practice. While they'd be spending half the day practicing, Rol would stay in the suite, working on his physical therapy. He also planned to do a bit more work on the reply links for the bounty. He didn't expect to find much but he still wanted to dig a bit more. Also in the suite, Colinne connected to Aali and they worked on hunting data for Tukera. Mikah and Sekea had shared breakfast with Maur and were returning to the suite. Fesic was test firing his new snub pistol in an Order house firing range and Zimzod was in gunnery school for a last day of training.
While those in the suite waited or worked, they heard the chime from the suite's door. Not expecting anyone, Jocelynn said she'd get the door while the others stood back up, just in case. When she checked, she saw it was a person in the livery of the Order house, and they had a grav-pod with them. When she opened the door, the delivery person asked for Sir Sekea, or anyone who could sign for him? Sekea and Mikah were out finishing breakfast with Maur, so Jocelynn said she'd sign for his things. The paperwork said they were his gauss and snub pistols. Jocelynn also saw a note on the delivery explaining an upcharge because they'd found sights for his pistols.
After she signed off on Sekea's packages, Jocelynn was told Mikah's combat armor and Colinne's vacc suit would be returned to them. The vacc suit could be returned to the suite, but the combat armor had to be returned to the ship due to the station's restrictions on combat gear. Jocelynn said that was good because she planned to be at the ship after lunch, to handle cargo work and more. So, she would also be there to handle those things too. Done with Maur, Mikah and Sekea were going back to the suite when her comms started to buzz. The call was from Sir Dovid Fensane, who she remembered had been the TAS reporter who'd written up her tales from Tremous Dex. When she answered, he said he'd heard Mikah's crew now had an open stateroom during their transit to Lanth. He said he wanted to book that stateroom for the transit. When Mikah refused, he offered to pay twice the cost. Mikah blatantly said, "I don't care" as she refused his offer.
Expecting her refusal, Sir Dovid said he could offer her protections, like having TAS news craft scattered into the area where they intended to emerge from jump. That meant anyone "waiting for them to arrive" could find themselves being filmed in the act of piracy and attempting the crew's murder. He also suggested that protecting a TAS reporter under threat might get the news corp to lean on the local naval commands. He suggested TAS executives in Lanth could even get the Navy to deploy for overwatch and anti-piracy. Mikah considered the large volume of space they could emerge from jump into. The "arrival quadrant" was a huge area of space. Mikah toyed with the idea of wasting a lot of TAS camera ships and resources. She even thought about letting the reporter into the stateroom and restricting him to that space only. Just to lock him up for a week. Still, she just refused and he responded that she had her comms in case she changed her mind.
While Mikah and Sekea were finishing up with Maur, Aiden got his call from the Order house. He, Jocelynn and their Vermene detail left to make their way to a warehouse to play in zero-g. Aiden had already geared up into his training suit, and looked forward to working with Jocelynn on some actual training, instead of abuse from Mikah and Zimzod. They were both disappointed Fesic had to go for weapon testing at the Order house. They wanted to see how the two suits would work together, and if anything changed? When they left, only Rol and Colinne were in the suite, and Colinne was working with Aali searching for computer files related to Tukera or Spinward Development Corp.
Having paid for classes outside the suite, Zimzod was enjoying a morning of full-on space combat insanity. In almost all cases, naval or even ship-to-ship combat situations in space were fought across vast distances where only sensors and computers could "see" enemy targets. Some of Zimzod's battle experiences had been much more intense. Especially the fight with von Kreden's forces in the Rhylanor system. While unusual, they also included scenarios where enemy and friendly ships were almost sharing the same underwear. So, the classes he was being given included both standard combat situations and technical classes on system management and combat damage bypass too.
Before Jocelynn left for the ship's berth, she set the boxes for Sekea on his bed with a note explaining everything the delivery person said. So, when Sekea got back to the suite, he checked the note and box and smiled at what he saw. The weapons and magazines he'd ordered. For the snub pistols, he'd asked for six each, for a total of twelve. At some point during the jump to Lanth, he figured he should set aside time to load those magazines. His new gauss pistols could still use the same magazines as his older weapons, which he'd have to deal with. Considering that, Sekea decided to head to the Order house, rent a shooting range and practice with the new weapons.
When Mikah got back to the suite with Sekea, she asked Rol and Colinne where the others were? She'd known Zimzod was at a gunnery school class. She'd also known where Aali and Sekea were, but not known where Jocelynn and Aiden went? Rol told Mikah about Aiden renting a warehouse and she asked where that was? When Rol and Colinne didn't know, Mikah had one of her Vermene team check. Getting the address, Mikah decided to go and "play catch the Aiden" with Jocelynn. Sekea had booked a Cr 25 firing range at the Order house and was burning off Cr 300 of ball ammo to test his improved accuracy. Thanks to that, Sekea saw the amount of "stop and aim" time using the sights would cost him. In fire fights, where the enemy might well be laying down more fire, he'd be sending less fire back at them. That meant he'd have to decide if spending the time to pause and aim was worth sending less fire back at them.
Sekea wanted to measure his improved accuracy, testing 50% of his fire with and 50% without his sights. During that time, Sekea had a jam in one of his new-made magazines! He called for the range master's help and a weapon designer also rushed into the range joining the master. Checking the situation, the designer realized the jam was a result of a failed magazine, and was very apologetic. Because the magazines, like the weapon, had been custom designed and built, the designer took the failed magazine and promised a new mag would be sent to Sekea later that day or early the next.
When Mikah arrived at the warehouse, she saw Jocelynn stepping Aiden through a basic training exercise and she called out, "Hi guys!" Seeing Mikah, Jocelynn said hi back and asked if Mikah wanted to play catch? After the laughs, Jocelynn brought Mikah up to speed and Mikah stepped in. Aiden just muttered, "Oh joy, oh rapture." Aiden played along when they decided to "play catch". He did have to admit that recovering from losses of control was the biggest ticket item he faced beside "not getting out of control" in the first place. So, Aiden worked at what his teaching suit pushed him and letting the suit use him for a puppet did seem to help. Even if he really didn't know why he was doing things or what to do until his suit prompted him. The bad news was that he couldn't wear the suit under his armor.
At the school, Zimzod had been segregated into the staff room to eat and take his break. That was both because he was a celebrity, which could trigger one kind of reaction. And they didn't want anyone who was angry(or worse) giving the other kind of reaction, after what had happened in their berth. They told him it was just safer that way. Still, they took the chance to have him describe his gunnery experiences using lasers. Even though it was Aali firing the "big guns", Zimzod told them about engaging the GNS Lilmett kin Vyste because it was a combination of his and Fesic's fire that cracked the hole into which Aali fired the nuke. While not being specific, he also described firing a "minefield of nuke-tipped warheads" at an on-coming opponent. Of course, he suggested that had been a destroyer class ship instead of a 200 dTon far trader.
Zimzod had also hoped to pick the brains of the instructors to see if he could catch any tips, but those things took much more than a lunch break to explain. Especially where the specific set ups had to be laid out or where the electronics had to be explained too. It almost made Zimzod wish he had a stent wafer for electronics skills. Especially when you had to cross-circuit wiring to make a gun do what the engineers said was "unsafe". A thing Zimzod was learning in the classes was there was a lot more in most weapon systems then an average gunner was able to do with the in-built interfaces. To do much of that, you had to "zap" a safety system. That was one of the things Fesic had to know, which explained why he had learned so much electronics.
Thanks to what they'd learned, the staff realized much of what Sir Zimzod and his crew would face couldn't be described as the result of strategic planning or the well-ordered interaction of a professional warship's CnC. Even under situations where events were sudden. Those would still be analyzed and distilled to active responses. Based on that, they increased the level of what they might consider catastrophic. Any communications in the schooling were not in the same routine, so they couldn't respond to Zimzod if they connected to his channel. Much of the data he got was fed from canned reports based on the damage the computer assigned to the virtual ship he was aboard.
Mining data, Colinne and Aali found a live document in the port systems. The document had columns of ship tail numbers, ship status designations and in-system coordinates. The comparative data were either marked "Vermene/Tukera" or "Spinward Development". Seeing the data was updating live, they realized it had to be tied to data streams from the station's sensors and computer analysis. That meant they couldn't just copy the current data and send that to their handlers. Colinne just located the address in the system the doc was on and sent that to Tukera. The document showed the station had already set up a rudimentary surveillance program and it could be assumed the Imperial Navy had too. That suggested it was high time to get out of the system before things went sideways. They could only hope the same couldn't be said of things in the Lanth system.
Money Comes And Goes At the Order house, Fesic finished up with the weapons use testing and went to grab a Cr 20 lunch. He then took the meal into one of the house's common rooms to sit and listen. See what he could overhear? Walking into the compartment, Fesic first overheard a small group discussing fighter launch systems. Looking at the group, what struck Fesic wasn't the topic, but the speaker. The man he recognized was one of the "intelligence assets" he and the crew had met when they were in Admiral Irsiism's command CiC, aboard the carrier! That meant the man had spent the hours to cross from the carrier's location to the station. Fesic had to wonder how important it was he be on-station instead of on comms, and how he'd ended up sharing drinks and tech talk in a common room over drinks?
Very interested in what he might learn, Fesic decided that sitting close to listen in wasn't as valuable as the 'direct approach'. With that, Fesic stepped up, said he was surprised to see the commander on the station and reminded the man they'd met when he and the rest of his crew visited the carrier and Admiral two weeks before. Of course, Fesic hadn't used names because so few groups were given permission to board and "visit" the carrier. So, meeting his crew stood out in the commander's mind. Still, there were four other officers at the table and introductions were in order for their benefit. A Lt. Commander Cial Nikestsou was from the Imperial Legate's office. Administrator Eklanze Viungu was present from Station Central. A four-term Scout named Steea Tim wearing a patch from what Fesic guessed was a system cruiser named Mamsigu Khishkee had what could only be a self-made mug of some variant of Scout-brew. The last member of the group was a Captain Girgadain Kais, who commanded the X-Boat tender Apugidut.
Commander Shuurshi Nu Girdaak surprised Fesic by not only remembering his name but also pronouncing it correctly as introductions went around. The commander also made it clear Sir Fesic was a member of Lady Mikah's crew in a way that made Fesic wonder if he was "important" or "an important political connection". Fesic had been a veteran of many events where anyone from the Upgrade, or Hotel California before it, had been seen as "valued" political connections? Especially when few knew more than their connection to the Arch Duke. Captain Kais raised his mug and toasted the fool of a gunner who'd made the wrong choice to leave the Scouts for the Navy and everyone at the table laughed. Space was also made at the table for Fesic to join them.
When they asked what brought him to the Order house, Fesic told about having his pistol re-crafted to better fit his hand at need. Commander Girdaak asked if he had the pistol with him and Fesic admitted the weaponsmiths had it to work on. Trying to get off himself and hear something new about what their ships were doing, Fesic made a brief description of the process, which he excused as likely common among the others and asked what was new in their operations? And the fact was, the more "flashy" an officer was, the more they knew far too much about having weapons remodeled. It didn't seem the commander was concerned about time, though he mentioned he'd been dispatched for a data pickup and "Situation Update" with the station's command. The big catch Fesic could see would have been the status meeting, but Fesic knew he'd not get invited. So, he wanted time for the group to get chatty and hope to overhear any nice bits that slipped.
When he mentioned poker, a number of those at the table smiled and few checked their crons. Everyone admitted they had the time to spend and were even more interested when Fesic suggested stakes. The stakes were decided to be 'ship's stakes', in the Credit or tens of Cr range, and Fesic hoped to use his skills to make it less than apparent that he planned to lose a small amount hoping to grease the tongues around him. The first thing Fesic learned was that the meeting they were all apparently going to had been called by the Imperial Legate. That only told Fesic the Imperial "higher offices" had eyes on, or were concerned about something where planetary cooperation was key. So, it could be anything including either the Vermene/SDC thing or even the actions of his own crew.
A surprise came when Fesic thought he caught a reference that adding Station Central had been a 'last minute' decision. That suggested the higher offices hadn't been as concerned about the system's core operations. So, their concerns could be Vermene and SDC but not likely due to anything his crew had done. Fesic finally caught a break when he was told command were acting on the shifting traffic flow. They were tracking a number of things of which Fesic could guess at, but other things he knew he couldn't guess. Learning that, Fesic still hoped to learn more. A comment was made about higher percentages of "corporate ships" in system, but they didn't follow that further. Fesic felt good about wiping that from his worries. It would still be good to report that back to Tukera, so they knew the High Imperial offices were not getting involved yet.
In the end, Fesic was down Cr 50. From what Fesic also gathered, the Imperial fleet in-system was shifting status. That meant everything from moving standard deployments to changing patrol patterns, which would cause a level of confusion on its own. Still, Fesic had been a battery lead gunner, and knew they expected "something" to happen because of the status shifts. Fesic wasn't surprise because things always "popped up" when the parts move unusually. Fesic was collecting details to tell Mikah when he could connect with her. Certainly, after he'd gotten clear of his current company. Fesic even went as far as to buy a Cr 30 round of drinks and learned everyone at the table was drinking non-alcoholic because they were all on duty.
Soon enough, the game came to an end because they still had meetings to attend. Fesic also said he'd hoped for a rematch or to connect in the future. They also said they enjoyed the game and wished him well, or looked forward to seeing him again. He was also fairly certain the naval types might even consider him a possible contact when and if they needed political points. Accepting that, Fesic made his way to a quiet and safe place where he could call Mikah and report what he'd learned. Why he didn't call Colinne about the "lack of concern" on corporate traffic, or ask his detail who he could report to was left unconsidered. Mikah and Jocelynn had been playing "Aiden ball" until Jocelynn had left for the ship. Since Aiden had an hour left in his rental, Mikah said she'd finish up with Aiden then go to the ship to meet Jocelynn there.
After spending the last hour abusing Aiden in the warehouse, they turned the access fob back to the facility manager and Mikah announced she was taking Aiden out to lunch at Astroburgers. Since she'd planned to meet Jocelynn at the ship, she called to ask if Jocelynn wanted her to bring an Astroburgers take out order? Aiden planned to eat his burgers and go back to the suite. On the walk to the nearest shop, Mikah's comms buzzed. The call came from Fesic, and she snarked, "Broken any locks lately?" When Fesic said "no" she then asked, "Have you gotten arrested?" Fesic only answered, "I did have a nice game of poker with some nice navy officers" while glossing over the range of services involved. Now curious, Mikah only prompted, "OK?"
Fesic went on, "It seems that there's a lot more activity in the system and they're meeting to look into things." When Mikah asked, "What kind of activity?" Fesic said, "Well, it doesn't really involve the corporate ships much." Nodding, Mikah told him to call Colinne to pass the information on. When he said he'd call Colinne, one of his Vermene detail said they could give him a shortcut. They said they could give Fesic Mr. Indama's comms code so he could report in directly, rather than taking the round-about method. At the same time, Mikah signed off while being surprised Fesic had found anything instead of Colinne. After Fesic called Mr. Indama, the man was intrigued to hear Fesic explain just how he'd managed to happen on the information and asked a number of questions. He was also very pleased because, like Mikah, he'd not expected the rest of the crew to find anything outside computer data. He was happy to get something more than computer records.
Done with that, Fesic returned to the suite and got there before Aiden had returned. Because of that, he only found Rol and Colinne, each working at their chosen tasks. When he got back and said hello, Rol asked where he'd been? Fesic Told him about the poker game and the information he'd given Mr. Indama. When Fesic asked what had happened back at the suite, Rol had to admit things had been fairly boring there. Fesic asked about Rol's PT and Rol admitted it was rough going, but he was working on it. When Fesic quipped that Rol wasn't dead anymore, Rol played a card from the zombie file and asked Fesic, "How's your brain? Nice and mushy and..." Letting that fade off, Rol finally said, "Never mind." Completely missing the joke, Fesic said, "My stent is healing just fine, thank you."
Rol only said, "Well, good. I'm sure that's what I was asking." as he waived away the wreck of the failed joke. Finally realizing he might have missed something, Fesic asked, "So, why were you asking about my brain?" and Rol said he was just curious. Deciding to see how far he could play that game, Rol said, "well, in the cloning process, there's a certain amount of variance with how well you regenerate..." Realizing he'd lost track of the joke he was trying to create, Rol then waved the comment off saying, "Never mind." Fesic, having missed the basis of the joke from the start, only nodded and said, "Uh huh. It doesn't sound like it's nothing. What are you trying to say? Please elaborate."
Deciding to try it again, Rol said, "If I were to use your brain in a recipe, would you rather go with salt? Or would you prefer to go with paprika?" Stepping back just a bit, and considering his weapon, Fesic asked, "What were you planning?" in a wiry tone. In an assuring tone, Rol answered, "Nothing. It's a completely academic question. Don't worry about it. All Fesic could do was reconsider the situation, Rol's food and to wonder if anyone had recently disappeared? While Fesic considered his thought, Rol said, "My secret ingredient is my people." with a smile on his face. Thanking Rol for a view into the man's cooking process, Fesic went into his bedroom to check on the drone's he'd left in overwatch.
More And More Curious Opening the bedroom door, Fesic looked across the room and saw the drone that should have been hovering in front of the rear wall lying power-dead on the bed. Looking down to his right, he saw the other drone on the floor, also power-dead! So, he decided there had been an escalation. Fesic first thought the prankster had to be a member of the crew who had significant electronics skills. Leaping to that, he passed by those who had the computer skills to hack into and control the drones. Annoyed, Fesic grabbed the drones and connected them to station power. He hoped their cameras might have caught anything he could use as a clue?
After jacking them to power, Fesic saw that the batteries started charging. They didn't "seem" damaged. He could still break out his tools and test them to be certain. When they had enough power to boot up, Fesic checked the "Rear wall" drone footage first. The video from that would show the other drone in its view. Fesic felt that his early suspects had to be either Rol or Colinne, if not both. That was because they'd been the only members of the crew in the suite after the others left. Getting the video to play back, Fesic fast forwarded past the "set up" and watched as the earlier version of him closed and locked the bedroom door. While he watched, he didn't have to wait long for something to happen.
Within a minute or two of him leaving, Fesic saw the other drone, shooting across the plane of the door, appear to power off and fall to the compartment's carpeted floor! No one had entered the space. No signs of obvious actions or interference were visible. The drone just went 'lights out' and dropped. Seconds after that, the video he was watching went black and he could assume that drone had also powered off and fallen to where he found it. Despite the fact he could see in the video that no one had touched the drones but him, Fesic got on his bedroom terminal and went looking to have a 'Junior Detective' fingerprint detection kit delivered. The sort of thing that had existed since they used powder and a magnifying glass, "toy" forensic kits used a 'kiddy sensor' to detect the fluids left behind and created a savable image of the print on the unit's screen.
While a skilled Aslan and Vargr could simply extend their claws and not leave a print, Fesic had seen all the evidence needed to see no one but him had touched the drones. Still, the toy kit cost him Cr 25 and would be delivered that day. Fesic also looked up cooking flour, with the idea to create a sudden explosive force. Sadly, he realized his plan wouldn't work because the flour wouldn't stay aerosolized in a mist-density cloud that could be ignited. Other thoughts he came up with even included using misted radium! He chuckled at that because the eventual target could be handed over to Mikah to be cured of low-level radioactive poisons. What Fesic decided he really wanted was Something that would give the target a case of the itches and scratches, but would also have a quick, if specialized, antidote.
He also wanted to present a show of force that would drive the person, or persons, into détente, and end the pranks. Ideas he had which made him giggle included a ew things, but none were practical. In the end, Fesic wanted a cannister that could be triggered by anyone opening the door but not aware it was there. After a very brief chance to deactivate it, tension coils would release and spin up the device. That would spray out a fluid that would adhere to flesh in small drops, then crystalize while they dried. He also wanted a spray-on cleaner that would let the crystalized spray be wiped off. Considering that, he realized two things. First, they had extra bedrooms in the suite and second, he could afford to pay the hotel to clean the room if the trap was activated. So, cleanup was sorted.
After a cursory investigation of the drones, Fesic turned his attention to the room's lights. With his electronic, computer and mechanical skills, Fesic was well armed to do a forensic investigation of how the lights, drones and other devices were manipulated. He knew, right from the start, that the drones had to have been controlled by the network from a computer. But he got out his tool kit and opened up the cover plates for the room's lights. When he got a look at the innards of the switch electrics Fesic could see everything was in order. A simple set of physical switches were connected to computer interlocks and network elements. So, anything done to the switches would have to have been translated to computer signals and sent across the network.
Taking things to the next level, Fesic got out his diagnostic kit and connected to one of the drones. Logging into the device's interface, Fesic dug into the file system and went for the logs. Fesic was educated enough to be able to follow the basic command structure as he scanned for a "reset" command. When he found that, he could see where the drone he was attached to had acted on a "Shut down" command! That told Fesic someone had done something which caused the drone to shut down. Given that, Fesic began considering who in the crew had the skills to do that? One of those who'd be skilled enough was Aali, but Aali wasn't there. Still, Fesic knew Aali had done a lot of work to connect with remote computers and her staff of androids. Because of that, Fesic wasn't ready to write her off the list.
Of course, the most qualified to pull off the prank was Colinne. She was the ship's computer officer and had carried off a number of exploits. But Colinne had been roped into the constant search for more documents for Tukera. So she was working with Aali. He felt that If either of them had done it, the other would have asked questions. Having worked with Mikah, Fesic was betting it wasn't her. And Zimzod not only didn't have the skills, as far as Fesic could remember, but his humor was a lot more 'in your face'. Setting the 'who' aside for the moment, Fesic ordered components to mix glitter and a fluid able to bond and crystalize along with the cannister, springs and what he needed to make a 'spray bomb'. That cost him Cr 42. He then waited for the delivery. Fesic also bought the fluids needed to get the gunk off himself if it backfired on him for Cr 5.
That done, Fesic next considered who he could bring into his little investigation? For the most part, given his history and pranks, Fesic had to wonder who would care enough to help him? And, who would just work to make his situation worse? Turning on his Vermene detail, Fesic pointed out someone had done something in his bedroom even though all the evidence he'd seen argued against that. One of the detail stepped up and pointed out they were tasked with protecting "his crew" against attacks from outside. He pointed out that didn't mean protecting him against pranks. The man also pointed out, as Fesic had seen, that no one had entered his bedroom but himself and his lady friend. Because of that, they were doing their job correctly.
With no evidence anyone had entered his bedroom, Fesic still pushed until it was recommended he talk to someone with authority within his crew. The tone used was, "come back to us when you have actual evidence." Considering that, and while still waiting for the things he'd ordered, Fesic went into the suite looking for Zimzod. Rol told him Zimzod had booked a full-day class in gunnery and was busy shooting up enemy ships and going through tech exercises. So, he'd not be available until dinner time. Figuring 'what the hell', because he didn't think Zimzod might be in the middle of something or trying to pay attention to a class, Fesic sparked up his comms and tried to call.
In his gunnery pod, Zimzod was doing his best to bring his turret to bear on a particular enemy vessel. He'd even decided to try an electronic cross-patch he barely remembered from one of the tech lectures that day. So, the wall panel hung loose dangerously while Zimzod hauled on the turret controls. The entire pod shook as the simulated ship was hit again, and the constant chatter was fed into his space from his battery control, a damage control feed and two other streams of constant updates. Computer feed updated Zimzod on everything from in-range enemy craft to AI-based tracking/warning systems. Those were streaming updates on his selected target and the apparent damage and detected vulnerabilities. They also screamed alerts about dangers like groups of turret-attacking enemy fighter formations.
Into all that, Zimzod realized his comms was buzzing. With a stream of orders coming in from battery command, Zimzod let the comms go to voicemail. On the other side, Fesic left a recording for Zimzod saying he wanted to talk about "something" and it wasn't urgent. Almost as if in reward, the buzzing stopped while Zimzod noted a specific shape on his targeting and locked onto a barbette on an opposing ship! Locking down on the shape, Zimzod poured on fire and managed to blow the weapon mounting off its stem. He knew from his training and past, that the barbette would most likely have house fusion or particle accelerator guns. The shot earned him a pop-up holographic 'attaboy!' from his fictional battery commander. The pseudo-officer barked out, "Damn good shot gunner!" and faded out.
Elsewhere on the station, Mikah was on her way to meet up with Jocelynn at the ship, in its berth, while Jocelynn waited for people to arrive. Jocelynn had cargos to load and position, and the buyers of the pressurized tents to deal with. Jocelynn's main concern was to validate the cargos. Then, she wanted to position the pods to leave enough open space to spar with the pell android. That had come with a small selection of bladed weapons to match the programming the device had been loaded with. Those were magnetically connected to a steel block the 'droid sat on when not in use. There would also be a team from InstellArms with Mikah's combat armor and Colinne's vacc suit.
When Aiden had left the warehouse, he went back to the suite to take a shower before Getting into gear maintenance. That included cleaning his training suit after the session, and before stowing the unit. After that, Aiden sparked up the news to see what new stories were interesting, along with how older stories had evolved. What he saw was much of what he expected, though there was one new in-system story to pay attention to.
Ghandi (B211455-A N Ni Ic G 303 Im F8 V M3 D) Date: 098-1114
Following events in the station's port section, security and port administrators continue to investigate the attack
which had been conducted against the berth in which the IMS Upgrade was docked. Additional actions were taken to
move and increase security around the ship, belonging to the crew of Lady Mikah Kirlim. That crew have also
appeared to have come to an agreement with the MegaCorporation Tukera and brought in security assets from the Tukera
sub-corporation Vermene. The Executive Director and has said no further threats are expected. Security have stated
the attacks targeted the crew of the Upgrade "Only".
That was reinforced with warnings from the office of the Count down to local station broadcasts which said any
unofficial illegal actions targeting any sophont in-system would be reacted to with extreme force. Admiral Irsiism
reminded anyone with unfortunate intent that the forces of the Imperial Navy in-system would strike any actions
against any lawful traffic as hard as their forces in the area could. The Admiral also reminded anyone with such
considerations that any unlawful attack on system traffic would be considered piracy. 
Other stories covered the continued recovery of the station from recent interruptions. There were also stories about the lawsuits stemming from those events as well as medical claims. While Aiden got on with his afternoon, the others continued their work. Rol hadn't found anything new with the response link data. Zimzod finished with his classes. Aiden had watched the news and then sparked up his hand computer to do some navigational training until dinner. In his bedroom, Fesic had been ordering parts for a "just in case" trap, and also decided to hunt down a shop on-station who sold meat products. He was looking for two pounds of "brain meat" from a cow-like creature. When he found a seller, he ordered the brain matter to be delivered for Cr 240. He also asked them to include a note reading, "To my favorite cannibal." to be delivered to Rol as a prank.
At the ship's berth, Mikah had told Jocelynn she was there to help with whatever until her combat armor was delivered. Jocelynn said she was also waiting for stuff to be delivered. Or, to hand over the pressure tents. Mikah started watching vids while Jocelynn worked to set up storage for the wafers they'd bought. Jocelynn realized they needed a "wallet" made to store the wafers, keeping them dust-free. Soon enough, Jocelynn was done and she and Mikah watched the news. Finally, the deliveries and collectors showed up. Mikah wanted to try on and test out her combat armor before she let the InstellArms techs go. Done with that, they stowed her armor in her stateroom and Colinne's vacc suit in her stateroom.
At a point, a team from the Order house arrived with a box for Jocelynn. Not expecting them to have finished the weapon, Jocelynn was thrilled when she realized they were delivering her "Las-Slug" pistol! Jocelynn was very happy with the appearance of the weapon, but realized she' have to order more custom magazines for it. Because she'd ordered the slug-part of the pistol to be dual-file, it needed magazines customized for the pistol. The one magazine would hold fifteen rounds in each file, but then the mag would have to be reloaded if it was the only one she had. Holding the weapon up to show Mikah, Jocelynn said, "Now, we have something to play with!"
Wondering how fast they could make more magazines for the weapon, Jocelynn called the weaponsmiths at the Order house to ask. They considered the situation and time crunch, and said they could have their fabbers make five more, to be delivered the next day. They also said it would cost her Cr 25 each. Pleased with that, Jocelynn made the payment for the order. Done with that, Jocelynn had to stow the Las-Slug pistol in her stateroom because it was an overtly military weapon and limited by station rules. At the same time, she checked the file which had come with her "zero-g safe" .45 and checked how to contact the weapon designer?
Jocelynn was surprised to see Gamotwtu Fre was listed to be living in the D'Ganzio system. Her surprise was because he'd contracted to sell his creations through Mordor arms. But, D'Ganzio was the Spinward Marches sector HQ for InstellArms. So, she wondered how that odd situation had developed? realizing she had to send an x-mail to ask for him to make her magazines, Jocelynn sparked up a connection to the ISS X-mail service and wrote the designer. She said she'd bought his weapon and pulled the designer's stock number from the file. She said she would like to buy five more magazines for the pistol and also said she and her crew would be arriving in the D'Ganzio system in the future, after a weeks or month's long job. She also asked him to respond to her in the Lanth system with the costs. That cost her Cr 2.
After that, Jocelynn considered test firing the weapon, but guessed the station's berth crew wouldn't appreciate sudden gunfire after all the recent events surrounding the crew. She knew she could always seal the cargo bay ad then open fire in the bay, at the bay door or other targets. Considering how that could go wrong, Jocelynn decided she'd test fire the weapon another time. After Jocelynn thanked the pair from the Order house and they left, Mikah and Jocelynn again relaxed until the other deliveries were done, including the group that arrived for the pressurized tents. With Maur changing her booking and the tents gone, they got back two more tons of space in their cargo bay.
Sekea had finished up test firing his weapon and left the one defective magazine to be repaired or replaced. On the way back to the suite, he came to a concourse on which members of the station staff were working on some project. Looking to see if it were technical or important otherwise, he saw they were putting up informational displays of some sort. Stopping to see what he could, Sekea realized it was another "information and educational" display, which would run down the proceeding concourses in a full-out museum display. And this set seemed to over the many mineral and gem samples of the Ghandi main world. Sekea was pleased, since that was right in his interests.
Looking more closely, Sekea could see they were setting up what looked like an entire "walk through" museum-style display. After they finished installing them, the displays would be free for the public to walk through and visit as they moved through the concourses. Of course, everything would be sealed so no one could just grab a sample. And, he could guess there would be some increased level of security with special attention where any samples were valuable. When he asked, Sekea was told they expected the whole display to be set up in a day or so. Possibly two days. Nodding, Sekea let them work while he jacked his hand computer into the station net to check if there were any gem and mineral sellers along the path he'd be walking back to the suite? He was disappointed when he didn't find any others, but would tell the rest of the crew about the displays when he saw them. Especially Mikah.
When Sekea got back to the suite, he saw Rol working on his PT while Colinne was working at a terminal with Aali. Seeing he had nothing demanding his attention, Sekea went to his bedroom to relax for a period. Some time passed before the suite's door chime rang and Rol, being the closest person who could, answered. While he moved to the door, Sekea had also heard the chimes and come out of his room too. Checking the door, they could see there were two delivery persons in the passage outside. The first delivery person announced, "Delivery for Rol Kaihvos" and Rol jokingly said, "That's him" while pointing at Sekea. Before things could become too confusing, Rol corrected what he said and accepted the delivery.
Examining the delivery, Rol could see it was in a sealed temperature-maintaining container, like they'd use for food deliveries. Not having ordered anything of that kind, Rol looked over the container while asking, "Who's this from?" The delivery person admitted they didn't have that information, but pointed to the note. Reading that, Rol asked if they had a 'point of origin' and was told they didn't. While Rol considered the container and carefully set it on the ground, the other delivery person timidly said, "This is not connected to that." His tone suggested he just wanted to get done and get away from what was becoming a strange event.
Looking back at the delivery person, Rol asked, "Who do you work for?" That man answered, I work for "Arke and Mausshi Cuisine Suppliers". Nodding, Rol then asked, "And this is one of your products?" to which the delivery person said "Yes". When Rol assumed, "And, you don't know what it is?" the delivery person corrected, "I know exactly what it is. When Rol asked, the man said it was "kuu dak.rin.gi", which roughly translated to 'the brains of a Kuu'. Kuu were a cow-like meat cattle beast the Vilani had managed to transplant across the stars. After a confused "oh", Rol changed his tone to an enthusiastic and happy tone saying, "Why, I've been waiting for this all day! Thank you very much!" as if he'd just realized what it was.
Seeing this, Sekea shook his head, deciding it was likely someone had launched a prank. When he mumbled, "Oh no." Rol heard and happily said, "What? This is an important ingredient in tonight's dinner!" The second delivery person then got a chance to blurt out, "This is for Sir Fesic Anfertirkåsmokt." as he still hoped to get done and out of there. Knowing Fesic was in his bedroom, Rol said he'd get the man. Rol first put the brains in a cabinet, then went to knock on Fesic's bedroom door telling him he had a delivery. Fesic left his bedroom while making sure it was secure behind him, then went to get his delivery. Fesic received the box without asking any questions, and took it back into his bedroom.
Considering what he'd just learned, Sekea decided to wander the concourses, to practicing "fitting in" and the other facets of streetwise skills. While walking, Sekea also considered the results of his test fires. Having seen an improvement in his accuracy, he'd also seen it took longer for him to get shots off. And, the more time he spent targeting, the less rounds he'd be "firing". And more bullets would be coming at him while he was aiming. As with anything in combat, the more delays you added, the more danger you put yourself in. That meant he'd have to consider "if" he wanted to use his sights in each situation, and reconsider as those situations changed.
Uncertainty And Abby-Something Back in the suite's kitchen, Rol had gotten a marker, opened the cabinet and wrote on the container of brains, "Abby Normal." and "Do not use." Rol then got on a terminal and looked for ground meats he could order that "looked like" ground up brains to him, and ordered enough of that to plan a dinner around. That was less of a specialty than the brains, and only cost Cr 93 to have delivered. At the same time, Fesic had taken the box of goodies into his bedroom and started concocting a "bomb" which used as little tech as possible. It had to have a spring-based release that could be stopped and rewound each time he opened the door, and which had a latch tied to the door to release it. While Fesic worked, he considered which members of the crew hated practical jokes, so he could speak with them and Fesic felt he could include Mikah and Zimzod on that list, but wasn't sure if he could add anyone else?
Eventually, all the deliveries and work at the ship were done and Jocelynn told Mikah she'd eventually have to start looking into using the cargo sealer. They, and the others got back to the suite, where Rol announced dinner was ready. He told them he was serving "gourmet hamburgers", which those in the know could not say were, or were not, made from the order of brains. As people came to eat, he added, "I used special ingredients this time. So, they should taste really good." When she heard that, Mikah said, "No thanks, I had burgers for lunch." Rol said, "you're kidding me" and Mikah answered, "Me, Jocelynn and Aiden." Rol pushed, "But these will put hair on your chest" and Fesic quipped, "I'm not thinking that's a selling point." Zimzod was ready to dig in while Fesic said he planned to order a delivery meal. Colinne, Aiden and Sekea also looked forward to the burgers.
Rol even made a deal setting up a plate and telling the Vermene detail to deliver it to Aali. Seeing that, Mikah decided to try the burgers. While the others made their decisions, Rol stepped into the kitchen and opened the cabinet where he'd stored the delivered brains. That let anyone looking see the labeled container. Eventually, everyone ate burgers except Fesic, who had a toppings and sauce covered flatbread delivered. Trying a slice of the flatbread, Fesic wasn't pleased and considered ordering something else. Fesic eventually paid a total of Cr 30 for the flatbread and some "noodle-heavy" pho.
While they ate, Sekea told the others, and specifically Mikah, about the displays he saw them setting up. Mikah and Jocelynn were interested in checking it out with Sekea and Fesic wanted to bring his lady friend. After eating, Fesic called Kuki to tell her about the game and mineral display. Sadly, she told him she had to get herself back to work. When Fesic was surprised, she explained that her boss had been ok with letting her suddenly burn off some vacation time but she was needed. Fesic then tried to slide into her free time by taking many images they could share in her evenings. She said she'd comm him and let him know and Fesic didn't mention the bracelet which he'd get from the Order house the next day.
After dinner, Colinne continued her work on the Tukera job while Aali decided to take a break and do PT. After that, she planned to go back to helping Colinne. Mikah decided to look for comedy vids to watch. After cleaning up from dinner, Rol decided to do individual stent practice. Jocelynn went back to hunting through the Stepozhevaci computer image looking for information on allies. After over an hour doing that, she went into her bedroom to practice with stent and Psi work. Done with dinner, Zimzod finally decided to check and see who'd called him during his training? When he saw it had been Fesic, Zimzod asked Fesic what he wanted? Fesic asked if they could speak in private?
Zimzod wasn't so sure about the request but agreed and they stepped into a bedroom. With Zimzod's attention, Fesic said, "Someone recently played a practical joke, and, you know, in the past, I was guilty of more of these than I should have been. But I'm trying not to ever do them again." Per Lady Mikah's request and my on-going agreement to cooperate with her. Of course, Fesic didn't mention the brain meat joke he'd played on Rol earlier that afternoon. Zimzod missed the omission because he'd not been aware of it, or Rol's response. Fesic continued, "However, I feel that, one, I cannot allow it to escalate against me. And two, if I have no response or there is no action correcting this, or creating peace between us, this will only escalate against me, thus causing me to have to, unfortunately, possibly go back on my wish to end this."
Fesic continued, "I was wondering if you knew who might have done it, and if we could facilitate a discussion that ends this before it gets out of control. And I also want to seek your advice on this matter." Zimzod started by saying, "I can honestly tell you I have no idea who did it. And, honestly Fesic, you're the biggest practical joker on the ship." Fesic interrupted Zimzod saying, "I remember that. I also remember my promise to stop, which I have..." Zimzod interrupted him saying, "I admit that, but there's several other people that you've actually pulled pranks on that haven't retaliated yet so, I guess, suck it up butter cup."
Fesic didn't like that answer and told Zimzod, "Well, I've sucked it up enough. My concern is merely that it will escalate. And, if it escalates, there is only so much patience any man has. Nodding, Zimzod asked if any of his property was damaged? Dodging the question, Fesic said, "Possibly property of the hotel was damaged, but it seems to have, maybe, corrected itself. But, also, possibly, my drones were damaged. I'm not sure if the draining of their batteries will lead to long term damage to the batteries?" Zimzod bluntly said, "I really hate getting involved in such petty things." Fesic said he understood, but then added, "I'm just seeking to..." He then changed directions, saying, "Like I said, I really don't want to get into doing this again, because I made a promise to Lady Mikah which I intend to keep."
Fesic continued, "So, I'm seeking a way to not get into it. If you're saying, "tough shit, just go for it"..." Zimzod interrupted him saying, "No. I'm just saying 'let it go'." Fesic nodded and said, "Well, I plan to let it go, as long as it doesn't continue. If it continues, then it will be impossible to let things go." Zimzod nodded and said, "OK, I'll make a speech to the crew." Fesic said he appreciated that, and continued, "But if you feel it is one person or another, I would be willing to deal with them. You know, make peace. Make amends, whatever." Zimzod repeated, "I honestly don't know who did it." Fesic challenged back, "I understand that, but I imagine there are some people in the crew that don't really like doing these things, who you might know about. And, some who might be more inclined."
Zimzod agreed and said, "Yeah, if you were a new crew member, I'd say you were just getting initiated. At this point, it seems you might be getting some payback for all the other pranks you pulled." When Fesic agreed that was possible, Zimzod came around to telling him to suck it up. Fesic agreed to suck it up but said, "Let's hope it doesn't get to a point..." Changing direction, Fesic said, "If it does get to the point where..." He then asked Zimzod, "Do you want me to tell you if it gets to the point that I might want to retaliate?" Zimzod thought about that and told Fesic, "I really don't think you need to retaliate on anyone because this is probably the last of the paybacks."
When Fesic said, "OK. If it's the last than, certainly I'm done with it then." Zimzod jumped in again, saying, "Hear me out. Hear me out. You were OK with it when you were on the giving end of it. But, now that somebody did something that was targeted at you, you're upset." Fesic agreed, but also told Zimzod he wasn't going to suck it up forever. Zimzod just smiled at him and reminded him, "You just got back probably not even a quarter of what you did to everyone in the crew. So, the deal is that you man up. You man up and you stop acting insulted because it's just being stupid." Nodding, Fesic accepted that, said he would let it go and take Zimzod's advice. Fesic again pushed that, in the past he'd done some things but that would not be him anymore. And he also, again, reminded Zimzod that if he continued to be provoked, he might return to his old ways. After that, the two returned to relaxing or other activities with the others until that evening ended.
Thursday, 099-1114: Toys, Training And Deliveries Both Sekea and Fesic woke to the milestone that, after an examination of their healing scars, Mikah could give them the OK to use their implanted stents. They should also have a mental image taken to both establish a base-recording and prevent the loss of memories if they had to be cloned. Sadly, Aali wasn't enjoying her morning thanks to the fact the guards could still get away with waking her both very early and abruptly. Colinne also woke early and moved quickly to answer the suite's comms before it woke the others. The call was from the Order house, and they were preparing to deliver Aiden's new LAG and sniper rifle along with Colinne's customized shotgun and gauss pistol. They wanted to set up a delivery to their ship, since the weapons were specifically combat rated.
While she set that up, Fesic was woken by his comms in his bedroom. It was InstellArms calling about the vacc suit they were customizing for him. Unlike the weapons, they wanted to know if they should deliver that suit to his ship or suite? Fesic told them to deliver it to their ship. They thanked him and asked Fesic to call the berth crew to give them permission to deliver the suit. Fesic said he would, cut the call and then called the berth. At the same time, Aali had just finished her physical workout before working with Colinne on the Tukera project.
Colinne also not only did a workout, but also did a bit "Extra". She then went back to her computer while Fesic started asking about the gem and mineral display. He most wanted to know when those interested planned to leave to check the displays? He relaxed but continued asking those who woke up until Sekea came out to grab some morning chow. When Fesic asked where the display was and when it opened, Sekea had to concentrate to remember where it was? It wasn't that he didn't remember, but he wasn't concentrating on "where" he was at the time and one concourse looked much like any other. He also said the workers had not told him when it would officially be opened, though it was in a concourse they could just walk past anyway. They'd just miss any panels that were not set up when they did.
Checking the station data, they learned the display opened later that day at 2pm station time. Sekea suggested they all go out for lunch that afternoon and follow it up with a visit to the displays. Fesic said that sounded good and even suggested other activities. Like going to play on the bumper cars. When Sekea suggested they might not be welcomed at the bumper cars, jokes were made including wearing disguises. Fesic had to decide what to do until two that afternoon and considered the class Zimzod had told them about. But, when he checked the classes, he saw the class he'd get wouldn't be the same as the one Zimzod had.
With more skill and experience, Fesic would get a different class that included a different level of lessons. Zimzod had also told them the classes had changed after he'd told them about von Kreden and the battle in Rhylanor space. So, the class he'd get would likely not likely nearly as much fun as Zimzod had. His would be more technical and administrative than the vid-game shoot'em up Zimzod had. Still, he called them and they suggested he look for entertainment gaming venues on the station. Hearing that, Fesic started looking up virtual reality entertainment shops.
When Fesic started calling around, he was told he could easily pay for time in v-pods and have all sorts of "based on real battles" scenarios. He did have to know that, being virtually placed as a 'single gunner' in a ship meant the ship could be destroyed during his experience. So, there would be interruptions where the data was reloaded and he, and other players got loaded into a different ship. When Fesic considered he'd have to stop and shower before hitting the gemstone display with the others, and have lunch, he asked how much it would cost for two hours? The vender he'd called considered the "very specific" demands Fesic had and quoted Cr 2,000 for the sim. Fesic shrugged, because he had the cash, and asked the others if anyone else wanted to join him? Zimzod said he'd join Fesic and so did Aiden.
After arriving, Fesic, Zimzod and Aiden were strapped into simulators 'enjoying' entertainment-based battle simulators. Unlike actual combat conditions, the simulators presented them with insanely extreme and 'in your face' battle conditions. Combat usually happened at extreme ranges where only sensors could detect enemy ships but had been drawn in so close that massive ships dominate their skies! The close-in fire was murderously heavy and defensive or counter-battery fire desperate. Because of that, Aiden was shifted through three different simulations because two of the three sim-ships he'd been aboard had been destroyed in battle. He'd had to be shifted to the two new simulated ships. Fesic also had two ships shot out from under him while Zimzod had only been on two. After finishing up, they made their way back to the suite, to shower and change, before joining those others visiting the gem and mineral displays.
Jocelynn planned to spend time in her bedroom not only working on stent and psi-work, but also continuing to dig for allies of the Stepozhevaci from the computer image. Mikah decided to spark up a game from the suite's entertainment package and see who joined while Rol got back into his PT. Between those sessions, Rol sparked up his communications training and pushed into that and Sekea worked on computer exercises to keep his skills fresh. That all continued until, as planned, Zimzod, Fesic and Aiden returned to clean up, grab lunch and get ready to join the others to check out the display. Not joining those headed to the gem/mineral exhibit, Rol continued with his PT and comms training. Colinne also kept up with her work.
When the group visiting the displays arrived, they found a series of panels laid out just like they might be in the halls of a museum. Groups of panels with each cluster concentrating on a type of Ghandi prime's geologic makeup. The different groups were based on the chemical makeup of specific groups of minerals and any gemstones that chemistry resulted in. Viewing the panels, Jocelynn was disappointed there wasn't a gift shop. There were many indicators of what shops, on the station's concourses, a visitor could visit to buy samples if they wanted. There was a "general display" featuring all those gemstones which had been collected by the station personnel from other systems. So, it was the one display which did not have samples from Ghandi.
Looking at that panel, Jocelynn was completely surprised to see they had a stone mined from Astor, her homeworld! The sample was an incredibly clear and pure type of quartz. The display explained that the gemstone, called "Ice Quartz", tended to form on otherwise-Earth normal worlds that had become frozen ice-balls. What would have been a 'wet fluid-covered world' orbiting in the hab-zone of a hotter star had frozen over. Tens of millions of tons of ice had crushed down on what would have been a sea-bed, and formed exotic geologic results. That included "Ice Quartz", among other minerals, some of which were in abundance and valuable enough to mine for and sell out-system. Jocelynn had, in fact, been raised in one of the mining stations on that world.
While the panels did also advertise shops where gem and mineral samples could be bought, there was no guarantee any would have Ice Quartz from Astor. The quality of the quartz meant it had advantages in industrial use, but it was still quartz. Except that such samples "from Astor" were exceedingly rare, the gemstone had no other special quality. Still, the rarity drove its price up into the 'precious gemstone' range because "Collectors". Jocelynn did take image snaps and load onto her hand computer the locations of shops around the station just like any 'dutiful tourist'.
The ice quartz served as a conversation piece among the crew there, and suggested a shopping expedition. Sekea, Mikah and Jocelynn decided to go see what they could find? In one shop, Mikah found a "gemstone glove" with red gems called "Bloodstone", which were woven into gold settings connected by silver and gold links. When one of the shop workers noticed her looking at the piece, they stepped up to say the glove could be adjusted to fit her hand properly. In fact, it could be fitted so she could wear it on either hand. Mikah was surprised when it only cost Cr 5,000, so she bought it.
Jocelynn went hoping she could find a piece of Astor Ice Quartz. What she saw were offerings of white stones. Many of the specimens on offer transitioned from a white (where its doubly refractive crystals seemed to have different colors or intensities from different angles) to clear or translucent. A piece that she liked a lot was a platinum broach on which a scolecite stone was mounted. That stone was sculpted into the shape of an explosion where the center was pure white, and progressively transitioned from that to clear toward the edges. The shape of the stone matched the platinum base made for it, and the platinum reflected the light entering the stone back out to create a radiating appearance. When the shop worker said they wanted Cr 15,000 for the broach, Jocelynn asked if they'd take Cr 12,000? They refused that but agreed to sell it for Cr 13,000 and Jocelynn bought the piece.
Sekea found a wall hanging, composed of labradorite stones which had been honed into rectangles. The draw of the piece were the different and artistic angles into which the surfaces of the stones were cut or carved. That meant each surface displayed a different iridescent play-of-color (labradorescence) with flashes of blue, green, gold, and other colors as the ambient light interacted with its internal layers. The stones often appear grey or black when in shadow. If there was one thing the piece didn't have that was size. Less than one foot square, Sekea looked at the piece and figured he could easily fit the wall hanging on one of the walls in his stateroom. When he asked, the price was Cr 4,000, which wasn't much so he bought it.
While Mikah was finishing up buying her piece, the seller suddenly noticed her ring and cried out, "You have one!" While she wondered what she was on about, the woman took hold of Mikah's hand and started pulling it closer to her eyes so she could examine Mikah's Tellona Diamond. Rather than using the moment to make a contact, Mikah pulled on her 'haughty rich woman persona and arrogantly, gestured with her hand to the others and said, "We all have one. What's wrong with you?" While Sekea didn't actually have one, the venders and people in the compartment were all excited to see even a chip from a Tellona diamond. There was also a cashe in meeting someone who'd actually been given a diamond by the Jae Tellona nomads. When asked enough times, Mikah gave a brief discussion of what happened on Jae Tellona and the sale that followed.
Fesic also tailed along with the three and he went looking for something of interest to himself. What he'd found were a set of agate-covered cufflinks for those few suit shirts he had. The shop worker he talked to also said they had some stock of button covers including Imperial Starburst and a few of the locally affluent chivalric orders. when Fesic asked, he was told they did have covers for the Knight Victor, Companion of the Tower and Sword. He eventually bought a collection of 18 pairs of cufflinks in gold and silver with agate heads, along with a set of 20 button covers for Cr 18,000. Instead of joining the others to see the gems and minerals, Aiden practiced his navigation work and Zimzod did gear maintenance.
Eventually, everyone got back to the suite and had dinner. Fesic found the craftsmen had delivered the bracelet he'd ordered. In her cell, Aali had her rations then went into her PT routine. After that, she did stent practice before working with Colinne until they went to sleep. Aiden asked who wanted to do a group stent training session and Jocelynn spoke up right off. Fesic and Sekea made sure they could start participating and Rol, Colinne and Zimzod also joined in. During that session, Fesic got a comms from the Order house. They wanted to deliver his new vacc suit, with self-sealing and chameleon skin, custom laser rifle, custom bullpup shotgun and two custom snub pistols. Most of that had to be delivered to the ship because of their strict military nature. After he approved that and went back to the stent practice, the evening wound down and the crew went to sleep.
Before he slept, and while the others relaxed or kept on individually, Fesic wanted to reach out to Kuki and give her the bracelet before they left the system. When he called her, Kuki had been working extra hours to make up for her impromptu vacation. So, she said he could meet up with her down on the concourse where the floral displays were coming together. When he gave her the bracelet, she was pleased and enjoyed it as he'd hoped. They both said they'd enjoyed their time together and would share the memories. Still, they were busy and she had to get back to work. Wanting to spend more time with Kuki, Fesic volunteered to work with them and they gladly accepted more hands they didn't have to pay for. Especially since he'd dragged Kuki away and slowed them down. Fesic worked with them as late as he could, but returned to the suite for sleep because he had to work the next day.
Friday, 100-1114: Planning For Departure Starting early in the morning, the Order house woke Aiden to set up delivery of his new dual-file LAG and the ten custom magazines he ordered with it. They also delivered his customized dual-file sniper rifle. Colinne was also woken to set up delivery of her customized gauss pistol and custom bullpup shotgun. Jocelynn was woken so they could deliver to her the five additional magazines she'd paid for her Las-Slug pistol. With only Sekea waiting for his repaired magazine, Mikah started pushing the crew to prepare to leave Ghandi. Ever since the looting turned against them, Mikah was over the system and ready to move on.
Knowing the answer already, Mikah checked with her Vermene people asking them to find out when they could spring Aali from her cage? They reminded Mikah the crew had to not only have a scheduled "lift time" to leave the system, but it had to be on the "current day". Meaning, she couldn't simply schedule a date for the next day or more. Nodding, Mikah checked with Aali to see what she had to do to get them back in space? Aali said they could leave quickly, thanks to her army of androids. She had been checking in with reports they generated ever since she'd been detained. Aali would also have to hand back the electronics to her Vermene detail. And, most of all, she had to stop at the detention administration desk and ask for a card so she could leave her yelp review.
With the ship ready, and Sekea's magazine expected that day, Mikah called the port to set up for an early morning lift time. Because they now planned to leave the next day, Aali faced a day of "relaxed confinement" and planned a day of physical workouts, stent practice and relaxation. Aiden said he wanted to rent a warehouse for a full day of zero-g operations play and asked who wanted to join him? Fesic said he'd go, and bring his teaching suit too. Mikah, Zimzod and Rol also said they'd go. Jocelynn considered staying to work on her computer data search while Colinne kept at the Tukera project to the last. Changing her mind, Jocelynn joined the others for zero-g work. In the meantime, Sekea was starting to consider the jump plot from Ghandi to Lanth.
Ghandi orbited the gas giant 'Modh' so the jump shadow would take them 16.53 hours to clear using normal methods. Beyond that, Sekea had the skill to find gravitic null points "inside" the gas giant's jump shadows, which he could use to plot jumps without burning to escape the gas giant's gravity well. Added to that had been the conversation about those possible dangers that "could be" waiting for them in the Lanth system. Being honest, they had likely over-inflated that danger more than a bit. It wasn't like "everyone in the Imperium" could be waiting there for you. Since the word had hit Ghandi, it would have hit Lanth a week or two before. So, very few people could muster the forces to face them. Still, even if the forces were limited to those with ships in Lanth, that was much more than they could face if it came en masse.
Because of that, they had two choices to make. The first was "where" to plot an emergence point? The second was at what speed to emerge? Imperial port regulations and standards recommended all ships to arrive in a given system's rear, coreward quadrants. So, if a crew wanted to evade a possible waiting opponent, they should plot an arrival in another part of the system instead. To avoid other traffic using that quadrant properly, they could also plot a point above or below the ecliptic, where the only traffic they could expect was military. Only, they'd most likely mistake that ship for pirates, or worse, until after it was too late. so, the safest point of emergence were the outer points of system departure quadrants.
The next question was "how" they wanted to arrive? Most ships departing a world for jump spent half their burn increasing speed. The Upgrade could accelerate their vector four gravities over every twenty minutes of full burn. Halfway to their plotted jump point, most starships would "flip" so they could use their thrust to decelerate. That way, they would arrive at their planned jump point at zero vee. Because of that, they would also arrive at their destination at zero vee. Their option was to "not" jump from zero vee. They had a choice to continue accelerating all the way out to their plotted jump point. At full or less than full speed. Then, when they made their jump, they could arrive with a vector that could be slight or significant. If they made that choice, they would arrive "at speed" and need to begin slowing immediately. Still, they would surprise traffic in the Lanth system. And They'd raise alarms if they did, but spoiling the plans of anyone they might encounter.
That meant their question was if they arrive where they were supposed to, by law, or somewhere else, and if they decide to carry vee with them or not? Sekea certainly wanted to plot a so-called pirate point outbound, to save time and normal-space fuel. That would shorten the flight-time leaving Ghandi. Sekea also wanted to hit his system maps and look for a possible pirate point in the Lanth system. While Sekea knew that could incite a local system-defense reaction, he hoped it would be "question first" instead of "shoot first". With that decision made, Sekea told Aiden they could make the standard burn approach and lie at zero vee when they made their jump.
Those decisions meant Sekea chose to spend extra time that day pouring over the charts of both systems to find the best null-grav points to use. Still, Sekea knew he had the time later that day and the next to plot their jump. That let him take part in the zero-g ops practice with Fesic, Aiden and the others. The bulk of the crew spent the entire day at the warehouse, which cost him Cr 1,600. They had meals delivered in costing Cr 20 each for lunch. In the suite, Colinne had connected to Aali while they worked, but found no new data by the time dinner came around. Another thing they had to talk about with Mikah was taking the time to back up the crew's mental images.
Aali's last update was on 050-1114, so it was fifty days out of date. Aiden's last scan was on the 077-1114, so over twenty days out of date. Colinne's image had been on 044-1114, so fifty days out of date. Jocelynn's last scan had been on 075-1114, and twenty five days out of date. Rol's last update had been on 035-1114, so he was nearly seventy days out of date and Zimzod's last scan, on 076-1114, was twenty four days out of date. Fesic and Sekea had to have all new scans done. Where each "full update" would take between three and four hours, Mikah suggested they update those one or two a day during the coming jump. Aiden mentioned that the backups were all on the ship. So, if the ship were destroyed, those would be lost. He suggested they find a long-term storage site on some world "just in case". The others said it was something to talk about.
After handing back the warehouse access, Aiden and the others relaxed while Aali planned to spend the whole evening watching vids with the help of her Vermene detail. Aiden suggested a game of poker and Rol, Fesic and Mikah jumped into that game. Colinne also decided to relax and watch vids for their last night in-port. Jocelynn relaxed and did gear maintenance. Sekea practiced his computer skills. Zimzod did more individual stent work. During the evening, Sekea got a replacement magazine delivered from the Order house. When the poker game ended, Rol had been trailing almost the entire evening and ended up the "big loser". Mikah ended up winning Cr 766, Fesic won Cr 429, Aiden was down Cr 490 and Rol was down Cr 705.
Saturday, 101-1114: Where everyone is at the end of the session: Everyone: The crew have bedded down for the night Friday and will wake to the 101st day
_________________________________________________________________________ Next: Pending