Characters: Shiraamer, Gvarokh, & Vincent
Location: Miishakaal, parked at the Larkarda Starport.
1125.6.4 - 17:00 / 15:30 local time (18 1/2 hr day)
The Captain, Gvarokh and Vincent are back on board the Miishakaal, in the
crew lounge. Gvarokh states that he has to search for available cargoes and
reference them with star charts for the ship's destination.
Vincent: "I'd like to do some research on our new employer. Do some background
checks on our contact, the man we are looking for, the company he said he worked
for and any news related articles I can find...you never know..."
Gvarokh: "Captain, when would be a good time to do a quick map hit? I would
like to go over a couple of travel options. We are going to be crossing a
hostile border, so I figure we are probably going to want to make sure we can be
as innocuous as possible."
Shiraamer nods as she resets security, she ponders a bit before speaking. "We're
going to need to be careful on this run. Let me grab some fresh coffee and
when you're ready just let me know. I'll be checking out some of the rules and
regulations on traveling into that part of space also. Last thing we need is
being stopped and finding out that we didn't have proper paperwork." She sighs.
"Paperwork. With the computers and technology that is available today, they
still call it paperwork and somebody is always looking for it. Enough of this
draining talk though, I'll see you in a bit." Shiraamer smiles and turns to head
to get fortified with coffee and start her research.
Gvarokh and Vincent head to the bridge. Vincent sits down in front of the main
computer while Gvarokh sits in the pilot's chair and uses the terminal available
at that station.
Meanwhile, the captain pours herself another cup of coffee and heads to her
cabin to use the terminal in her quarters.
Characters: Captain Shiraamer, Gvarokh & Vincent
Locations: The Captain is in her stateroom while Gvarokh & Vincent
are on the bridge of the Miishakaal
17:10 / 15:40 local
Sitting in the pilot's chair, Gvarokh calls up a map of the local area on the
workstation he's at. He also logs into CargoNet, the starport's listing of
cargoes in need of transport as well as those for sale and those desired to buy.
Shiraamer sits down at her desk in her stateroom. The terminal is on and
connected to the InfoNet. She takes a sip of her coffee and prepares herself
mentally to get down to business.
She plugs the holocrystal into the crystaldata port on her terminal. Her
antiviral software gives the all clear sign and the crystal's contents are
displayed. She start withs the dossier on the agent.
The agent's name is Oda Linnachre. There are various photos of her at company
functions as well as her company ID card. She's quite an attractive woman. She's
35, 158 cm tall (5 ft 2 in), and weighs 50 kgs (110 lbs). She has long, dark
blonde hair, and cloudy gray eyes. She has an 8 cm long scar on the left side of
her neck which extends to her shoulder. In most of the photos, she wears
high-collared shirts, sweaters, or jumpsuits to conceal it. There is no mention
how she got the scar.
It says that she has a bachelor's degree in business administration. After
college she went to work for Wellesmoor Diversified Products Inc. and has
been there ever since. It mentions how she rose through the employment ranks
via meritorious promotions. Ten years ago she transferred into Product
Development. Five years ago she volunteered for the role of New Product
Acquisition Agent.
In her employee files are several reports regarding her discovery of, tracking
down of, negotiations over, and subsequent stealing of the bioscanner. The last
message details that she got as far as Theton but can't go any further without
risking being caught.
All in all, the reports detail a bright, ambitious woman who seems to have taken
one risk too many.
After several minutes of studying the star charts, Gvarokh leans back in his
chair and sighs. Initially, he just needed to know the "better" path to take.
The obvious path is to hit Gishinridu first, then immediately move into
Vilani space. Barring hangups, it will take 6 jumps to get to Theton. The other
path is to hit Phago, then loop around to Gegirur, Vakkuum,
and so on to the destination. This will take an extra jump, but keeps them in
Imperial space for most of the journey. (see
map)
He's not sure which path will give the group the least political hangups.
Crossing Imperial borders wasn't a problem until the war started. One just had
to know if the other nation was hostile to the Imperium or not. Once the war
started, going anywhere vargr-owned meant that you risked corsair attack in a
big way. It wasn't long before trading with vargr states ceased altogether.
After 1120, intra-imperial political borders became a new headache. As the war
got ugly it was hard to get reliable data on who was impounding whose ships and
who was still permitting trade. With an Imperial registry, how much crap will
the Vilani put the ship through? Although he hasn't heard anything negative
about the vilani restricting trade, they did suspend dividend payments on the
emperor's assets in all vilani corps. But they did agree to an exchange of
assets with the non-vilani megacorps. Maybe the captain is having some luck
figuring that out.
And then there's where should the group cross into vilani space. Gvarokh thinks
that regardless of the path, a Vilani client world should be used as a stepping
stone. They should be able to clue the group in on any rules and regulations
they'll have to abide by to get reasonable access to vilani space.
Gvarokh decides to check the library data on
Gishinndu and Shuka. Both worlds were
loyal Imperial worlds even after Vland seceded from the Imperium and both have
naval bases. There are excerpts from news articles where the world's leaders
have decried Lucan's withdrawal of Imperial forces from Lishun and appealed for
aid from the vilani. There's also reports from Shuka where Vilani naval vessels
assisted the local squadron thwart a vargr attack. Ahhhh here it is. In
1122, both worlds' base commanders declared mutual defense pacts with the vilani
against corsairs and an outright refusal to withdraw their ships from defense
of their worlds. There doesn't seem to be a reply from Capital about what could
be considered a treasonous act.
Vincent contacts the captain through the comm, "I've finished checking the
public record on Mersshon and Wellesmoor and would like to go over the results
with you."
She replies, "I'll be meeting with Gvarokh in a bit to go over some more things.
Find out as much as you can and keep us informed."
Vincent replies, "Ok. Is it ok if I use 'special means' of getting more
information." Apparently he wants to start hacking.
She replies, "Can you also check and see what you can dig up on Oda Linnachre. I
can tell you that she's 35, 158 cm tall (5 ft 2 in), and weighs 50 kgs (110
lbs). She has an 8 cm long scar on the left side of her neck which extends to
her shoulder. I don't see anything though that mentions how she got it. Here is
her company ID number. It might be nothing, but you are better at digging then
I am. One thing stands out. In all of the reports it shows her as a bright,
ambitious woman who seems to have taken one risk too many... don't become her
male counterpart. Miisha and I need you Vincent, just be very careful."
"Gotcha."
Vincent drums his fingers on the console by the main computer. He stands and
starts to leave the bridge. "Gvarokh, I'm going to go buy myself a laptop so
that my enhanced investigation of Mersshon and Wellesmoor aren't immediately
traceable back to the ship and you guys. Ok?"
Gvarokh replies, "Sounds like a good idea. See you when you get back."
Vincent closes his computer session and leaves the ship.
Gvarokh gets back to checking the newsfeeds for any local vilani - imperial
ugliness along the border. Open conflict has been dwindling since the vilani
seceded from the Imperium. Plenty of rhetoric has been exchanged by both sides
and it's been backed up by alot of posturing. One side moves their squadron here
and the other side moves to counter. There are accusations of privateering by
both sides and there is concrete evidence that both sides are guilty. If
there's a long term trend, it's that conflict between the two has shrunk from
fleet-sized engagements down to squadron conflicts and then down to patrols
exchanging fire. Either both sides don't have the resources or they're busy
elsewhere.
What hasn't let up are vargr attacks. Vargr corsairs, privateers, and state
sponsored raiders continue to raid shipping along the Imperial and Vilani
borders. Statistical analysis of raid frequency is definitely higher the closer
one gets to vargr occupied territory.
Strategy speculators feel that Lucan should forego attacks against the Vilani
and ally with them to drive out the vargr invaders. More Imperial worlds will
fall to vargr invasion that vilani expansionism, though some would say that
coreward border worlds in Lishun might join the vilani for their protection as
Lucan seems preoccupied with defeating other factions rimward.
Supporters of Lucan counter that cooperating with the vilani legitimizes their
grievances. Sacrifices need to be made and just as soon as Lucan has dealt with
that traitor Dulinor, the vargr will be swept away in an instant. Some even say
that Dulinor is encouraging the vargr invasion and their cowardly attacks will
cease once Dulinor's support vanishes. Of course Dulinor denies these
accusations.
It would seem that the route through Gishinridu is the safer way to go. While
Vladgorkfeg and Gvarokh might bluff their way past vargr corsairs, could they
guarantee the safety of the crew? The Gishinridu route is no safe bet but the
odds of being attacked by pirates is lower than going the Phago route. And the
vilani might not be as bad as the Imperium is making them out to be. The
captain is a fair amount of vilani in her after all.
Gvarokh turns his attention to CargoNet. There's several available
cargoes for delivery to worlds along the Gishinridu route. No need to grab one
just yet. Activity on the boards seems light. Maybe not too many traders want
to risk the unknown of heading into vilani space. The cargoes that seem to be
getting the most attention are ones rimward back towards what TAS has labeled
the Imperial Safe.
Meanwhile, Shiraamer gets back to the data on the crystal. There's a file on
where to meet Oda on Theton. Apparently there's a bar at the starport where
she'll give her contact a call sign. The crew must give the countersign. No
need to study that now.
She does a search on InfoNet for Theton and downloads the info to the ship's
library. She begins reading up on it. Theton is a nasty place. Large quantities
of nitric acid in the atmosphere have given it a "corrosive atmosphere" label.
Technically it's a "water world" since it has no land, but "acid bath" is more
accurate. No native life. Duh. The reason why anyone's paying it any
attention is the lanthanum deposits. That makes sense.
The place has a population of almost 6 million. Most live on the surface but
there are orbital cities as well.
Government: It's a colony of Arga (Vland 3106). Law Level 3.
Nice. Tech Level 11. Average Imperial.
The star system has an asteroid belt but no gas giants. That sucks. B
starport. Well, at least the starport is good. "Note: fuel
shuttles skim ammonia from the atmosphere and refined into hydrogen to sell as
fuel at the starport. Fuel prices are 5 times that of the norm." You'll
be getting my bill Mersshon.
Checking history now. Unclaimed until about -100 though individuals and small
groups tried their hand at mining the place. Arga colonists settled the place
and have owned it ever since. They used the place as a penal mining colony at
first before opening it up to everyone. However, the penal mining colonies still
exist. Swell. In 625 a naval base is built. In 645 the planet becomes
subsector capital. Really? When Vland secedes from the Imperium in 1120,
Theton takes sides with Vland.
Well that's enough of that. Time to check out the red tape. The Restored Vilani
Empire (RVE)requires all ships that travel within its borders to be registered.
Unfortunately, this can only be accomplished in RVE territory. Word from
transborder merchants is that there are forms to fill out and the ship's
transponder gets replaced. The process typically takes 30 days(!) or so
during which time the ship must remain grounded. The registration fee is
$5,000 plus $10 for every ton of ship displacement. Good grief!
Docking fees, fuel prices and starports are similar to what's available in the
main Imperium. That makes sense. As for cargo, all cargo must be
registered. Cargo registration fee is a one time cost of $20 per ton of cargo
and is done at the cargo sourceworld, or, for transborder shipments, at the
point that a ship enters RVE space. That certainly cuts into profit
margins.
There doesn't appear to be any cargo restrictions other than the standard WMD
ban, but that only applies to the RVE as a whole. Individual worlds may have
their own restrictions.
Shiraamer stops at this point. It's alot of information to digest. Gvarokh has
sent a message stating that he's ready to meet if she is. Just give the word.
She replies, "Shiraamer here. I'm reading about Theton now and not liking what
I'm reading either. We can meet in my stateroom. I'll see you in a bit then.
Tell Vincent to just meet with us when he is ready."
Gvarokh replies "OK. See you then. Vincent just stepped out to run an errand.
Said he wanted to get a new computer so that he could keep the ship's computer
free from any of his investigations. Seemed a prudent precaution to me."
Gvarokh sets up his hand comp to directly interface with the terminal that he's
been working on over the ship's wireless network. No downloading necessary. He
tidies up his notes and heads to her cabin.
NEXT: Shiraamer and Gvarokh's Meeting
