NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1463641" data-attributes="member: 515">Vasilii leaves the ship early in the morning to find Major Eckels. At the foot of the stairs leading to the starboard airlock, he finds that a guard/escort is quickly summoned for him and takes him to Major Eckels, who is at her distribution headquarters a few kilometers from the airport. The guard seems to be warranted since the throngs near the airport appear to be a little desperate (though still under control). Once Major Eckels has time to see him, Vasilii greets her with a cheerful smile and spends a second or two in small talk. After that, he comes to the point. "Major, I would be most appreciative if you could tell me what you know of the local banking institutions. I understand that the plague has disrupted some finance, but some businesses should be stable enough to survive. Since we might be called upon to travel to different parts of the planet on humanitarian efforts, I'd like to find a banking system that is as worldwide as possible. This way our funds won’t be tied up if we find ourselves in another country for a few days." Vasilii smoothes his suit and continues. "Also, my Captain is pursuing possible avenues to assist your relief efforts while we await further orders from the Marquis’ staff. To this end, I’m looking for certain supplies. Might I impose upon you to recommend local vendors who can assist us in obtaining what we need? I don’t have the specific parts list yet, but I’m sure it will fall under mechanical guidelines, mainly plumbing, valves, and such. If you have been involved in setting up decontamination stations, then I’m sure you have an idea of what we are looking for." Smiling at the Major, Vasilii continues. "Also, the crew has asked me to obtain some items that we were unable to get at Sentry due to the urgency of the mission. One of the crew has asked me to get them a personal computer, probably of the laptop variety. I’ve had requests for items such as scented soaps, sausage from an animal called a ‘hipbeast,’ and other things. I personally would love to restock the ship’s galley, as we have been living on those field rations for over a week now. Perhaps you know of some shops here in the local community, Lowford isn’t it? If you ever get some time off, I’d love to have a local guide. I’m sure you’re busy, but perhaps we can find some time and you can show me around. Dinner in a small open air café and a stroll would do wonders for me, since we’ve been cooped up in that ship for a while now." Major Eckels appears rather harried, and Vasilii’s charm only seems mildly effective today. On the bright side, she does arrange for one of her sergeants to assist with the arrangements. The sergeant, a bookish fellow by the name of Burnett, proves to be fairly efficient and helpful. The supplies for the decontamination station in the port airlock are quite easy, and Burnett arranges for the supplies to be delivered from stores collected by the Bromlian military. Arranging for the bank account is a little difficult, but the Alief Bank of Commerce branch in Lowford is open, if under armed guard. Sergeant Burnett and the guard accompany Vasilii to open the account and deposit the funds. The exchange rate between Lingonsallers and Bromlian Pounds at the time of exchange ends up being 17.03 Lingonsallers to the pound, so the Bray Keaven account now has 1,174,398 Bromlian Pounds. The current exchange rate between Bromlian Pounds to Imperial Credits is 9.56 BP to an Imperial Credit. Obtaining a high powered (for Bromley) portable computer also proves relatively easy in the university town. Vasilii finds a used TL-11 portable computer from Ling Standard Products for 33,000 BP. Certainly more than on Sentry, but not unreasonable given the situation. Obtaining the soaps is also very easy, but the sausage is nowhere to be found, as are most food products since the refugees have consumed almost all of the available food. So, it looks like Marine rations for a bit longer. After discussing these things with the Major, Vasilii starts to take his leave. "Oh Major, I was wondering what the procedure is for linking our ship into any planetary computer network? I’d like to be able to search for items of interest and keep current on the news. Is there a protocol for a wireless link, or would we actually have to run a cable to the ship?" The purchases and arrangements take longer than Vasilii expected, and he returns to the Bray Keaven at 1700 hours local time.The Bray Keaven account now has 1,141,364 BP. -----While singing his Ursine hunting chants and waiting for the Bromlians to wake up, Saro thoroughly examines Martha's samples. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there doesn't appear to be anything unusual in Martha's blood samples. "Well, it was a long shot to begin with," he says between verses in the chanting. Just as Saro is finishing his examination, Darishun pokes his head into the makeshift sickbay, draws his head up in surprise, and comments, "Good morning Doctor. Ah, much better than Vargr ballads. Thank you." "I'm glad you approve. You still have to educate me on Virushi music." "Ah yes. I was going to tell you that I'm going to head off and see if I can help set up that portable building that we brought. I will comm you if I think that you could be of assistance also." "That sounds very good to me." With that, the massive sophont carefully backs up and heads off down the corridor. A little after 0700 local time, Saro, stomach grumbling, heads out the starboard airlock. At the foot of the stairs, he is met by a pair of guards who quickly call a hovercraft and guard to take him to the Bromlian doctors. Apparently, the guard/driver is to stay at Saro's disposal because the guard ends up being nearby all day unless the Doctor is in a guarded area. Saro extends a hand in greeting to the guard. "Saro Talbek," he says, smiling. After he responds, Saro asks him for his opinion on the outbreak. "Tough times around here, huh. What do you think is behind all of it?" The precaution of the guard seems somewhat warranted since the crowd at the edge of the airport seems to be getting a little edgy, and the crowds that the hovercraft passes on the way to Dr. Warren's research lab (about 4km away from the airport) are being kept back by soldiers. Saro spends the day discussing options and theories with the Bromlian researchers. They also make plans to set up the portable building as a research facility slightly inside the quarantine area so that subjects may be brought there for treatment and/or decontamination. Some of the negotiations with the military are a little tricky, but the doctors manage to convince the military of the wisdom of the idea (with caution). Saro does add to his store of knowledge about the virus, what has been tried to combat the virus, and what hasn't worked. He does learn more about the analogue of the virus that targets rabbits. That virus does seem to mildly afflict rabbit farmers occasionally, but the symptoms are very mild, and it doesn't seem that a simple mutation could be responsible for the AHV version. "This might have been discussed many times so I apologize for the redundancy, but have there been any reports of rabbit farmers affected by AHV?" He does find out that the Bromlians do have pretty good manufacturing capability, so there is some chance that they'd be able to manufacture a vaccine/treatment if one could be found. The outbreak in the capital is a monumental disaster only made better by the fact that the outbreak started out slowly enough that it has been contained to just the capital at this point. There are many, many groups crying out for rescue that range from entire residential skyscrapers to people in individual houses. Only three of them are claiming that they were afflicted with the virus but have survived/recovered. There are two to four people surviving in each location. A looming medical disaster is the accumulated effect of the estimated million or so people who have already died. Saro's eyes widen at the toll. "My God, where are all the bodies?" Though he would like to stay and work with the Bromlian doctors more, Saro does decide that he needs to make his way back to the Bray Keaven and discuss his findings with the crew. </blockquote>

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