Traveller T20: Tales of the Bray Keaven [Updated 12-20-05]

[R_Kane]

Doc Saro, I believe, holds the record for most players. I've lost count, but there have been at least four, and I think one person even played him on two seperate occassions.

That'd be me...I created the Doc and played him at the start. When it looked like I was on the verge of heading over to a certain infamous sandy part of the world, I put Saro up for adoption, so to speak, just in case I had to make a sudden departure.

Luckily, I ended up not having to go on that governmentally funded vacation in the sandbox and was able to once again take up the role of Saro when it became open again. I fairly recently relinquished the role again because I had other issues cropping up in RL and was becoming burned out.

I still follow the game and love reading these collected Story Hour chapters. Hopefully I'll be able to rejoin the game in some role in the future.

 

[vutpakdi]

Interesting. How much player turnover do y'all usually wind up with? Seems like you mostly wait to recruit between chapters, no? (Kevon, Aidan, Vasilii, Vargas, I believe Martha swapped at some point as well...)

Well, it depends.
Vasilii and Saro have switched out players particularly often (both 4 times I think, though Saro has had the same player twice).
One person had Marcus before Davy took him over (and eventually moved Marcus offstage so that he could roll up Kevon).
Vargas has had 2 players.
Ian has had 3 players.
Martha was an NPC/the original GM's "character" before Flynn took him over.
Swann, Aidan, and Darishun are still with their original players (Okay, I'm still hoping that Darishun will return at some point ).

Ron

 

[Hawkshere]

Heads up!

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=108196

 

[Shadowdancer]

First, there are a few minor addendums to the last chapter. In compiling this week's chapter, I found a few posts that rightly should have gone last time.

One is a slightly humorous exchange between Vasilii and Swann during the discussion of possibly hiring Aidan to be one of the ship's gunners. This resulted from Vasilii having a new player.

Another involves Vargas (who also has a new player) trying to comfort Martha's fears about going to Adukgin. This is important because it provides foreshadowing of some upcoming actions by Vargas.

The rest is some minor additions to the discussions of keeping Aidan around and paying Kevon a bonus.

You might want to reread the previous chapter before moving on to the new one.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Chapter II​

Date: 202-993
Location: Fonnein Orbital

After the breakfast meeting, the crew split up to pursue various interests.

Vasilii pursues cargo. He finds that there are 15 dTons of chemical catalysts available, and he negotiates a disappointing price of Cr16,000 a dTon (delivered) bulk or Cr17,000 a dTon in barrels. The Munson Cooperative salesman comments that a number of far traders have purchased their solvents recently which has driven up the cost. He does offer a Cr75 dTon discount if the Bray Keaven picks up the catalysts on planet.

Vasilii thinks he can probably make a decent percentage on the catalysts, comfortably better per dTon than freight. He’s inclined to take them in barrels, since that will be easier to split on Kerin’s Tyr (which is balkanized). Also, they won’t have to worry about delivering the chemicals to one spaceport for the buyer and returning leased or rented shipping containers to another spaceport. And he may be able to sell the barrels.

He agrees to buy all of that, in barrels, for collection from the spaceport, and he’ll get right back to confirm arrangements after talking to the flight crew.

The Munson Cooperative also has 20 dTons of chemical solvents for sale. Again, the salesman unapologetically explains that local supplies have been recently snapped up, so the price has been driven up. After some hard negotiating, Vasilii manages a mediocre showing of Cr18,000 a dTon bulk or Cr19,000 a dTon in barrels (delivered price). Again, the Cr75 dTon discount applies if the Bray Keaven enters the gravity well to pick up the solvents.

Vasilii notes these, and figures he could turn a profit, but they’re complicated and not that much better than freight. He leaves them in reserve.

Rather disheartened, Vasilii checks into the so–called "Fonnein Gray Crystals," which turn out to be a rather tasty form of sea salt. The FGC, Ltd., saleswoman seems to be very excited that Vasilii is possibly interested in purchasing some of the salt, and Vasilii manages to negotiate a very good price: Cr2,200 a dTon, delivered. Her company appears to be much smaller and, as a result, the discount for picking up the salt is Cr100 dTon. The salt comes pre-packaged in boxes containing 0.5-kg bags. She also gives Vasilii three bags as samples.

Vasilii had excluded the notion of shipping spices to Kerin’s Tyr, but this is a very good price. Even at the 20 percent or so discount he might face on an agricultural world, he ought to be able to double that. So it’s better than priority freight. He asks the woman how much is available for quick purchase, and whether they can pick the goods up from the spaceport planetside.

He keeps two bags for sales purposes and passes one to Saro for his delectation.

Buoyed by the salt negotiations, Vasilii pushes a little harder and finds a couple of far traders selling other items including six dTons of leather at Cr7,000 a dTon and one dTon of serial action and romance vid-disks at Cr45,000.

Vasilii is all over the vid-disks and decides to buy them at once.

After a few moments, he also decides to buy the leather. Whilst taking leather to an ag world seems counter–intuitive — one usually buys the stuff there — his professional experience is that leather sells well enough provided you’re selling foreign leather.

-----​

Martha attempts to locate low passengers, which isn’t too hard to do. She finds 12 people waiting passage. Most are individual passengers, but there are two couples and one family — mom, dad, and two small children. The family would also like to ship one dTon of items.

She checks with Vasilii to see if there’s room and profit in taking the family’s stuff.

Vasilii says, "It might suit us to sell them a dTon of freight space or it might not. I need to hear back from the lady with the salt about how much she’s got, and finalize which of the bulk freight lots need special containers. I should be able to tell you pretty soon. But the odds are we will have a space left over."

However, once he makes an actual load–out list, Vasilii realizes there is no spare room in the cargo hold. He tells Martha, "Miss Smythe, it transpires that we can exactly fill our holds without the cargo your frozen family want to take, and we’d lose three dTons of freight to accommodate them. So we’d best take the other lopax on offer."

He pauses for a moment. "Although we could stack it in our spare cabin. That would be fine, if we definitely aren’t taking any warm passengers. I’ll leave it to you to decide on that, since passengers are your side of the equation. But the holds are booked."

Martha decides to leave the family until last and start contacting individuals until the four low berths are completely booked. They won’t take any warm passengers, and will only take the family as a last resort, placing their dTon of freight in the empty cabin if necessary.

-----​

Saro and Aidan go off to arrange luxury rations/life support supplies for the ship. The selection isn’t great, but given the size of the port, they’re pretty good. Aidan and Saro are particularly pleased by the selection of seafood, though the selection of cheese is almost nonexistent: whatever Aidan tried was certainly a cheese appearing substance, but it was certainly not cheese.

"Well Saro, that was an interesting substance. But I’m not sure I could find an appropriate wine to wash the taste out of my mouth."

Saro makes a face as his tastes the almost-yet-not-quite-entirely-unlike cheese substance. "Ugh. Certainly no wine would do the job. A few industrial cleansers come to mind."

-----​

Kevon, Vargas, Swann, and Ian stay onboard the ship, take care of reloading remaining cargo (0.5 dTons of Marine rations, the nine missiles), and take the ship to its new (regular) berth, No. 113. The move of the ship proceeds entirely without incident, much to everyone’s surprise.

From the inside, Berth No. 113 looks identical to the berth the Bray Keaven occupied when the far trader first arrived at Fonnein Orbital except for the interesting looking burn marks which cover two–thirds of the berth floor. The berth is fully enclosed and pressurized.

Before and after the move, Vargas runs diagnostics and checks on the engineering equipment to ensure that no problems were overlooked in the maintenance and repairs.

-----​

After the ship arrives at the new berth, Swann and Ian head off to see about getting a forged permit for Ian’s ACR. Eneri looks a little warily at Ian, but given Swann’s assurances, he appears to be willing to give Ian a chance. Eneri doesn’t admit to knowing anyone who would have the necessary equipment and materials, but he does comment that he might be able to remember who has been known to provide such permits he didn’t have to anguish over whether or not he could sell this nifty portable vid-disk player for Cr300.

After Ian buys the vid-disk player, Eneri suddenly remembers that Markul, a gray Vargr who frequents the Drunken Monkey (one of the lower–end bars) has been known to be able to provide permits. Eneri gives Ian a token to give to Markul by way of an introduction.

Looking at the time, Ian and Swann head back to the ship for dinner before deciding whether or not to go visit Markul, who usually doesn’t show up at the Drunken Monkey until 2200 hours, according to Eneri.

-----​

At 1900 hours, the crew gathers for dinner in the lounge.

 

[Altor]

new reader

I found your story last week and just finished your last post. MORE,MORE. I'm suffering from withdrawl already.

I started playing RPG's with D&D in '75, and CT when Mark & GDW first released it. Ya all are very luck, finding a good group is difficult and priceless. (I'm still looking. ) Hey, enjoy, and keep em coming.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I found your story last week and just finished your last post. MORE,MORE. I'm suffering from withdrawl already.

I started playing RPG's with D&D in '75, and CT when Mark & GDW first released it. Ya all are very luck, finding a good group is difficult and priceless. (I'm still looking. ) Hey, enjoy, and keep em coming.

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying the SH. I've been extremely busy at work lately, but hope to have a new update in the next day or so.

CT was the first RPG I played after D&D, but we started about a decade after you did. Guess we were just slow.

Yes, we are lucky to have a constant, regular online game to play. Sometimes it is the only gaming I get to do on a regular basis.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Chapter III​

Date: 202-993
Location: Fonnein Orbital

As the crew gathers for dinner, Saro greets each member jovially; his demeanor markedly more relaxed than it has been in previous weeks. Going more than three days without being threatened and/or attacked has done wonders for his state of mind.

Saro listens attentively as Vasilii discusses the cargo and passenger possibilities, noting to himself that the Merchant has also returned to a more stable state of mind as he gets back into the detail work he so loves.

At some point during the dinner conversation Saro says, "As much as I needed this break from our normal level of hyperactivity, I have to say that I'm about ready to be moving on again. I'm sure Kerin's Tyr will be an interesting destination. Does anyone know anything about the system?"

Swann says that he will make some inquiries around the starport to see what he can find out about their destination.

-----​

When the subject of the grey Vargr is broached, Vargas says, "Ian and Swann, I have more then a passing knowledge of Vargr culture and language. If you want my help, I will be glad to assist in any way that I can. Just let me know what you would like me to do.”

Swann says, "Vargas, that's a great idea, and a generous offer. We would appreciate your help. If you can come with us and talk to Markul, he might be more willing to help us.”

“Sure, you are welcome to come with us,” Ian says.

"We'll probably go to the Drunken Monkey about 2130 hours, check the place out, then wait for him to show,” Swann adds.

"OK, I will be ready to go,” Vargas says. “I shall certainly do my best to help get the permit for you."

"Yeah, I like the idea of getting there early and scope out the place first," Ian says between a mouthful and a drink. "Great food by the way, Doc! Well done. Thanks."

-----​

Later, as the dinner begins to draw to a close Saro pushes away from the table and pulls his baliset from a nook behind his chair. As everyone continues to shoot the breeze (as opposed to thugs and pirates), he begins to quietly play in the background, concentrating on simple, commonly-known ditties that don't require too much concentration so he can follow the conversation as he plays.

Vasilii catches his eye and nods thanks for the music. “Anything that isn't a Vargr power ballad should be encouraged,” he thinks.

-----​

After a leisurely discussion and dinner, the crew break up to their various evening activities with most hanging out in the lounge area.

-----​

While the others relax, Vasilii finishes lining up his cargoes.

First, he pounces on the vid disks by placing a call to Augustina Kuehn, the captain of the far trader selling the 1 dTon cargo. The old female trader is pleased to get Vasilii's call, though it's clear that she is, occupied, and Vasilii and Augustina arrange a morning exchange at the Bray Keaven's berth.

Vasilii then calls up Nerrick Jauuughsi, the merchant who has the leathers. Nerrick doesn't seem pleased to hear from Vasilii during his dinner, but he does accept an early afternoon cargo transfer as small bits of some unidentified brown meat dribble down his beard as he talks.

After calling the two merchants, Vasilii leaves a message for the Munson Cooperative indicating that the ship does want to purchase the 15 dTons of catalysts and pick them up. Vasilii also leaves a message with FGC, Ltd., stating that he would like to purchase the 20 dTons of salt that are available and that the ship will pick up the salt.

-----​

Meanwhile, Martha manages to contact three of the individuals who expressed an interest in being low berth passage to Kerin's Tyr and is about to contact the fourth when Vasilii gets a call.

-----​

Having secured his speculative cargoes or least indicating interest, Vasilii is about to connect to the cargo boards to snap up the two minor freight cargoes when he receives a call from Augustina Kuehn who has the vid disks. The old trader seems to be a bit irritated about something, but tries to put on a pleasant face for Vasilii. "Hello, Vasilii. I know that we just talked, but something has come up. If my old creaking memory serves, you mentioned that you're headed for Kerin's Tyr, right?"

"Ummm, yes," Vasilii replies warily.

"Well, an old friend of mine has a proposition for you."

With that comment, Augustina steps away from the vid pickup, and a 40ish man in an old faded Scouts jacket which appears hastily put on steps into view. The man looks considerably angry about something, but calms himself before speaking. "Hey there. Glass Flanagan, damn reactivated Scout. I just got a damn priority reactivation notice for me and old Brown Bess that means I have to jump out tonight for Sentry for some damn fool reactivate Scouts to search for SolSec deep strike teams or some other damn fool nonsense.

"Er, forget that I said that. Anyway, I've got a charter onboard right now who needs to get to Kerin's Tyr by 220-993. Ten tons of cargo and some salesman bound for the Kingdom of Harven on Kerin's Tyr. I don't know if you're accepting warm passengers or not, but I've already talked to the salesman, and the fellow is willing to get his butt frozen as long as you have a medico onboard. He is apparently in a bit of a bind since his beasties were prepped late.

"I picked up the charter on Shanape, and it's a bunch of low-berthed cattle or some other four legged beastie supposedly bio-geneered to handle that weird pollen better. The beasties have been frozen in their low berths since Shanape, so you don't have to worry about cleaning up drek. The low berths will require a power connection, but that's it. No damn servicing.

"Anyway, if you'll help me out of this damn bind, I'd appreciate it. The salesman is willing to pay Cr30,000 for you to jump his butt and the beasties to Kerin's Tyr. What do you say?"

"I could arrange to accommodate 10 displacement tons, I think, Mr. Flanagan,” Vasilii replies. “Does he want to go to Warne highport, or Tersberg spaceport, or somewhere problematic?"

“Yeah, the sales guy is going to Harven, Tersberg or whatever that damn spaceport is called.”

"A one-hour transfer, is, well, you understand if I'm cautious,” Vasilii continues. “But provided he's happy for us to inspect his cargo and paperwork and unload them again with a refund if we get any unpleasant surprises, we'll be fine. And I'm sure he won't object to that if there's nothing to worry about. We'll put him into low berth once we've checked over the cargo.”

“Yeah, I’ve talked to him and he’s OK with an inspection of paperwork and cargo assuming that you don’t want to actually defrost his beasties.”

“He'll be paying up front, I presume? And what's the gentleman's name?"

“Nice try, Merchant. I think that he’d appreciate your attempt. Payment is on delivery, of course. He’s paid me to get this far, and I don’t think that he’s fool enough to pay you ahead of time. Ah, sorry, his name in Anil Salian.”

Vasilii laughs. "Well, he can't fault me for trying.”

"Thanks for helping a damn reactivated Scout out. I'll tell Anilthat you'll be expecting him in an hour or so."

“Alright, send him along and we'll look him over. Nice to do businesswith you, Mr. Flanagan. And good luck with your mission."

-----​

"Miss Smythe, hold off on that last low berth. We have a charter, sophplus cargo, soph taking the low berth. The cargo comes with its ownfreezer -- we don't have any power reliability issues do we?"

-----​

Vasilii then gets very busy. He logs into the exchange and accepts the 3 dTon incidental cargo, but notthe 10. He hits the comm to ask whoever he can get that another person be present to receive/inspect the cargo. EspeciallySaro, since it's biological. He begins to prepare a pro-forma charter contract. And he asks any of the other crewmember -- all are much better than Vasilii with computers -- to see what they can rustle up on the Scout, his ship, the cargo, andthe salesman.

-----​

“Vasilii, I’ll see what I can get on that cargo first, then I can come up and help you inspect,” Aidan says.

He then plunges into the local computer net to see what he can find out about the Scout and cargo, tracing back through Shanape, and tosses off a search through legal records on the Merchant, Scout, and so on.

-----​

"Roger that,” Saro responds. “I'll be here in the med station getting my stuff organized, just give me a buzz when you need me to help inspect the goods and I'll be right there."

-----​

Vasilii muses quietly as he works on the charter contract. "Hmm, now if we'd just put Aidan in the low berth when he turned up with cargo . . . ”

-----​

Around 2115, Swann, Ian, and Vargas head out to see if they can meet Markul at the Drunken Monkey.

-----​

In the hour before the cargo delivery, Aidan attempts to research the Scout and his cargo. There are records that he is able to find through his old backdoor into the SPA system. Aidan is able to find that the Brown Bess (Flanagan's scout/courier) arrived two days ago from Sentry and came from Liar's Oath and Shanape before that.

Mr. Salian's cargo does seem to have been onboard since Shanape, and appropriate SPA inspection and approval records have been attached.

Aidan also checks for information on Anil Salian, who is listed as hailing from Shanape and is 29 years old. His travel records indicate the same routing -- Shanape-Liar's Oath-Sentry-Fonnein -- onboard the Brown Bess, and considerable travel before that. Mr. Salian's employer is listed as Genform, ILC. There do not appear to be any criminal records attached.

Aidan's research on Glass Flanagan confirms that he is a Scout that has just been recalled to active duty and is listed as the captain/operator of the Brown Bess, a 35-year-old scout/courier. Flanagan does have a minor criminal history consisting of a number of arrests for fighting in bars and a few citations for reckless disregard of traffic control instructions.

-----​

Vasilii warns the others shortly before the delivery is due. He puts a presentable suit on and decides to grab his revolver, since the cargo is a bit odd and it's always possible Sare No. 2 had friends.

-----​

After hearing the results of Aidan’s search, Vasilii says, "Thanks, Mr. Silver. Do you want to join the welcoming committee?"

“Certainly.”

-----​

Feeling a bit silly about tooling up now that Aidan has checked thepassenger out, the Vilani Merchant gets ready to meet the cow-toting executive. Vasilii is wearing a suit over his now-habitual diplo armor, andcarrying his portacomp/phone, medkit, and the revolver under his jacket.

-----​

Aidan wears his usual light grey suit, with a deep red cravat today, sword at his side, pistol in holster just in case. Naturally, the suit is tailored to cleanly go over the various pieces of hardware.

-----​

Upon receiving word of the impending delivery, Saro replies, "No problem, I'll be right there." He finishes organizing his supplies and equips himself for the meeting/inspection.

Meeting Vasilii and the other members of the meeting committee outside the cargo bay entrance, Saro comments, "You know, usually my low-berth charges are sophonts." He shrugs, "Whatever. Unless these 'beasties' have extremely unusual physiologies they should be no more difficult to tend to.

"In fact, I believe that non-spohont creatures have a slightly less chance of perishing from low-berth sleep. Likely due to their less complex and sensitive mental and neurological matrices.

"I just hope whoever has put them into their sleep chambers knew what they were doing. That would make my job much easier."

-----​

Martha also is present, to make sure that the cargo containers check out and to supervise the connection to ship's power.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Chapter IV​

Date: 202-993
Location: Fonnein Orbital

Ian, Swann, and Vargas head out to the Drunken Monkey, one of the seedier bars on Fonnein Orbital. Both Swann and Ian have been to the Drunken Monkey before, and the dark, cramped bar seems to carefully cultivate its dirty and gritty atmosphere.

The trio arrives at the bar at 2130 or so, and easily finds a small round table from where they can observe most of the bar. On the way to the table, Swann spots Vincent Furnier, captain of the Generation Landslide, nursing a large mug of something in a corner with one of his tattooed crewman. The bar seems to have its normal crowd of about 30 folks distributed throughout the place in small groups. A formidable-looking waitress eventually comes by to take an order.

While waiting, Swann, Ian, and Vargas catch snippets of the low-voiced conversations around them, but none of them seem to mention anything about a gray Vargr named Markul.

-----​

Before the Vargr arrives, Swann heads over to Vincent Furnier's table to talk to him. He buys the captain and his crewman a beer each. He asks them what they know about Kerin's Tyr.

"The KT? Ah, now the KT's port is a decent enough place for the likes of you and me,” Vincent says. “A little too run-down and laid back for the Tukera types that stop there, but just fine for us decent and upstanding folk.

"Not that we get many of ‘em out this far, but the KT is a little wild for those traders used to the boring core routes. But, as long as you watch your back, you'll be fine."

At that remark, Davin, a fairly quiet fellow, mumbles, "Yeah, but watch out for good Samaritans on your approach or departure."

To which Vincent replies, pointing at Swann, "But he's off the mighty Bray Craven. I figure that they ought to be able to take care of themselves.

"Watch out for the dirtsuckers on the planet though. Bunch of squabbling yahoos. Good for fleecing, but a damn humorless bunch, especially the religious nuts."

Vincent does give a couple of suggestions for "fun" bars -- Guo's and The Thrust Plate -- and a brothel -- Hina's Delights.

-----​

A little before 2200, a gray furred Vargr comes in with an attractive human blonde hanging off one arm, and an attractive (to Vargas's eyes), blonde-furred Vargr off the other. The Vargr, some of his fur tinged with white, is trailed by a large, dark-skinned human who immediately sets off "Bodyguard!" alarms in Swann's and Ian's heads.

The Vargr leads his trio to a large booth in the corner where a quartet of spacers is joking over an impressive array of empty mugs. When the Vargr gets to the table, with the dark-skinned human hulking behind him, the conversation suddenly dies. Ian sees one spacer noticeably blanch, whisper something to his fellows, and then they gather up their mugs and depart for another table without the Vargr saying a word. The formidable waitress promptly appears and takes the Vargr party's order.

-----​

Vargas can tell that the Vargr has considerable standing, but can't tell much more than that.

-----​

Ian takes a swig from his mug, then wipes his mouth. "Hmm, very impressive." Turning to Vargas, he says, "So, what is the appropriate protocol for intros with this guy? He seems to have a hefty reputation around here."

Swann says, "Maybe we should buy a blonde and give it to him as tribute."

Swann then hands Vargas the token Eneri provided to use as an introduction to the gray Vargr. "Hopefully, that and your Vargr insights will do the trick."

Vargas takes note of the body positioning of the Vargr and the fact that he has a bodyguard, and determines that this Vargr has a considerable charisma. He takes the token and prepares to deal with a very high charisma Vargr.

"Gentlemen, it looks like we are dealing with a Vargr that is at the top of the food chain around here, Remember that Vargr do not consider humans to have any charisma and tend to ignore them.

“However, they are very easily insulted, especially if there is any racial insult delivered. I am going to treat him as we would a high-ranking noble or kingpin of crime. Be careful of what you say and do not look him directly in the eye. Remember, Vargr do not deceive. They can quickly sense a falsehood."

-----​

After waiting a considerable time before the formidable waitress comes close enough to signal, Vargas finally manages to ask her about buying Markul a drink. She snorts and replies, "Buy? You walk up to him if you want, sonny boy, but I ain't gettin' involved."

Vargas then decides on the direct approach and respectfully approaches Markul's table.

As they approach the table, Swann says to the others, "If this goes nova, I'll take the bodyguard; Ian, you take the Vargr; Vargas, you cover the ladies."

-----​

The hulking dark-skinned human smoothly interposes himself between Vargas and the table, and glares while asking, "Do you have an appointment with Markul? If not, he is busy."

When Vargas shows the bodyguard the token, he furrows his eyebrows while examining the token carefully, and then turns to the side to hand the token to the blonde human female who shows the token to Markul. Markul nods, and the blonde human softly says, "He's got a minute, Negsden."

Vargas quickly introduces himself, Swann, and Ian, observing proper Vargr custom, as he knows it, and indicates that they need his help with some documents.

-----​

Swann stands where he can keep a watch on the bodyguard.

-----​

Markul makes sort of a growl-laugh which Vargas interprets as pleased amusement, and comments (in Irlitok), "Impressive and unusual for a human."

"Thank you for the audience,” Vargas replies in Irlitok. “I grew up as a human adopted into a Vargr family."

Switching to Galanglic, Markul continues, "But not too surprising for the resourceful and capable crew of the Bray Keaven. Ah, yes, I know of you. After all," nodding to Ian, "I believe that you killed my second pack removed nephew in the Stork & Son's Yard."

-----​

Ian's left eyebrow rises just a bit, as a calculating look briefly crosses his face. He tries to gauge Markul's emotions/motive. Given his inexperience with Vargr culture, Ian makes his best guess and decides that Markul is probably simply stating an unpleasant fact.

-----​

“Oh frell!” Swann thinks. He keeps his face neutral and does not look the Vargr in the eyes. He tries to judge the bodyguard's body language, and is ready to draw a weapon if need be. He spots an ever so slight shift in the bodyguard's posture. The guard's left arm has gone straight down, the knees are slightly flexed, but the right arm remains halfway across the large chest, presumably ready to draw a weapon from underneath his jacket.

-----​

Also switching to Galanglic, Vargas says, "I am sincerely sorry for the death of your relative. I only wish it had never happened. However, the past cannot be changed. I sincerely hope that we can erase the past and work together for the improvement of all involved."

-----​

Markul takes a moment to carefully regard Swann, Ian, and Vargas individually and then does a deeper growl laugh (which Vargas interprets as irritated, but accepting). "But, that was business, and not personal. If a pup can't run with the pack and take down his own prey, he doesn't belong with the pack. Of course, if it had been personal, things would be different between us."

He pauses, and then regards Ian and Swann again, "Documents? Documents can be difficult and time consuming to procure. What kind of documents?"

Not looking the Vargr directly in the eyes, Ian responds. "Yes it was I who took the life of a Vargr in our berth. It is unfortunate to hear he was a relative of yours. My condolences to you and your family."

Ian briefly nods his head and closes his eyes. Ian is truly regretful upon hearing this news, especially if it is going to cause trouble with this seemingly powerful Vargr.

"But, protecting the Bray Keaven and its crew is my business. As such, I find it necessary to explore new and better methods to accomplish my mission. One such way is the procurement of better hardware including some hardware that many governing bodies would rather we didn't possess. Thus requiring documents to allow possession of said hardware."

Ian quietly clears his throat. "I find myself in need of such documents."

After Ian makes his vague reply about needing documents to procure hardware to protect the Bray Keaven and its crew, Markul growls low and guttural before replying. "You are starting to waste my time. If I wanted to see someone dance, I would have asked Hishana to get up." The last part he says with a nod to the female Vargr on his left.

-----​

Swann continues to watch the bodyguard. The bodyguard relaxed ever so slightly when he decided that his employer wasn't too pissed about the nephew, but the growl made him tense up again.

-----​

Vargas remains on the side, rather dismayed about the change in tone. He does manage to spot some slight shifting of arm/hand positions among the two ladies: the Vargr on the left of Markul has her left hand under the table and her right hand on Markul. The human on the right of Markul has her right hand under the table and the left hand on Markul.

-----​

Finally, Markul growls, "Plainly tell me what you want, or stop wasting my time."

Ian says that he wants a permit for his ACR.

"Weapons permit for an ACR? That's all? I figured that the Heroes of Marellia Landing Rescue would be able to get one through channels. Class 4 Permits can be -- difficult to arrange. Time consuming. Expensive."

At this point, the human female whispers in Markul's ear briefly.

"But, you're a resourceful crew. And, from what I understand, you can take care of yourselves. I have a gift I need to send to my cousin on Warn Highport on Kerin's Tyr. If you could carry the gift to him, I could probably persuade him to arrange a permit for you.

"Don't look so surprised. Your cargomaster and engineer have been asking for cargoes and passengers bound for Kerin's Tyr. Fairly obvious about it, too. I make it a business to know who is going where in case I need to send gifts to my far-flung family.

"Really, just a small thing. A wooden box that will easily fit under your arm. What do you say?"

Ian glances at Swann and Vargas with a questioning look.

-----​

From the sidelines, Vargas has watched the proceedings carefully and at what he feels to be the appropriate time speaks. "Markul, you do us great honor offering to trust us with the gift to your cousin. I, for one, would like to accept the request. However, I am part of a team and cannot make this choice alone."

He glances toward Ian and Swann and states, "Gentlemen, we need to make a choice very quickly." His expression clearly indicates concern; however he keeps confidence in his voice. He then returns to the sidelines, showing posture indicating respect for Markul.

-----​

Swann looks at Markul briefly, but without looking him in the eye. "Our pack would be honored to do this for you."

-----​

"Very well, we accept your offer,” Ian says. “Please let me know when the package will be ready for transport. I thank you for your generosity."

Ian takes a step back and waits until Vargas turns to go, following his lead.

-----​

When Swann and Ian accept, Markul grunts/snorts a bit and then says, "Good. I'll have one of my runners deliver the gift for my cousin along with instructions in the morning. Good night."

With that, the bodyguard moves in a little closer to Swann and Ian,
signaling that the interview is over.

-----​

Vargas turns to Markul and states, "Thank you for listening to us." Shifting to Irlitok, Vargas states, "I leave you with the traditional parting phrase of my adopted Vargr family. ‘May your life be long and fruitful, and may all of your ventures be successful.’ ”

To Vargas' farewell, Markul replies, in Irlitok, "And may your pack run faster than your prey," before turning back to his female companions in earnest.

Vargas states, "Thank you, may we meet again as friends in the future." He then backs away a respectful distance and turns to leave.

-----​

Ian, Swann, and Vargas carefully leave Markul's area and then head back to the ship.

-----​

On the walk back to the ship, Swann says, "Well, that was interesting. We need to decide if we are going to tell the rest of the crew about this. I think we should, since if there is any risk involved in transporting this gift, they share that risk.

“But if they all decide they don't want to be involved, then we're going to have to sneak it onboard, because there's no way we can now go back to Markul and say, 'Sorry, we've changed our minds.' One way or another, we have to go forward with this."

"Swann and Ian, you handled the situation very well. As I look back on that situation, it had to potential to really go sour in a hurry. He was one powerful personality. I think we did well, judging by his last comment. He stated may our pack run faster then our prey – that was quite a compliment.

“As to letting the other crewmen in on our little delivery service, we really do need to tell them. Swann, you are correct in seeing possible danger. This Vargr is obviously known on many worlds, which means that he may have both friends and enemies in many systems. If we run afoul of the wrong crowd, things could go bad in a hurry and the others should be aware of the danger.

“If they choose to decline the offer, we will have to convince them of the wisdom of not disappointing Markul and his associates. He expects us to keep our word. I just hope this does not turn into another cube problem."

"Yes, we need to tell the crew,” Ian agrees. “We need to emphasize the point of his having friends on other worlds, and that a friendly working relationship with him and his ‘family’ may work favorably in our future.”

 

[Shadowdancer]

I didn't realize until now that I went three weeks between posting updates.

I thought it was only two.