Characters: All
NPC: Chuck & Shiraamer
Location: Miishakaal
System: Hrun
1125.8.6 - 22:55
The ship has just exited jumpspace. Passive sensors have begun to gather data
on the system. Within seconds, the radar screen has identified several ships in
the local vicinity.
"Give me a bearing Chuck," the captain orders.
"Well, almost all of the ships are either coming or going to that small moon."
"That's no moon," she says, "that's Shatison, the orbital city and starport.
Anything else?"
"Yeah, there's something big looking to match our vector and... whoa! Sensors
just lit up like a Christmas tree. We've been scanned. Incoming message." Chuck
pipes it through over the comm.
A man's voice comes through loud and clear. "Attention foreign starship, this is
the cruiser Ishshu. Please maintain course but begin deceleration. We will be
closing in on your position for visual inspection."
"Acknowledged," the captain replies.
"Orders?" Chuck asks.
"You heard the man, let's get that deceleration burn going. This sounds like a
routine inspection boys. Let's stand down."
8.7 - 00:15
The Ishshu has pulled up alongside the Miishakaal and, after
asking that the deceleration burn be halted, has extended a docking collar. A
boarding party is en route.
The captain has assembled everyone in the crew lounge while she attends the air
lock.
"Permission to come aboard?" a man wearing the rank of lieutenant asks.
"Granted," the captain replies.
The captain escorts the lieutenant and his three guards to the crew lounge. All
appear lightly armored (cloth) and carry auto rifles, except for the lieutenant
who has an auto pistol. The guards are also all male and appear to be in their
late 20's, while the lieutenant appears older, perhaps 40. All are clean shaven
and relaxed.
The lieutenant looks over the ship's log, "Miishakaal, is it?"
"Yes," the captain replies.
"Sounds Vilani."
"It is, as am I," she adds with a smile, "for the most part."
He smiles back and states, "You're new to Hrun."
The captain confirms, "Yes. We've decided to try out new trade routes."
"Yeah? Where were your old trade routes?" he asks politely.
"Lishun sector primarily."
"Oh," he says as if she needn't say more, "I can see why you're trying something
new." He pauses, then asks, "Your log says that your cargo originated from
Larkarda and that you came here by way of Gishinridu, which is where you got
your transponder and registered your cargo."
"Yes," she tenses, "That was ok right?"
The lieutenant senses her concern and quickly attempts to put her at ease, "Oh
yes, yes, that's quite fine. I can't tell you how many times Imperial merchants
have tried to operate in vilani space without the proper transponder. Soooo much
paperwork involved processing them after we impound their ships. The stupid
ones run." He chuckles, "Gives us lots of gunnery practice and less paperwork."
The guards smile and nod in agreement.
"No, Captain Shiraamer, you've made our work much easier and for that we thank
you. My reason for bringing up Gishinridu is those stupid Ka-rosans. I was
wondering if they gave you any trouble." He hands the log and cargo manifest
back to the captain.
The captain is relaxed now, "No, no trouble. My vargr crewman and first officer
stayed on the ship to avoid any trouble. There aren't any here are there?"
"Just a few," but he dismisses her concern, "They're trying to recruit more
followers and export their xenophobia but they've had no success. Still, the
local police track them to make sure they don't get into trouble. If they do,
they're given a choice of prison or exile. The government has no tolerance for
hate groups."
"That's comforting," she looks over at Gvarokh.
"Well, that's all captain. Welcome to Hrun. You may resume deceleration and
contact Traffic Control for an approach vector." The guards turn to go and he
follows, "Permission to disembark?"
Surprised by how easy this boarding has gone, the captain replies, "Yes,
granted."
And with that the boarding party departs the ship. The Ishshu retracts the
docking collar and veers off.
"That went well." She turns to the crew and gives orders, "Ok, we've still got a
couple of hours on that deceleration burn. Chuck would you handle that please."
"Aye aye cap'n."
"Gvarokh, as soon as we get in line for the docking bay, I'd like you contact
our clients and arrange for delivery of their cargo. I'll check out CargoNet.
The rest of you are on your own until we dock. I'll have new orders for you once
we get there."
Characters: Gvarokh, Lakir, Simrii, & Vlad
NPC: Chuck & Shiraamer
Location: Miishakaal, docked at Shatison City Starport
1125.8.7 - 03:15 Standard Imperial Time, 03:13 Standard Vland Time,
02:03 Local Time
Once the Ishshu departed and Miishakaal resumed deceleration,
everyone but the captain, Chuck, and Gvarokh hit the sack, hoping to grab at
least a couple of hours, if not a full night, of sleep. With Chuck at the helm,
the captain gave CargoNet a cursory review and Gvarokh made efforts to contact
cargo recipients to make arrangements for them to pick up their cargo.
The captain was only on CargoNet a few minutes before she got up to leave,
instructing Gvarokh to comm her once the ship's hold is half empty. He's also to
draft anyone but Slade or Chuck to unload the cargo hold. Once the cargo hold
is emptied, he's to consider himself off duty and is free to disembark for a
while. He's only to concern himself with docking fees. She promises to take
care of life support and fuel.
Gvarokh does his best to schedule cargo pick ups. Even for a world that's open
all night (Hrun's day is nearly 35 hours long), the shift of workers on duty now
isn't as active as one might expect, nor do all businesses apparently keep a
full staff on board for the hour. Still, Gvarokh has managed to arrange things
so that the ship will be unloaded in a reasonable amount of time.
The ship is now inside Shatison, parked at the starport inside. To Gvarokh, it's
reminiscent of being inside a carrier. The starport is merely one deck inside
this massive orbital city. Looking up, he can clearly see the "ceiling". Air
rafts, grav sleds, and grav trucks fly above, along precise travel lanes, going
to and from merchant vessels. Some vacc suited personnel are even using grav
belts to get around. A gantry arm is connected to the ship's starboard air lock.
Docking fees are paid.
First pick up is at 2:30 local time. Gvarokh is tired. Were it not for his
afternoon and evening naps, he'd probably pass out right now. He heads to the
galley to fix himself a mug of grrahhak and decide which of the crew he's going
to wake. He expects a grumpy reaction from all four of them after less than 3
hours sleep.
Gvarokh decides to wake Vlad, Lakir, and Simrii to perform the cargo off
loading. He comms into their rooms simultaneously to inform them of the task at
hand. Five minutes later, after not receiving any acknowledgements, he repeats
the wake up call. This time all three crewman manage to grumble a reply.
Gvarokh double checks their vacc suit connections are before sending the crewmen
into the cargo hold. The air is evacuated from the hold and the forward cargo
lock is opened just as the first truck arrives.
Vlad almost wipes out the grav loader with the sulfur containers, but manages to
right himself before catastrophe ensues.
With only the lumber to be unloaded, Gvarokh sends a wake up call to the
captain.
"Halfway unloaded already?" she asks sleepily, "Thanks Gvarokh."
Several minutes later the captain joins Gvarokh on the bridge. He notes that
she's swearing sweats. "What time will the cargo hold be unloaded?" she asks.
"I'd have to say 6:15." he replies.
"Ship time or local?"
"Ship time."
She schedules a fuel delivery for 06:00 local time (~ 7:15 ship time) and a life
support replenishment for 07:00. She then gets to work on CargoNet.
"I've given it alot of thought," she starts, "I've decided to go to Umilikha. I
feel alot safer going to a world with a naval base than one that doesn't. Also,
I'm still a bit paranoid about revealing ourselves to any potential Makhidkarun
agents. You can tell the crew, when you see them. I'll do likewise."
Gvarokh says, "That sounds like the reasonable destination. Good luck with the
cargo."
"Thanks."
Finally, the last of the wood from Larkarda Lumber has been offloaded. Gvarokh's
estimated time of completion is right on the mark. The hold is secured and the
crewmen go back to their quarters for more sleep. Before Gvarokh leaves the
bridge, he informs the captain that they've received 57,200 credits for the
haul.
"That's good news Gvarokh."
"Good night captain."
As he slumps out the door, she adds, "Good work Gvarokh. Thank you."
Fortunately, Gvarokh does not have far to go to get to his stateroom. He's
asleep before his head hits the pillow.
Character: Vincent
Location: Vincent's stateroom on the Miishakaal
06:42 Standard Imperial Time, 06:40 Standard Vland Time, 05:30 Local Time
Vincent is sitting on a beach in the tropics, though he doesn't know which
planet. He's got a drink in his hand, his toes in the sand, and thinks, "All I
need is..." Suddenly he spots a long legged woman with blonde hair walking up
the beach, a drink in each hand. He smiles. She sits down next to him and
whispers in his ear.
"Vincent, I need you to wake up and handle the fuel delivery."
He opens his eyes. He's in his stateroom with the lights turned up to full
daylight levels, apparently someone has overridden his stateroom's controls.
"Look at it this way," the captain's voice continues, "at least you didn't have
to get up in the middle of the night to unload cargo. Vincent? Are you awake?"
"I'm awake," he grumbles, not content with 6 hours of sleep.
"Good. The fuel delivery is a half hour from now. The life support refurbishment
delivery an hour after that. Thanks Vincent."
A shower and a cup of coffee later, Vincent is ready to go. The fuel delivery
and the life support refurbishment delivery an hour later, go off without a
hitch. The fuel, once again, is unrefined so Vincent has to fire up the fuel
purification plant. "Better work," he grumbles. Indeed, it appears to be working
perfectly and Vincent feels confident that he no longer needs to baby-sit the
FPP.
Next: Shopping At Shatison