Saturday, 058-1114: 9:45 am
Various Flaming Things
The crew were all organized in the berth after the video-meeting with the Duchess, the Count, Admiral Gukhe and others. That meeting ended when the Duchess of Dhian angrily signed off, having been denied her plans to visit the wonder in Clan Erskin territory, appropriately named "The Torches of Hell". Before she'd signed off, the Count had invited her to bring her sons to the holographic library and visit a projection which was hyper-realistic. He said she could take images of them inside the holographic projection and tell their friends at home they'd actually visited the wonder, without risking their lives.
With the meeting breaking up, Mikah was surprised to hear the local Imperial facilities had a holographic library where they could experience "The Torches of Hell". When Mikah said she wanted to see that, Colinne pointed out they might not want to see it at the same time as the Duchess' team. Mikah said that wasn't an issue because the Duchess had stormed off, but her party had only left the meeting gather site. Sekea smiled broadly and said it might be fun to see it together, if only to gloat. Colinne said she didn't want to be anywhere near the woman, but was up to see the wonder if she and her people were gone. Her voice held an excited interest.
Arriving at the library structure, the crew were surprised at the large boxy nature of the building. Making their way inside, they were greeted by staff wondering how they could be helped? When Mikah explained what the Count had said, they were escorted into a room large enough to house massive holographic projections. The staffers explained the properties and limitations of the holograms, but promised the view would be the same as the site itself, if they went there. There were murmurs of, "Except for the angry locals and their weapons." The staffers also took a moment to explain the safety features.
Finally, they were left alone as the lights went down and the projection began. Before a descriptive playback boomed through the space, the crew were asked if they wanted to "feel" the environment along with the view? Since they were still in their unbuttoned vacc suits, Mikah said, "Sure" and the place was suddenly cold enough they had to button up again! But, at the same time, they found themselves on a vast plain with thousands of pillar-like structures scattered over it. For some reason, each pillar seemed to reach up stark and round, to a height of 100 meters! At the "end" of each pillar, there seemed to be a 'broken but circular' "plate-like" structure. On top of that, it seemed like the pillars had continued to rise, but they'd been carved away leaving stubs shaped like flame-like structures. Appearing to be giant candle sticks with lit flames.
Researchers from the Imperial Ministry of Science could only guess the "pillars" had formed when the ice surface raised due to some planetary-affecting gravity event in the world's past. As the effect faded and the sub-ice shell ocean subsided, they theorized the "bubble" would have been left as a new frozen ice shell formed below it. Then, as the bubble's exterior cracked and broke, the wind ripped through the forming gaps to carve away all but the pillars. It was further believed that the "drip pan" like parts of the formations were all that remained of the original bubble, while the flame-like tops remained from irregular bumps which had been atop the pillars, and, like the pillars, made from not-yet explained harder ice than the ice the wind had removed. While they wandered the holographic site, a voice played from a speaker explained that and more about the wonder.
Despite the massive number of pillars and the eerie shapes, Mikah was entirely underwhelmed. She could only ask, "Is that it?" Sekea looked the pillars over, and commented that he could see how one of the Ducal brats might have damaged a pillar and caused an incident. He was reminded they'd been told intelligence said the Erskin had planned to ambush them after they landed, so his spurious assumption was entirely off the mark. And while some started to listen to the overhead voice describing the site, Mikah was for bugging out because this thing was boring. Colinne suggested they wait fifteen minutes before they left, because she was enjoying the wonder, and Mikah agreed to wait that long.
Finally, they stepped out of the projection space and thanked the staffers. Leaving the building to return to the berth, they suddenly spotted a large group approaching them. Looking closer, they could see the Duchess had likely gone back to grab their banners and make a more ceremonial sight as they moved about. And now, they were apparently coming to see the virtual torches. Seeing that, Colinne had a moment to regret her ask to spend more time in the display.
Mikah figured the Duchess would try to reclaim any status she'd lost with insane displays of pomp and ceremony. The crew could only guess they'd rushed back to their ship to "up-gear" their heraldic displayed to "full parade mode", which was hilarious to those who knew what had actually happened in the meeting. Seeing them arriving just as her crew was leaving, Mikah loudly snarked, "At least they can't damage this one." in a 'screw you' tone of voice. While the Duchess' party did their best to ignore her comment, they all wore sneers which proved her verbal dart had hit a mark. Seeing the faces, Mikah crowed, "I see your sneers! You can't even ignore me! Ha ha ha!"
In concert, as they laughed, Aali stuck her tongue out, while Aiden gave them the finger and Sekea gave them a nasty little wave in derision. At the same time, Jocelynn and Colinne gave them the rigid "royal wave", holding their right arms straight up and rotating their cupped right hands back and forth. Soon enough, they'd passed the Duchess' people and left them behind. Still, some of them were still laughing when they got back to the port, and the berth. They all knew they'd hammered home their lack of any welcome if they ever visited Dhian.
Returning To Reality Back at the berth after 10am, Aali went directly to a terminal to log into the shipyard's network and check on the work being done to the Upgrade. She'd had little time to do that over the past days playing escort, and wanted to catch up on the progress levels. She planned to do that for an hour, or as much time as she had before it was lunch time. If there was time, she hoped Colinne wanted to hold a stent training. Especially after they'd all been told what happened to Jocelynn. Aali was quietly curious what Jocelynn had suddenly gained the ability to do?
While Aali sat down and logged in, Aiden got Zimzod and Jocelynn's attention and asked them and Mikah if they felt like doing one last simulation in the InstellArms facility? Aiden quickly answered that they didn't have to do the session "that day", but wondered if they wanted to book a session for the near future? Mikah fixed him with a look and reminded him, "We're gonna be leaving in the near future." Aiden admitted he knew, which was one reason he wanted to ask the question. That made no sense at all, so they let him move on. Aiden also said he wanted Jocelynn and Zimzod to come up with 'ground combat rules of engagement' for the rest of the crew to follow.
Zimzod could only shake his head and say, "Shoot the enemy, not your own." He then added, "And, if you get shot. Don't scream like a pussy. Just go ahead and die." For added laughs, he snapped out, "Quit your whining pussy! It's only a sucking chest wound!" That got laughs from all the combat veterans in the group. Mikah shouted, "Walk it off!" and they all kept laughing. Next, Zimzod told Aiden there were no standard operating procedures in combat. Any battle was a struggle to understand what was happening to "You". "If" you could get a grasp on that, you then had to try and figure out what was happening to those around you?
And the soon to be corpses screaming for support on the comms? They certainly had no idea what was happening to you or the other units around you. And, they were screaming, so they were in panic mode and about to die. The reason no plan ever survived contact with the enemy was because every unit in combat lost situational awareness in the struggle to survive. So, any communications were little more than confusing and very often incorrect data. That morass of failed communications insured local commanders would not have the information they had to have to react properly, and save the situation. So, any adjustments that might have saved the plan were, most often, not even seen until the battle had been truely lost.
Giving up on "rules that will save our lives", Aiden asked for organizational decisions, like a marching order. He asked if they should move in a group with both battledressed troopers up front, or with one in front and one behind? The joke was made one of them should always be rear guard, so anyone shirking or slowing the group down could be grabbed, picked up and thrown to the front of the line. That got laughs too.
Aiden also asked about tactics he'd heard of, and tight formations like a "linear stack" formation, where each team member had a right(or left)-hand hold on the member before them and their weapon in the other hand. As Zimzod shook his head sadly, Jocelynn told him that formation was one of many breaching formations used in different situations. And, there was no rule, or standard response to all situations. If he wanted the crew to be able to switch back and forth between reactions to any situation, they have to either 'train for', or 'experience' enough situations to be able to "feel and taste the situations they were facing.
Still, Zimzod did realize how little the spacers knew about enclosed tactics. Especially since the Marines covered Naval security too. So, while the scouts did have to fight for their own ships, they didn't have marine training. At the least, Zimzod decided he should teach them basic portal breaching and room clearing. Some of them may have had their idea of how to do that, but he wanted them to know His way. And follow it. Because of that, Zimzod told Aiden to call InstellArms to set up the simulator.
Aiden asked when they wanted him to set the appointment for and they told him to set it for two to four in the afternoon that day. After Aiden did that, he planned to spend at least an hour updating the diary he used as a basis for his letters home, to his father. Finishing that, Aiden decided to relax and listen to music, despite not having done anything very taxing so far that morning. While Aiden was writing, Sekea mentioned to him they might just come up with no data on Sonthert to help them in the Ghandi or Lanth naval bases. Because of that, he suggested they set up a fuel usage plan in that case. This despite the fact they'd spent over an hour coming up with a "week by week" plan in that event, 33 days before.
Colinne had many projects and interests to consider, on top of still recovering her psi energies from the days before and that morning. She also knew that if she continued telling the others she was helping Jocelynn with her stent, they might be annoyed because they'd been cut out of the training. Added to that, she also had to plan strategies on how to spend time so she could both recover and move forward with the various trainings. Especially when she would be spending days recovering her psi fully.
Colinne decided to work on the lock picking software until lunch, and then offer a one-hour stent class after eating, and before they had to leave for InstellArms. That would get her nearly four hours of psi-recovery. Fesic had spent a short time looking for computer exercises on the local web and found 'undefined class assignments' he felt he could use as a challenge to practice his computer programming and management skills. Fesic also said he wanted to step back from his role as the ship's trade officer. Hearing that, Jocelynn volunteered to step into the role.
When Jocelynn spoke up, she assumed she'd have to sell Mikah and Zimzod on the idea. But Mikah just cut off the suggestion she was interested and waved her hand while saying, "It's yours! Go for it." Zimzod's emphatic nod backed up the official transfer of authority. Getting that, Jocelynn logged into a terminal and started looking into the trade requirements. Realizing she wasn't certified to trade in the port, Jocelynn called Fesic because he was studying on the terminal in his bedroom. When she asked, Fesic gave her the contacts he had from when he'd registered with the port thirty seven days before.
Jocelynn then connected with the port trading office and got them to send her the network address for the e-forms. Like Fesic, she had to pay Cr 50 and wait 3 days. Still, they promised the process would go smoother because they were adding her authorization to Fesic's. Fesic also agreed to help Jocelynn learn what he knew about using the cargo sealer. He told her that wasn't much, because this unit didn't have a training system. So, he could only teach her what he remembered from studying and creating the seals he'd made before.
Mikah looked into what medical journals were published, and looked for newer information. She eventually picked a digital journal and started reading the articles she could in the time she had. While she did that, Aiden and Sekea had finished their most recent discussion about Sonthert and Sekea moved to where Aali was working on data from the shipyard. When he asked her how things were coming with the disassembled pell 'droid, Aali said she planned to spend more time looking at it later. Figuring he could use the practice with his electronics skills, Sekea offered to spend some time looking at the 'droid himself. Aali was pleased with the offer because the more work anyone else did, the less she had to do. So, Aali said she was good with Sekea chipping in.
Moving to where Aali had set up the boxes, Sekea saw she'd started organizing boxes for different classes of parts. She had a box labeled "Brain and Control unit", in which Aali had put the droid's main thorax. Another box was labeled "Heavy Working Arm" and Sekea could see "some of" the components from one arm. The boxes which were most full were marked "General" and almost all the rest of what they had were in those boxes. And everything in the general boxes was unsorted. The most empty box was labeled broken, and had what looked like two halves of some kind of diaphragm in it. Based on all his background, Sekea could only guess it was a pneumatic or hydraulic pressure diaphragm, but no more.
Sekea also saw a datapad in that box, and picked it up to check out what Aali was doing with that? When he sparked it up, he saw she was listing parts that were "not found yet". This seemed to be the predecessor to a list of "Missing" items. But, until she worked her way through all the parts in the "General" boxes, she couldn't confirm anything was missing. So, that list seemed to be parts she knew she should find. Working the two lists, she could easily cut and paste things to a "Missing" list later.
Sekea noted the broken part and took pictures of it. After that, Sekea dove into the general boxes working to identify anything he could. With his lack of background in 'what should be what', he decided the best thing he could do would be to pull out his electronics tool kit and test electronic components. Sekea also grabbed two boxes and marked one "Tested Electronics: OK" and the other "Tested Electronics: bad" as he planned to get to work. But, as he was about to get working, Maur came over to say, "That, to me, looks like a box of unidentified nuts, bolts and wires. And, I can't see how you can know anything about them?"
Sekea answered, "Well, I do have some skill in electronics so I'm trying to help our ship's engineer out. Do you have any knowledge about this at all? Can you also help with the work?" Maur said she didn't but also said she felt he could help her with something else." Having gotten Sekea's attention, she reminded him she'd given all the information she could remember about the pirates to the navy. But it struck her that she remembered how they looked, and wondered if he could point out anyone in the crew who could draw, or was artistically inclined? Nodding, Sekea said he'd planned to approach her after she had more time to recover, and offer his art and drafting skills to try and forensically draw some of the pirate's faces. When she agreed, he left the 'droid parts behind and moved to a bedroom as a quieter space where they could work on possible portraits.
With Mikah reading med journals, Zimzod first did a good bit of physical therapy. After that, he looked in the berth's entertainment system to see what military manuals they had available? Seeing a number of different "Wilderness Survival" manuals, Zimzod knew he should be out doing practical exercises. But, since he couldn't do that, he figured he could read it at least. Looking at what was offered, Zimzod found a number of manuals from different worlds in the region, which suggested the ports shared. And, it also suggested that people carrying copies from military bases also uploaded them into port libraries when they weren't deemed sensitive.
With the clock moving closer to lunch, Aali finally finished enough of the data she had to tell the others it was possible the shipyard might hand the ship back to them later that day, the next day or the day after. Aali said the next thing they had to do was to decide what they wanted to do for a shakedown cruise? While they could use their sensors to eyeball the system's high port, not wanting to eyeball the Naval station and provoke a nasty reaction, they'd want something more interesting to test the sensors on. Nearly 16 hours out at full burn, they could reach one of the system's asteroid belts.
That would also be just outside the system's jump shadow. From there, it would be another 12 hours burn to the nearest gas giant. There, they could test their scanners and hull, by carrying out a frontier refueling run and purifying the fuel. Next, they could get 100 diameters away from the gas giant, and make a micro-jump to a point that tangented the star's 100 diameter limit and also was roughly 30 million miles from Denotam. That would let them burn back to the world in approximately 16 hours. So, the whole run would take them ten days and 45 minutes assuming five hours refueling at the gas giant and a full day to purify the hydrogen. Getting clear of the gas giant's jump shadow could be done while purifying the fuel load.
Happy with that, Mikah called the port to tell them what the plan was, and to make sure they didn't rent the berth to someone else with their gear still there. The tech she connected with told her their rent would be up on the 63rd day while their plan would not have them return until the morning of the 71st day, at worst. So, Mikah told them to bill the ship's account the additional costs, which would be Cr 1,500. That would keep the rent up on their berth until the 73rd day of the year. After Mikah was done with the port, Aali pointed out they should have someone on the hull for a reasonable test of the on-hull camera system.
At first, Mikah joked it would be Fesic and she was asked if she'd give him a zero-g tooth brush? Everyone laughed at that, even Fesic. After that, Mikah admitted she should choose someone who was properly trained in Zero-g operations, and she knew Fesic wasn't. Despite being spacer-trained, he'd never had to operate outside a ship or too far from a hand-hold. When she said that, Jocelynn volunteered to do the work and said she'd do it in her battledress. That would give her the most tools to use at need. That decided, they went back to their work or relaxation until it was time to eat lunch.
Preparations And Sadness After the meal, Aali wanted to get working on the android, and saw the boxes Sekea had set out. Seeing them, she asked Sekea if he'd made any progress, but he admitted he'd turned to working with Maur. He explained she'd asked him to try and draw forensic-style portraits of those pirates whose faces she could remember. Sekea did tell Aali, "I did take note of that broken part, and take pictures of it. And I might skip Zimzod's planned training to see if I could find the missing part."
Considering the lack of many things in the local system's shops, Aali thought about what Sekea did and answered, "So, you documented what I already did, and then you re-documented what I already covered." The bone-dry tone of her voice suggested her opinion of his plans. She then told them all she'd be working on the 'droid parts until the training. Continuing in a dry voice, she said, "Especially with this particular crew, I would think all the tactical training we could get would be good." No one could miss the suggestion Sekea should participate in the training instead of making excuses to get out of it.
That said, Aali planned to set aside the 'droid parts when Colinne offered to teach the expected stent class. Especially, since that would give her a chance to see what new things Jocelynn had gotten from that artifact? After that class, she'd return to the parts until it was time to go to InstellArms for Zimzod's planned training. Aiden would also join the stent class and read books in the cracks. Fesic asked who wanted to play cards until they had to go to InstellArms? Aiden said he'd have liked to do that but wanted to take part in the stent class. Jocelynn and Zimzod also took part in the stent class. Maur and Sekea were working on forensic portraits.
That left Mikah to decide if she wanted to play one-on-one with Fesic? When she sat down, Mikah joked, "Opening bid is Cr 10,000?" and laughed. After Fesic laughed with her, Mikah said she still wanted to play for money. Fesic was good with that. So they cut the cards while Sekea worked with Maur and drew. Eventually, as lunch drew near, Sekea had finished three portraits. Two of them looked different enough that Maur didn't want to look at them to keep from losing the images of the actual pirates in her mind. She still wanted to make a second attempt at those pirates. She did say he should send the third portrait to the Navy, to add to their investigations.
As Maur moved on to relax her mind, Sekea went to digitally scan the one image he'd gotten right and then sent it to the Security division of the naval base. He added a concise description of what it was and also mentioned the Lieutenant Commander Gadshipki in the note. By that time, it was almost time to leave for InstellArms and Mikah and Fesic finished their last bet. Without a limit, Mikah had actually lost Cr 2,000 to Fesic while being certain she could turn her losses around if she kept playing. Sadly, that only led to more losses because Fesic's luck was holding.
Eventually, everyone had squared away from what they were doing and got ready to board an arriving InstellArms transport. During the ride, Zimzod considered what he'd most like to teach the rest of the crew in this "tactical combat training" session? In the virtual space, the technicians stood by after creating a 3d null space. They then waited for someone to tell them what kind of simulation to project? Zimzod said they'd start with 'door breaching', then move on to room clearing. Following that, he'd run them through exercises and judge how well they were learning their lessons?
Zimzod started by showing how to force the door open, and had others try what he did. Some were tentative and others were ferocious, but all had to learn just how to hit a standard door to force it. The strike had to always hit just below the area of the knob, latch or whatever design choice was present. After they had everything moving smoothly, Aali asked about dead bolts. Adding that meant a charging jump kick that had to deliver its force between the knob and where they believed the deadbolt was? Zimzod was also firm that every door kicked in would be followed by flash bangs.
Of course, that led to a chat about flash bangs and other grenades. One of the problems was that flash bangs were widely used. Because of that, very experienced soldiers knew what was coming when they were thrown. There were also various tactics used to save a person's sight and hearing when a flash bang went off. So, they were not the perfect tool to damage a possible prepared position. Sometimes, you had to throw in the real thing. And, sometimes you had to go in with small arms and sensors, if you had to worry about a hostage. And, less happily, you just had to go in and risk eating bullets to save a hostage.
That also opened a side discussion about having various kinds of grenades available, and loosening or pulling the pins. Zimzod made it very clear they could loosen the pins on their grenades, to have them ready to pull. But, if they were moving in close quarters or low crawling on the ground, that would make it very easy for a grenade to pull loose. Especially if the person carrying it was looking forward and not aware of the situation. Many troopers who wanted to "be prepared" were the authors of their own demise or crippling when a loosened grenade was pulled by something they were squeezing past. Not to mention mistakenly wounding or killing team mates.
Next, Zimzod started explaining 'room clearing' tactics. He first called members of the crew up and had them work with him in a two-person team. The reason for a two-person team, he explained, was because if the space were boobie trapped or some other kill-hole, the crew wouldn't lose most of their team in one event. Zimzod also taught the use of flash bangs and concussion grenades. From the basic breach, Zimzod covered portal barricade sweep and fire positions.
From the portal, Zimzod showed them limits in clearing corners and how to "squeeze corners" while preparing to step into peril. He then added tactics like using their drone, gun-cams and other gear but stressed that becoming addicted to tech risked dying hard when their tech was blocked. Frequency jammers went back to the tech of radio-only worlds. So, while signal tech had risen to light-detected, x-ray stream controlled and even pre-programmed ultra-high or low pulse commanded devices, so had jamming. Not to mention, drones could simply be shot from the sky by automated defenses which could also detect a device being slipped past a portal and strike it with devastating but localized fire. So, tech was not the simple answer it seemed.
Another twist thrown into the exercises were the differences between 'free-fire' seek and kill missions and "hostage recovery" situations. One important change was the scale back from use of devastating force to limited and more surgical force. Another was the need to maintain an awareness of the materials and conditions of their surroundings, because certain types of weapons fire could penetrate wood structures on planets or soft bulkheads on ships. Because of that, careless fire could accidentally scatter to where hostages were held, unintentionally wounding or killing those a team had been sent to save. Or even puncturing a bulkhead and exposing the compartment they were in to vacuum.
Zimzod did save some lessons for more careful but direct trainings. Like the fact that once your crew had accepted an assignment to save a hostage, that recovery became more important than saving team members. The ultimate fact was that if they, as a crew, accepted the job of saving someone, then getting that person out alive was the only goal. And, if needed, any member of the crew could find themself 'the one left for rear guard', or 'the one drawing fire'. And while they'd be remembered fondly, the goal was getting the rescued hostage out alive. They'd failed at that kind of mission on Arden, when the woman named Aasimar had ultimately been forced to kill herself in her cell rather than be left behind alive.
Now, with Terin dead and Sekea and Colinne added to the crew, that was one of the hard lessons that Zimzod and Jocelynn knew they had to teach. And, it wouldn't happen over the space of a number of exercises. So, for the rest of the time in the simulator, Zimzod drove them through test situations driving them to the point they'd make the same decisions and 'know' what the others would do when the plan hit the fan and sprayed shit over them all. One thing that did come out of the sessions was an ersatz marching order. One of the crew in battledress, presumably Zimzod, would always take the lead. And, where they didn't need both him and Jocelynn up front, she would take the back door.
Jocelynn enjoyed the idea that if anyone was lagging behind, she'd have the battledress-enforced power to snatch them up and throw them to the front of the formation like a sports ball. And, if they were whining when she did it, she might not care what injuries they'd suffer when they landed. That would obviously be changed when they had to split into two teams, where each would be led by either Zimzod or Jocelynn. In those situations, the team leads would decide who took up the rear point based on the situation at hand.
While Zimzod worked the crew, he got a buzz on his comms. Answering it, he saw himself speaking to an Imperial Navy Commodore. The man introduced himself as Commodore Phlime Covar, and said his office was within Naval Command, Regina System, and he was forward deployed to reach Zimzod himself. When Zimzod nodded and greeted the man, the officer said he was on orders from Admiral Ligan Aarbii. He also said the Admiral had received private information from the Pimane system. When Zimzod said that was his home world, the Commodore nodded and said he was going to play a vid recorded by the Admiral. After a curt greeting nod, the Admiral suggested Zimzod be seated for the conversation to come and paused to give Zimzod time to sit.
With Zimzod sitting, the image of the Admiral told Zimzod the situation in his home system had been getting increasingly out of hand thanks to the discoveries on the mainworld. The Admiral admitted some things did not help, thanks to the early actions of Lieutenant Rakanien. That officer had let some of the authorities from Hope's End take part in the chain of legal authority. Because of that failure, critical data which should have been protected had been leaked to various groups of aggressive protesters.
So, with tensions rising and reinforcements arriving from Mora, an attempt was made to clarify and secure the lines of authority. When word of that decision was leaked out before any official notification, a number of groups prepared for the official announcement. In the end, a number of unfortunately armed groups attempted to storm the INS Kiderliikhis Neme Angimmuaag using stolen security codes. Zimzod made a joke at the unstopping vid of the Admiral, "That was a mouthful." regarding the ship's name. The recording continued as the Admiral then told Zimzod what he was about to share would not be made public. The Admiral then had an aide play a trivid.
With that, things got quiet and Zimzod was betting his father had to be part of the situation, or he wouldn't be getting a 'care and compassion call' from an Admiral. Sure enough, the trivid began with the approach of several cutters to the naval cruiser, expected to be carrying local VIP's. The first arriving group looked as expected, with naval ratings escorting, or playing honor guard for, various planet-site authorities. But, before the first team moved from the ship's boarding bay a second and third boat arrived. That was when all hell broke loose. The attempt to take the cruiser was brief, and put down quickly by the marines stationed in the bay.
Unfortunately, the Admiral had a number of points where he could stop the play, and point out images of Zimzod's father in the crowd. No one was surprised the man had fought to be at the forefront of the fight. Eventually, at a point, the Admiral stopped the play back and said he didn't want to show Zimzod the actual shots that killed his father. He did pause to give Zimzod time to react to the footage. Digesting that, Zimzod could only ask, "How's my mother?" The Commodore said they'd moved security forces in after the attack.
He continued that they were assigned to keep Zimzod's mother and other relations safe until things in the system calmed down. That was because a number of factions had formed in Hope's End and they wanted to make sure Zimzod's mother didn't suffer back blast because the attack on the cruiser had gone so badly. The Commodore also told Zimzod there would be a news blackout from Pimane for the next month. So, along with the distance news had to travel, Zimzod wouldn't see anything new until the 144th day of the year if they stayed in the Denotam system.
Zimzod asked if he could get a message to his mother, and the Commodore offered to hand carry the message since he was bound for Pimane after this stop. The Commodore did tell Zimzod that x-mail service would still be working. It was just a news blackout. Still, the Commodore said he would be traveling aboard a Jump-6 fast courier, so any message Zimzod gave him would get to his mother faster. Nodding, Zimzod confirmed they'd recovered his father's body and considered sending his mother enough money for a proper funeral.
Of course, nothing was thrown away on Pimane. So, his father's body, along with all the others killed, would be rendered and processed into nutrients to feed food growth systems on-world. So, there would be a solemn ceremony as the bodies were lowered into fluids which would cover the body and covered up the gears which pulled it down to start grinding them down to lumps that would next be forced down into further processing systems. That was promoted by drains under the pool which were filtered before the fluids rose in pipes to be pumped out onto the top of the pool. So, once any body was pulled below the opaque fluid level, it was never seen again.
Zimzod decided to record a letter to his mother on vid, and asked Mikah to join in. He also figured back on his childhood in Pimane, and knew any money he sent would not be in time for any funeral. So, Zimzod pulled KCr 30 from his accounts because that would be a fortune on Pimane. He then called the port and had an interstellar draft written up and assigned the Commodore as a carrier for the note. After they recorded messages to console his mother and hope, when she got the money, she could have a proper memorial party for his father. And she could use the rest to improve her lifestyle. With everything set, the Commodore told Zimzod he'd be arriving in the Pimane system in forty days.
Looking up from his comms, Zimzod saw another team of workers from InstellArms had moved into the space, and they'd brought a honking large rolling container with them. When Zimzod looked up and they were certain he was done with his call, their spokesperson said they wanted to see if they could do the last bits of fitting and teching out his battledress with him? When Zimzod agreed, the others watched as the InstellArms techs got to work. After that was done, and they'd signed Zimzod's armor back over to him, he asked the others if they wanted to do some firing practice before returning to the berth?
Hearing that, Mikah said she wanted to join in on the shooting. So did Aiden, Sekea and Fesic. Zimzod paid the Cr 50 'pick up and return fee'. The rest wanted to return to the berth and their other activities. Colinne wanted to work on the lock picking software, which she still had not made much progress decompiling. Aali spent a bit more time tracking the work on the ship and investigating the two 'droids they would be getting. She then worked on the pell android. Jocelynn checked with Colinne on her recovery from the morning's 'hard burn', and the two ladies moved into a bedroom to work on Jocelynn's psi.
At InstellArms, each of the crew had their honor weapons while InstellArms went to the berth with the others to recover the weapons they listed. In the end, Mikah fired off her laser pistol, snub pistol and SMG. Because Denotam had no military market, they didn't have much ammunition they could sell her for her SMG. And none to sell the others after she bought out the 100 rounds they did have. So, Mikah ended up spending Cr 270. Zimzod was surprised to find he could buy 300 rounds for his Heavy Machinegun, along with 100 slugs for his auto-shotgun and 100 ball rounds to split between his two .45 caliber pistols. He paid Cr 1,175. When Zimzod asked about sparing with a pell 'droid or simulation with his cutlass and vibro-cutlass, he was told he could use their 'droid with his cutlass but not his vibro-cutlass. Zimzod paid Cr 50 for that too.
Aiden offered to spar with Zimzod with wooden weapons back at the berth. Aiden bought 50 slugs for his Shotgun along with twenty five each of "bean bag" and salt. He also bought 50 rnds of 9mm pistol ammo and 50 rnds of snub rifle ball. That cost him Cr 765. Sekea bought 100 rounds of ball ammo to burn through with his two snub pistols. He wanted to fire 50 needles with his gauss pistols. Since he couldn't buy those, he'd had his own ammo brought in. Sekea added Cr 50's worth of time practicing with his blades against a pell droid. His total was Cr 250. Fesic had his laser rifle brought up with one of his backpacks. He also had his accelerator rifle bought in and bought 50 rounds of ball for that, along with 50 rounds of ball bought for his snub pistol. That cost him Cr 200.
Visions And Reality As the afternoon wore down to early evening and dinner time, Jocelynn and Colinne were working on building Jocelynn's defenses when things fuzzed out for Colinne! Suddenly, she found herself in the hold of a vision! It was nothing she'd ever experienced before, so she had to guess it was a possible future! In the vision, she was on a ship she didn't recognize and was talking to a man she also didn't recognize. He seemed to be in his mid to late forties, and was taller than Colinne and "very fit". He wore a skin suit without the head covering sealed up, so she could see his full head of brown hair laced with gray. The man's face was hard, and his skinsuit was black. That was very odd, because it would not help if he were adrift in space. It was the sort of custom form-fitting uniform-style vacc suit that carried about two hours of air without a PLSS.
Colinne also got the sense the man wasn't there, but was a glowing entity instead. having an almost translucent quality. And while she couldn't make out what the man was saying, Colinne could see the insignia of the Order of the White Star on the uniform's chest where the man's name would most often be printed! Above that, there was a printed name, but the print was so fuzzy she couldn't make out what it read. The man seemed to be urgently saying something, but there was no sound in the vision. After the experience, Colinne decided not to tell Jocelynn about it because she already had enough on her mind.
While Jocelynn did notice Colinne was concentrating on "something", she was just learning the process. So, to her, it was nothing unusual or to ask about. So, Jocelynn only waited until Colinne was ready to continue. When Colinne recovered, she was curious about the vision, and set it aside until she had time to do what she could about it. When they got working again, the two women worked at Jocelynn's needs until the others were getting back to the ship from InstellArms, and setting up for dinner. About that time, Aali had "had it" with the android parts, and was also ready for a break.
After eating, Aali decided to do another check to see how the work was resolving on their ship before deciding to relax and watch vids. Aiden wanted to ask Zimzod and Jocelynn about options when the crew might find themselves having to fight in Zero-g. He pointed out that he and Fesic didn't have skills fighting or even protecting themselves in null grav situations. So, Aiden asked if there were ways to compensate for that? Jocelynn was up front and blunt when she told Aiden the only answer was training. She did ask Zimzod for any ideas, and he doubled down, saying they could train when they have their ship back, when their cargo bay was empty. Still, they'd really have to get serious and set up a structured course to complete.
Jocelynn also agreed that bringing Aiden and Fesic into null-grav combat situations was not smart. They had no control, and when tethered together like they had been in the past, they presented a hell of a target. Not to mention, a wrong action by either could fling both of them off into an enemy fire stream or out into space. And if they were cast out into space, recovering them could be very questionable, if possible at all? And tethering them to other combatants would slow those people down, and keep them from being effective.
When Aiden asked about his hunting saddle, they all remembered the times he'd tried to use it. First, Aiden had to choose "where" he wanted to set up the saddle and get there. And, without skills, that movement was dicey at best. When he tried to move, he would either end up where he wanted or, more often, end up somewhere else. And, sometimes he had to activate the saddle just to stop drifting. When he hit the control, the saddle's sensors would look for a purchase and launch five "mini-drones". Those would drag cables and connect to surfaces using a microscopic adhesion similar to lizard toes. They would then tension the cables between them and the saddle to hold it in place.
And after it was connected, he was stuck where he was until he turned the saddle off, and was again adrift in the space. Even worse, the saddle didn't have a "pull me close to the wall" or "get me to cover" mode. The unit only kept him from drifting. So, especially if he'd activated it because he missed his leap, he'd be out in the open without cover and make a perfect target for the enemy. He'd also be a larger target, because the saddle itself had size, and could be shot...leaving Aiden drifting without purchase if it was damaged. In fact, Aiden's success with the unit so far was just because he'd not really been in heavy combat with it yet. Like magnetic boot soles, he was just "asking for it" by making himself a target.
Jocelynn did say that she and Zimzod had more control in "in-grav" situations with their harnesses, along with the grav-belt the ship owned. But, that wouldn't be effective in null-grav situations. Both Zimzod and Jocelynn had to admit there would be some firm somewhere in the Imperium that made null-grav suits" for the wealthy. There had to be many of those with more money than 'anything' and who wanted to be able to play safely in open space. So, the questions were, 'how long would he have to search for the thing' and 'how much would it cost when he found it?' And, while there would certainly be "combat models" for the well-heeled wanna-be mercenary commander, there would not be faux-battledress. The Imperial Navy would insure that never happened.
The problem was, "now" in Denotam, future purchases couldn't help Aiden or Fesic, and when they did find the suit of their dreams, they might not be able to afford it. Just because the suits they'd find were not battledress did not mean they might not cost as much, if not more than they could afford. So, for the moment, they could only tell Aiden that he and Fesic would have to train as much as they could. And, Jocelynn said Aiden should practice as much as he could with the hunting saddle because she'd seen it in action and she felt it was dangerous to use by itself.
The other answer was to be as wealthy as they could be when they got to D'Ganzio. Because at D'Ganzio, InstellArms would have at least one of anything they felt they could sell in the Spinward Marches. Overhearing, Aali said they'd certainly have training suits like the one Emkir had bought, which they still had in the ship's locker. That suit, which none in the current crew could wear, could train someone up to two levels in Zero-G operations. When she was asked, she said that suit had cost him KCr 100 when he'd ordered it from Bhreker Kraiowa while on Lunion. Along with that, he'd ordered a training module for the suit, which would train him to be "better than basically trained".
That kind of suit injected the wearer with drugs to relax them and make them more receptive to absorb the movements related to a skill. This made it easier for the wearer to absorb the skill's physical actions and build muscle memory while taking classes given by either instructors or automated systems. So, one couldn't simply put on the suit and make it teach you a skill. But, it made 'learning the physical parts' easier, so it reduced the time needed to learn the skill. It was the perfect, if very expensive way, to learn physical skills from being an acrobat or dancer to unarmed fighting or space construction specialist. When she was asked, Aali said Emkir had paid over KCr 100 for his suit and the module with the software. She joked people who wanted to learn to cook could use a suit to make sure they don't cut off fingers while cutting vegetables.
Jocelynn glumly mentioned they still had the suit, folded up in their ship's locker because they couldn't find anyone with the correct body measures to fit into it. So, they'd not been able to sell it off. Considering the situation, Jocelynn suggested buying teaching suits for everyone. That way, Aiden and Fesic could learn the skill while everyone else could improve their abilities. When Aali suggested InstellArms would likely have a suit for each of them in the D'Ganzio system, Jocelynn groused that she was still living without executive armor. Fesic told her she'd be able to find those in Ghandi but they'd be expensive.
After that conversation wound down, Aiden offered to start a poker game with anyone interested. Mikah was in, but Colinne preferred table games and wanted to get more work done on the lock picking software. Fesic wanted to practice his electronic skills, so he decided to do what Sekea had planned before he turned away to work with Maur. He'd pull any electronic components he could find and test them before putting them in the "Working" or "Not Working" boxes Sekea had laid out. During that work, he could also add a list to the datapad of what parts he'd found and their apparent status.
Jocelynn decided to do the gear maintenance she'd planned to do earlier in the day, but set aside to work with Colinne. Sekea and Maur went back to trying to draw forensic portraits. Zimzod wanted to do "physical" therapy horizontally with Mikah but she'd agreed to play poker with Aiden. Having heard that after she'd gone to grab her gear and spread it out to work on, Jocelynn looked at Mikah and Zimzod and asked, "so, when are you guys getting married anyway?" Hearing that, everyone looked up to see who would answer and what they'd say?
Jocelynn then pushed things, adding, "And, I think we should plan this. It'll be fun!" That gave Mikah enough time to answer, "Well, you know. Given my station, it's gonna have to be the Arch Duke that marries us. You know, so we're gonna have to go with his schedule." Jocelynn only answered, "Oh!" in a surprised and 'pushed back' tone. After an almost-second-long pause, Jocelynn stoked up a duty-based tone and declared, "I will do this! I have the right to demand an appearance in his court." And she did, thanks to the rights the Arch Duke had granted her. Of course, that led to them all laughing at her performance.
After that, Jocelynn doubled down again, saying, "The next time we meet him, or our paths cross, we should make that happen." When Mikah could only ask "Why?" Jocelynn answered, "Why not, you guys are..." She was interrupted by Colinne, who started singing "We'going to the Arch Duke and we're - Gonna get maaa-arried." That got everyone laughing. Eventually, Jocelynn started again, saying, "You guys have been engaged for so long." Mikah answered that she and Zimzod hadn't been engaged that long. She didn't mention that the whole joke had started when Zimzod had given out the Tellona Diamond rings back in Rhylanor.
She also didn't say the joke had only "gone public" as a prank to stomp on the gold digger Dame Khilurka, nearly a year and a half before. So, as engagements go, it wasn't really a long time unless compared to the lightning-fast relationship between Emkir and Aali. When Jocelynn threw in, "Plus, you'll have more control over Zimzod." everyone either rolled their eyes or laughed. After that, in an attempt to derail that line of chatter, Mikah turned on the vid and tuned to the news bands.
Porozlo (A867A74-B Hi G 201 Im M1 V M9 D) Date: 001-1114
The mercenary unit "Grim's Reapers", known as an 'Assault Battalion' provider, have visited various a number of POW
camps on world. With the participant nations in the current hot war unwilling to settle the conflict any time soon,
offers are being solicited to join the unit. The Reapers have signed agreements with all involved nations to assure
any troops hired will not be deployed to fight against any of those nations.
A representative from the Reapers said the Unit's command staff were interested in growing one to four more companies
able to handle tasks from line combat to specialty missions or logistical support. Any signees would be released from
the POW camp into custody of the unit. They would then be boarded onto a transport ship in cold sleep, and moved to
the La'Belle system for a month of 'shakedown' during which they'd be issues weapons and supplies. While the enlistees
wouldn't be paid during that phase, any who graduate would be paid standard rates with 10% of the rate being held back
as "Severance" pay.
All enlistees would start as troopers, but those who currently held NCO rank in their military could be fast-tracked
if they were evaluated to deserve it. Any enlistees who failed to work out would be transported back to the POW camp
they came from. Those who were accepted but failed to complete a 4-year contract without proper cause forfeit that,
and would be blacklisted with the guild as a deserter. 
Beck's World (D88349D-4 Ni G 701 Im M0 V M2 D) Date: 016-1114
In a surprise release from the Bruixa Technum leadership on Beck's World, a new discovery will have the local port plenty
busy soon. The cream of gem collectors and sales procurement will be burning hydrogen with buyers expected from across
the domain. Perhaps, the Imperium and beyond. Famous for their diamonds and other high-pressure gemstones, high-risk
prospectors have announced an incredibly rare and unexpected discovery. After recent "field quakes", a term used when
shifting sub-surface layers of forming rock were forced near the surface, and quakes forced cooling lava field to fracture
revealed a seam of gem quality stones.
In a process defined in Terra's pre-space history, carbon driven deep into a planet's crust are crushed into diamonds
under extreme heat. Those deeply formed diamonds are "blown out" of the planet's crust through volcanic activity named
"kimberlite". And, once located, cut and polished kimberlite diamonds have properties which are more outstanding than
other classes of diamond. The key for creation of this class of gemstones are the extreme pressures and heat under which
they are formed.
In this case, scientists theorize the exposed seam of gems experienced a remarkably different step in their formation.
The current working theory is that deep in the past of Beck's World, a massive eruption swept over pre-historic forests.
These often-continent spanning forests had trees of massive size and girth. As a result, the fast-moving lava almost
jetting out of volcanic vents managed to burn down and break up tree trunks while the many carbonized bits created
contained within them still organic tree fibers, sap and other naturally grown material.
Researchers further believe that, as will happen on geologically active worlds, much of that surface was subsumed deep
within the crust of the world. There, what would normally have led to creation of normal kimberlite diamonds is altered
by different chemical combinations and the crystal properties changed by the inclusion of previously uncarbonized materials.
The result are stones which have been rarely discovered in previous years. Known as "Beck's Gels", these stones have
the properties of diamonds and the appearance of "Jelly Opals". As should be expected, Gemstone and Luxuries markets are
reacting as the wave of communications carry this news to each new system.
That story certainly had Mikah and Sekea's attention! Both were avid gem collectors based on their travels and abilities to afford expensive stones.
Mora (AA99AC7-F 2 Hi In Cp G 112 Im M5 V) Date: 002-1114
The Imperial Ministry of Trade have, today announced they have certified a license for the "Hasty Tasty" fast food
franchise within the Spinward Marches. The Hasty Tasty product is literally an interstellar "restaurant in a box".
Each 'Unit' deployed is fitted into a standard 20-ton cargo container. The rear of the container is an entirely
automated kitchen, programmed with ten complete menus to suit different local tastes and markets. Even with this
advance, it is rumored Astroburgers are working on a similar product line to be announced in the third quarter of 1114.
The front half of the container will include an order counter, where patrons can order via an interface screen or via
one of the two server robots. It will also include a small area for patrons to stand before ordering take away meals.
In transit, that area is storage for folding tables and chairs that are set out, on deployment, by the two bipedal
server robots. Those would also clear tables and take orders from seated patrons.
The corporate marketing states that, given a suitable site, a restaurant can be operational within an hour of being
unloaded from a starship without any human intervention being required. It is certainly true that colonists and even
deployed troops were often bemused, during testing, to land on an uninhabited world and find a Hasty Tasty operational
in time to serve any scheduled meal, even after they'd unloaded the cargo pod themselves on landing.
Each container restaurant will include enough consumables to serve 5,000 meals without replenishment. Each restaurant
is usually shipped with four 5-ton containers, each containing enough feedstock for the kitchen's printers to produce a
further 10,000 meals, including packaging and utensils. The only local materials required are water and power, though
solar cells on the top and sides of the container will permit very limited operation without external power.
The food offerings vary enormously, according to which menu package is chosen. They all provide good nutrient content,
though many items are higher in salt and sugar than most experts recommend. Nobody would describe the company's products
as 'great cuisine'. But part of the chain’s expected appeal is the offer of an easy and comforting slice of familiarity
for people often on unfamiliar worlds and far from home. This position suggests the company hopes to play on the same
emotional links as chains like "Brubeck's", where every facility Imperium-wide offers the exact same layout, decor and
menu. When reached for comment, representatives of Astroburgers only smiled and said, "We are not a "must have" relegated
to 'bleeding edge only' situations. While we certainly will have to up our game where it comes to forward delivery,
people actually like the food we offer." Still, TAS analysts feel this could be the onset of a sector-wide economic
conflict.
Mora (AA99AC7-F 2 Hi In Cp G 112 Im M5 V) Date: 002-1114
In a decision no one was surprised to hear, arguments before the Sector Senate have concluded regarding preparations for
the singer Ardella Mestler and her band to tour the Spinward Marches. Hoping to profit from the singer's untimely death
in the Iderati system on 091-1112. A spokesman for the promoters, Nadise, Elup and Yodcoco, said they would begin
finalizing negotiations immediately. While seeking legal permission from the Sector Senate and the offices of Arch-Duke
Norris and Grand Duchess Delphine, they had already been working on the tour's back-pinnings. Much of the legal
discussion had been, as expected, based on the rights of clones given Ms. Mestler's status as a clone.
Added to that, it was released that Mestler and her band had been working hard on a new set of albums to release with the
tour. Expecting to play each subsector capital and a select number of major worlds in each subsector, the band are said to
be crafting songs for those solar systems. In a surprise admission, the band's management have released, or let slip, the
fact they are all undergoing 'thought awareness and guidance', in hopes they could play in the Chronor system. When
questioned on that statement, the band's management only said they hoped to perform as a "Cultural Exchange". The mental
training was planned to prevent unfortunate thought-based misunderstandings if permission to perform was granted.
Rhylanor (A434934-F 2 Green Hi Cap 910 M2 V6) Date: 016-1114
In a surprise release from Odchelel Productions, the former child star Abednigo Shaeffer has booked passage to the Rhylanor
system, visiting the Spinward Marches for the first time since he defected from the Zhodani Consulate! The young man had
starred in the tri-vid "Zho 90" once he'd been safely established in the Imperium. Fans will recall that Shaeffer had not
only competed in the Psionic Games, not only in his home system, but had risen to compete and win on the Zhodani homeworld
of Zhodane!
"Zho 90" had been the hit three-vee series for younger teenagers in the 1090s. Of course, due to the speed of data
propagation across the Imperium, some worlds in distant sectors didn't receive the series until several years later. It is
still regularly re-broadcast on re-run broadcaster media. Shaeffer played the central character, a Zhodani child with strong
psionic powers who defected to the Imperium rather than be taken from his birth family and adopted by a family of Zhodani
nobles. The nobles were played as 'cold and ruthless' in the show.
Conspiracy theories claimed he'd been given the cover name of "Joe McClaine" by Imperial Intelligence and fitted with a neural
stent. That would let him be temporarily implanted with the skills needed for each episodes' mission. Then, he could in fact
carry out real missions while being overlooked by opponents because he was obviously too young to be a spy, or possess such
skills. Three seasons were produced, before the actor Abednigo Shaeffer, who was actually several years older than the
character, became to old play "Joe" convincingly as a child.
Though popular with Imperial audiences, the Zhodani Consulate filed a formal protest. They condemned the depiction of Zhodani
society as "ridiculous propaganda". At the same time, other critics noted the series seemed entirely too comfortable with the
idea that its central character was essentially a brainwashed child soldier who regularly had his personality overwritten. In
the end, the three seasons will likely enjoy an introduction to new audiences as Shaeffer tours the Marches. At the same time,
there are many conspiracy theories rising from the ether.
Some claims suggest Shaeffer has in fact matured as an Imperial intelligence asset and is coming to the Marches to lure out
Zhodani agents. Others claim he may, in fact, be moving into a position where he could try to defect again, and return to
his home! Still others suggest this is an attempt to revive the franchise for "Zho 90 - Adult Agent". At the same time,
those not creating conspiracies driven by Shaeffer are suggesting a Telepath may have "possessed" him and be driving him into
Zhodani hands. Even if the lunatic fringe are all entirely incorrect, security for this tour will certainly be very high, and
difficult to maintain. That is not only due to his status with fans, but because real issues with encounters with official
Zhodani officials is a real possibility.
While the news had droned on, Sekea had worked with Maur on three more portraits, and one was dead on for two reasons. First, Maur was absolutely certain that was one of the pirates on the ship that had "recovered" her and the others from the wrecked liner. But, second, was the fact that Sekea had been becoming more and more certain, while she described the man, that he'd been one of the stewards who served his rooms on the liner before and during the mis-jump. If they were both correct, and Sekea had an eidetic memory, then the pirate would have had to have been pre-placed aboard the liner!
Of course, there could have been several reasons the pirate might have been pre-placed. He could have been there to track a valued kidnap target until his people attacked. He could have been working the very low value position because it gave him access to more secure places on the liner. In that case, he could have been checking into the locations of valued cargo being transported. Or, could have been identifying security systems that would have to be disengaged to get to some targeted compartment, person or even information in the ship's computer. In the end there were many reasons a pirate group would slip a man or more people aboard. And, they'd very likely have to organize a pirate fleet to take the liner when it emerged in a specific system.
Despite all that, and that there was no way to predict where a ship would emerge from mis-jump (if it did at all), Sekea's mind leapt to the senseless conclusion the man, and any team, had intentionally caused the mis-jump. When he decided that, Sekea tried to call the naval base and speak to Lt. Commander Gadshipki personally. When he called the base to reach the officer, the operator who answered tried to tell Sekea the man wasn't available. When Sekea was adamant he had urgent information, the operator promised to try and reach the man.
Sekea was eventually connected to the Commander's aide, Lieutenant Gir Arkuugu Suu. When he came on screen and asked how he could help, Sekea explained the situation and the work he'd been doing with Maur. He then described how one of the portraits he'd completed physically showed someone Lady Aadshur idntified as a pirate, whom he'd also identified as a steward aboard the King George. Sekea then explained his belief the mis-jump was intentional, which the Lieutenant very much doubted. Still, Sekea said he wanted to speak to the Lt. Commander.
Lt. Arkuugu started to tell Sekea that Lt. Commander Gadshipki was out in the field and couldn't be contacted but asked Sekea to hold on while he brought in another officer. When that man joined the call, Lt. Arkuugu introduced Captain Shiirgi Kupduu Khiimue, who helped manage System-wide security. He explained that counter-piracy operations in the Denotam region were part of the job his office handled. Having received a 'lead in' from the Lieutenant, the officer asked, "Sir Sekea, this is a very grave report. Are you absolutely certain that this person is in fact who you believe he is? Sekea informed the man he had an eidetic memory and did not forget details he experienced. Despite the fact the officer was only doing his job, Sekea let a hint of defensiveness bleed into his tone. To hammer that down, Sekea even gave the officer the name the steward had used during the flight.
Sekea then started telling the Captain his job as he said, "If this man is still around he may cause further havoc. So, he should be investigated." Sekea's comment also ignored the fact Maur had seen him off the King George. So, where he had no evidence the pirate had been in danger at all, his only available evidence was that the pirate was still alive. Because of that, the "If he's still around" was thoughtless. The Captain then spent the next twenty minutes grilling Sekea and Maur on what they could tell him? What he was most trying to dig out was anything the man may have said to the pirates who pulled him off the dying liner. That was because they would not have known him, and might not have contact with his faction. Yet, somehow, he'd managed to convince them he was a pirate himself. If he'd not done that, he'd have been treated as just another kidnapped survivor.
After he was satisfied he'd gotten everything he could, the Captain said he'd get all that data off in an information capsule to those investigating the loss of the cruise liner. He did point out that would come with a delay, since those investigating the situation were in the Extolay system, a week's jump away. He also said that some of the investigation had to wait until the situation in the Tremous Dex system settle down and they could gauge cooperating with the new Ardeni government. Until then, they could not simply jump to that system to look for the ships and people identified as having been there. And, if they couldn't find them there, they'd have to work there to start looking for the trail leading to where they might have fled? So, anything they did would take time to accomplish.
After he thanked Sekea and Maur, and asked them to come forward with any further information, Sekea explained about his crewman's father and asked to be kept abreast of developments. That was despite the fact that "any" new developments would take months to determine. They would also be determined by other people and commands, in other systems and not sent to this Captain because he was not directly involved in the investigation. On top of that, the Navy would not be keeping track of the Upgrade, so there'd be no way to "keep him informed". Even Sekea himself would have known that was not the way the Imperial Navy did things from his time in service. So, to avoid a confrontation, he simply nodded that he would see what he could do with that.
After that, Sekea thanked Maur for her help, and hoped it would help find his crewman's father. He was so happy, he asked her to join him in the berth's common space and share a bottle of iced berry cider. After he had Maur sit and grabbed one of the bottles from his five cases and ten bottles, Jocelynn noticed the bottle when he came back to the common space. When she came over to where Sekea was pouring out glasses of the cider, Sekea explained to her what he and Maur had uncovered. Hearing that, Jocelynn announced they should also celebrate with a chocolate fountain. With that, Jocelynn went looking for chocolate and found not only her left over stock, but a service she could call for Cr 20 to have two pounds of the stuff delivered to their berth.
Towards the end of the evening, Mikah had won Cr 70 from Aiden in poker, because his bidding limits were more firm than Fesic's. Eventually, everyone finished what they'd been doing and joined in the relaxation, drinking and treats. Jocelynn also broke out one of her bottles, because they finished Sekea's bottle quickly. That left her eleven bottles in her collection while Zimzod still had cases of the stuff he'd gotten for the ship. During the party, Sekea explained what he and Maur had done to the others and two more bottles were cracked from Zimzod's stock. At a point in the party, Jocelynn went over to Sekea, put her arm around his shoulders like a buddy, and said, "Sekea? You need to loosen up." Seeing that, the others laughed. Eventually, they all faded off to sleep.
Sunday, 059-1114: It's Go Time! With the return of the ship likely at any moment, Sekea began collecting the data he'd need for getting them out of the local star's jump shadow. Since they'd cross one of the system's asteroid belts on the way to the gas giant, they'd have a lot of targets to fix their sensors on for testing. When they got to the gas giant, using their maneuver drives, they could do a 'first test' of their hull while refueling from the gas giant's atmosphere. After hours doing that, they could then secure the ship and prepare for a micro-jump. Burning out from the gas giant's jump shadow, they could then make the jump to a point tangenting the star's 110 diameter distance. After that, they would have fully tested their hull and sensors, and could continue sensor testing while burning back in to Denotam Prime.
While they ate breakfast, or shared the early morning, Aiden started asking Jocelynn questions about how she and Aali had re-organized her stateroom on the ship. When Aali heard the chat, she joined in and they promised to help him re-design his stateroom after they were back on the ship. Jocelynn also told him what had worked out the most for her, like raising the height of her bed, and the ceiling weapon racks. Aali reminded them she could pull the schematics of the stateroom and they could begin the redesign in the berth, before they got the ship back. Aiden decided to work with them on that, and then make use of the space in the berth to practice with one of his drones afterwards. Zimzod continued reading the manual he'd pulled up.
Seeing Jocelynn working with Aali and Aiden, Colinne decided to get more work done on decompiling the lock picking program. Because he'd helped her other times, Colinne asked Fesic to work with her. He agreed and they set up a process where she'd locate code and dig it out while he then worked to analyze what she gave him. Often with her help where advanced coding was within a given segment. Mikah decided to down-cycle, watching vids and playing computer games until they got the call from the shipyard. Sekea considered working on sorting the android parts but then took the images he had of the broken diaphragm. So, he got on the local network to search for the part under any uses it might have from "replacement 'droid parts" to any other spare parts coverage. For all he knew, they could have been used locally in hauling trucks and other vehicles.
It was halfway through the morning when Mikah's comms started buzzing. Checking it, she saw it was an admin from the shipyard so she quickly answered. The officer Mikah greeted let her know work on the ship was finished. When they said they'd like to turn it over to her, Mikah said, "We'll bring our cutter and burn on up to you." After that, the call ended and Mikah gave the word that everyone should start organizing and squaring away their gear to move it to the ship. At the same time, she called the port to let them know they'd be getting back the ship and taking it out on a shakedown cruise and reminded the port they'd paid for the extra time. After that, the call ended and Mikah went to gather her gear too. Everyone was carrying some part of their gear onto the cutter, and Mikah made sure to wear her vacc suit and carry her combat armor and laser weapons.
With everyone on the cutter, Aiden piloted the craft out of the parkbay and off into orbit. Eventually, he was given an approach vector to the shipyard and told which berth to connect to. The yard crew told him they'd open a bay near the Upgrade so the Captain and First officer could tour the ship and approve the work. After they signed off on the ship and undocked from the yard, they could have a pilot move the cutter so the craft could dock with the ship. After Aiden settled the cutter in the yard's bay, the project manager for work done on their ship invited Mikah and Zimzod to tour the ship and confirm the work. They were the only ones allowed on the tour because they were the ship's officers.
Mikah pushed to have Aali come along too, because she was their ship's engineer. The project manager was OK with that but he wanted Mikah and Zimzod because their signatures would get his people paid. While they moved, the three had to admit, the yard crew had cleaned up well after themselves. The spaces where work had been done were, perhaps, even cleaner than they'd been since they'd taken control of it in the Inthe system. Some parts of the "tour" were virtual, where they would do things like send a small wheeled drone into tight spaces in the ship's avionics where no one was gonna crawl. In the end, Aali was happy to certify everything was as expected. She also confirmed the holographic systems were still active. While signing off on the work, Mikah told them her crew planned to take the ship out on a shakedown cruise in-system, including a micro-jump. The project manager gave Mikah a frequency and said they'd be listening on that if she had any questions. Still, they were entirely confident of their work and not worried at all.
They did ask Mikah how the ship was fixed for food? Having bought food back in the Dinomn system, where it was cheap, Zimzod had issues buying any "vat" food in the Extolay system. Their supplies managed to hold out until they reached Arden. There, Mikah had ordered one full week's worth of natural grown food and two weeks of tank-grown. They'd also had to share food with Finred, who'd traveled with them to Denotam. So, they had less than two weeks food with barely anything better than the Arden vat specials. Considering that, Mikah ordered two weeks of what Denotam's frozen globe considered "better than average" for Cr 3,000. She'd consider buying more food when they returned from the shakedown. After that payment, they were all allowed aboard to stow their gear and check their stations while the food was loaded. Then, they split up and Aiden pulled the ship out of dock while Sekea piloted the cutter to dock it aboard the ship. Following that, they all settled in or continued organizing their gear while Mikah considered either burning out to do the shakedown now or landing at the port to get all the rest of their gear first.
Sunday, 059-1114: Late Morning Where everyone is at the end of the session: Everyone but Rol: Aboard the Upgrade, leaving the shipyard for a shake out cruise Maur: With the others Rol: Decant in 3 Weeks, 3 Days (With an 11 day shakeout, Rol will be decanted 10 days after the cruise )
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