GM'd by Ewan Quibell
Characters: All
NPC: Shiraamer & Chuck
Location: Various places around the Miishakaal, Gishinridu system
The Miishakaal is in on a vector to the Highport. Lieutenant Drilimmi
of INS Fiihaammum has requested a full burn run in to port and the
Miishakaal is pilling up the Gs. Even on a full burn in it's a seven
hour trip from breakout to the highport, and as such everyone apart from
Chuck and Gvarokh have gone to bed.
As you get closer to the port, the cube of Naval ships, that is surrounding you
and providing you with an escort, receives an easy approach vector that
displaces some of the larger Naval vessels.
As an almost client state of the Restored Vilani Empire, and with a Naval base
for protection, Gishinridu sees a small amount of interface traffic and there
are some merchants from both sides of the border plying the space lanes. The
sensors pick out a few contacts of both ships and boats going about their
business.
Coming in on a vector to attach to a berth adjacent to the Naval base,
Miishakaal is given a priority landing clearance by highport control.
Lieutenant Drilimmi comms onto the comm "Miishakaal, this is INS
Fiihaammum. You're in the high port traffic pattern. We have thus
discharged our escort duty. Have a pleasant stay. INS Fiihaammum out."
Without waiting for a reply your four escorts peal off at high G and reform
into the Naval base landing pattern.
Chuck brings the ship to a standstill around 20 meters from the berth
attachment, and lets the spin of the station move the berthing arm and its
clamps into contact with the ship. Gvarokh notes that Chuck has been wiping his
brow with a handkerchief for the past half hour and rubbing the palms of his
hands on his vacc suit. There was one time when Gvarokh nearly took control,
but Chuck managed to get himself out of trouble.
There are a couple of resounding clucks through the ship as the arm
connects.
Gvarokh opens an external connection "Gishinridu Tower this is the
Miishakaal, showing landed at 04:38 1125.7.6 or 02:58 local."
And the tower responds "Miishakaal this is Gishinridu Tower, we show you
berthed, welcome aboard and have a nice stay."
Everyone is woken by the connection. Chuck has been up for almost 21 hours and
is knackered. Gvarokh has been up for a similar time but has napped through the
approach so is relatively fresh. His nostrils are complaining about the smell
emanating from Chuck and if Chuck wasn't flying the ship into the highport
Gvarokh would have sent him to have a shower an hour ago. Everyone else has had
around six hours sleep.
Gvarokh had contacted the Navy Factors's office on the way in to the Starport.
The answer to his enquiry was that the Navy Factor was working days at the
moment, so while it is possible to deliver the cargo there wouldn't be a
signature for it until 08:00.
As the landing clamps are registering secure via the starport's now attached
data feed Chuck turns to Gvarokh and reports all secure. "Mind if I catch some
Zzzs?" and once Gvarokh has dismissed him he heads straight for his cabin and
falls asleep even before his head hits the pillow.
Lakir puts on his cargo slepping tugs, and heads to the cargo bay intending to
make sure the cargo is easily accessible and can be handled out of the bay with
ease. Checking the port cargo handling procedures he notes that it will be a
vacuum unload, unless they request an internal bay. Checking the other cargo,
he notes that this shouldn't be necessary.
Simrii does a little research on the highport, whatever sort of basics he can
pull up from the local data net: Things to do, places to see, places to get a
starship repaired, and everything else that he expects to find in a C class
orbital starport with a Naval base. Bars, restaurants, total imemrsion
entertainment systems, shipyards, repair shops and all other kinds of
enterprises are listed. CargoNet seems lively with interface traffic, both
freight and passenger, while there seems to be little speculative cargo
available.
The news feeds only show local stuff, the only really interesting bit being that
there were disturbances dirt-side two days ago when one of the leading Ka-rosas
was expelled from the starport for attempting to insight racial hatred.
Vincent raises his head from his pillow for a moment before putting it
down again for a couple more minutes sleep.
The comm in the bridge fires up and when Gvarokh answers it a man with lightly
tanned skin, silver hair, and pointed ears looks at him thought the link. "Hi,
I'm Hiaani Jighar Killic, assistant port master, we have a customs report here
from Lieutenant Drilimmi of 15th Squadron." He looks over the report that is on
a screen just left of the comm. "She seems to have spent some time going over
your ship, and found everything in order. We won't bother with our inspection
then. We're extracting your waste at the moment and that's included in the
berthing fee. Can we do anything else for you? Fuel, Life support? You can
refine onboard if you like. No restrictions at this highport."
Gvarokh responds, "Thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, we'll take
life support and unrefined fuel."
Killic replies "Great! I'll line you up for unrefined in the morning shift,
you'll be third after 08:00. Not in any hurry are you? No ... good. As for life
support what do you need?"
Gvarokh responds with the equipment list that is needed to replace that
which is used.
Killic answers "No worries, loads in stock. I'll slot you in before the
Grakharaarr. Expect delivery around 09:00 give or take. I'll take payment
for the life support, fuel and berthing costs at that time ok? Right ...
Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Thanks, I think that's it for the minute."
Gvarokh leaves a message for the Navy factor saying he would like to meet at
their earliest opportunity in the morning. Gvarokh follows this by looking on
CargoNet to see the freight available to haul. Showing at present are:
Available for Hrun:
8 tons of paper printouts (scientific data)
8 tons of steel
Available for Lashiaminan
11 tons farm machinery
Available for Apmudurduna
6 tons of polymers
Available for Olny
6 tons radioactive ores
8 tons aluminium
Available for Larkarda
9 tons mineral ores
Available for Silverring
7 tons electronic parts
Available of Pradman
16 tons lumber
There is nothing showing for Oksanad and Umilikha.
Gvarokh notices in passing on the pop-up from PassengerNet that three
sophants with Vargr names are looking for low passage to Hrun.
Finally, Gvarokh texts Slade and Lakir to ask that they ask around about
the transponder issue.
Gvarokh puts a forward on the incoming ships comm to his wrist comm. He sends
out a message calling for a 07:30 breakfast meeting for a rundown of ship's
business, before heading to his cabin for a short nap and a shower.
GM'd by Ewan Quibell
Characters: All
NPC: Shiraamer & Chuck
Location: Crew lounge on the Miishakaal, Gishinridu system
The local primary, Leresha, doesn't do much to provide any light in the
Miishakaal, and the main source of external light is the station that is
strengthening its lights by the minute as the start of a new day approaches.
Chuck, with distinctive black bags under his eyes, is throwing a breakfast
together from what is available in the galley, yawning as he does and drinking
the coffee that he has on the go to keep himself awake. The table looks
surprisingly good, with quite a variety of dishes for all tastes. "It's the
last of the fresh stuff from Larkarda. Eat it while it's hot."
To vargr noses the smells of the food makes thrir mouths salivate, especially
as they smell a mixed fruit dish, and only slightly warmed steaks. Wide forks,
long knives and bibs are the utensils of choice, and as they eat they wonder why
humans like there meat burnt. Even to human noses the food smells good
and the bacon is just to die for.
Chuck serves up the last steak evenly between Gvarokh and Vlad, and puts the
last of the rashers of bacon on the central dish so people can help themselves.
He seems to be concentrating on the meal preparation rather than conversation.
The vargr notice before the humans, but even they can't miss the smell of the
Captain as she walks in wearing a classic Core style two-piece pin stripe. She's
wearing the expensive perfume with a name you completely forget as you take in
its fragrance. Distracting isn't the word. They need to invent a new one for the
combination of the fitted jacket and skirt, the three inch heels, her make-up
and that fragrance. It's in complete contrast to the Vilani fashions in this
area of space, but you think that was probably her intention.
"Morning all," she takes a coffee from Chuck with a "Thanks" and Chuck replies
with a polite nod of his head. The Captain takes a sip of the coffee and says
to Gvarokh, "I thought I'd check out the brokerage houses to see if there is
anything worth shipping on spec. It's always best to look good at the beginning
of the vilani day, otherwise they don't take you seriously. They're running the
station on standard Vland time, probably so that they won't have so much of a
shock if they eventually join the RVE. Moving to a 32 hour day from 24 can be a
real pain. How much space are we likely to have for cargo?"
Gvarokh responds, "We will have the nine dtons freed up by the delivery
to the naval base. The rest is freight destined for Hrun. If you don't
like any of the spec deals, there are currently two lots of eight dtons
for Hrun. One of the two should be available.
"The navy factor is supposed to be calling me back at 08:00 so we can set up the
transfer. Once the transfer is made, the nine dtons will be freed.
"Also, there are three individuals looking for low passage on to Hrun. Since
that should be pretty low risk for us, we might want to consider taking them
on."
The Captain picks up a rasher of bacon and eats it with her fingers while
listening to Gvarokh. "Go with one of the freight lots, which will leave a ton
for cargo. If any incidental freight lots come up drop me a line just in case
I've filled it. As for the Lows, contact them after we've posted a flight plan,
if they're still willing after you show them Chuck's certificate, then sure,
take them on." She sips her coffee before continuing, "How was the flight in?"
Gvarokh says, "The flight was ...", then he looks over at Chuck with a
toothy grin, "... uneventful." Then continues "Things will be going fast
and furious this morning.
Chuck acknowledges Gvarokh's comment with a tired grin.
"Vincent, we'll be getting a fuel connection at 08:00. It is unrefined, so we'll
need to process it. Supplies will be delivered at 09:00. You can go ahead and
pay for the services with ship's funds."
Vincent replies, "I'll take care of it cap'n."
"The Navy Factor should be in contact at 08:00. Vlad and Siimri, you can help
them get their stuff out to wherever it needs to be. Since this will be a zero-G
operation, you will need to be suited up. I don't know the exact time they will
want to do this, but hopefully it will be quick.
"I will also need your help whenever we can set up delivery of
replacement freight.
"Is there anything else I missed, captain?"
The Captain responds, "Sounds like you have everything covered. Only be
careful about the Ka-rosas. We agreed that you and Vlad would be staying
onboard. Does anyone else have anything?"
Chuck speaks up, "We're out of fresh food, not that that's a big deal or
anything. Just figured I'd mention it. We still have four weeks of frozen and
canned food."
The captain responds, "Have a look around to see what's available."
Chuck replies, "Ok."
Seeing that no one else has anything to add, the captain adds, "Ok, I'll see you
all later." The captain puts down her coffee cup and leaves by the airlock.
Next: Gishinridu Highport Activities