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!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1488943" data-attributes="member: 515">In the morning Vasilii, Ian, and Swann leave the Bray Keaven to prepare for their excursion. Vasilii contacts Maj. Eckels who agrees to purchase 7 dTons of Marine rations. The silver will be delivered before the Bray Keaven leaves Alief or earlier, if the crew requests an earlier delivery. 140,000 Imperial Credits of silver is about 2 dTons. Before the Bray Keaven leaves for the test firings, Sgt. Burnett shows up with a group of soldiers to help unload 7 dTons of Marine rations. Darishun and Vasilii help to unload the rations into the cargo bay, where the soldiers pick up the rations. The rations are taken from the ones originally stored in the port and starboard cargo locks (3 dTons), the second port crew cabin (2 dTons), and some from the forward cargo lock (2 dTons). A little under 4 dTons remains in the forward cargo lock and in the upper lounge. While the cargo is being unloaded, Sgt. Burnett agrees to Vasilii’s request to look for some of the items for the Imperial Marines when he has a chance. The hipbeast sausage is unlikely, though, given the general food availability problem. Vasilii comes up with a cover story for the holiday group: businessmen searching for trade possibilities. After Ian and Swann agree to the idea, he goes about setting up cover bank accounts for them using their new aliases as well as a corporate account. He sets up four accounts with Killian Bank and Trust, a smaller bank with branches in several countries in the region. One for each of the holiday trio and a commercial one for the fake corporation. Setting up the corporation’s takes surprisingly long, and is a rather trying experience, even with the help of Col. Rundell, and he is unable to get the accounts set up in Imperial Credits (the accounts are in Bromlian Pounds). Account Balances: Vasilii/Vasilii: 10,000 BPIan/Ian: 10,000 BPSwann/John: 10,000 BPCorporation: 50,000 BPBray Keaven: 1,061,364 BP Vasilii has a chance to do a little bit of research into King George’s Land using a computer provided by Sgt. Burnett, looking for possible trade goods. Most of the current trade possibilities from offworld sources are in the form of spare parts or higher tech devices, particularly those with military or dual use applications. -----Ian contacts Col. Rundell who arranges for new IDs for the trio and provides more appropriate clothing. Ian is now Ian Gifford. Swann is now John Biden. Vasilii is now Vasilii Matahara, a trader from far off New Kandahar. Personal firearms are prohibited in Bromley and King George’s Land except for security and military forces. Col. Rundell does arrange for permits for both Bromley and King George’s Land, but advises that the trio not display weapons in King George’s Land. He also arranges for permits for the other Bray Keaven crew. -----Swann spends the day in one of the offices in the Groves Airport Administration Building with his new computer doing "research" on the soda and milk formula plants. There is a milk formula plant in the town of Judithan (about 80 km from the border) and a King Sour bottling facility in Kingan (just over the border from Bromley). The attempts to break into either facility’s computer network are extremely frustrating, and Swann ends up surfing various news sites to get a break and clear his mind. Returning after lunch for a fresh approach, Swann remembers to adjust his approach down a few tech notches and breaks in easily to both facilities. He doesn’t find any formulas explicitly including some vaccine, but he does find some emails/memos/documents of note. The first set of documents, at the Crown Prince Milk facility, include an angry resignation note dated from three months ago from a consulting physician stating that the physician will have nothing to do with adding an unknown governmental substance to the formula without his testing, even if the King’s Surgeon claims that the additive is safe and will aid in the development of babies. There is an interesting change order (also dated three months ago) to a mixing tank which indicates that the mixer needs to now draw from a newly installed tank No. 45 and to include 10 ml for every 100 ml from tank No. 3. There doesn’t seem to be a reversal order. Swann makes himself a note on his handcomp: "Check on contents of tank No. 45 when we’re at the plant." The second set of emails/memos are from the King Sour Bottling Plant in Kingan. The emails/memos indicate that the management gave the entire line staff a week of vacation (about three months ago) since they had been working so hard and that headquarters management were so happy with their production. The last email is also from the King Sour Bottling Plant and indicates that one of the high–level managers will be waiting to meet a Col. Eddings and his delivery crew at 10 PM on Saturday night as planned. The note also indicates that the line staff of the facility will be gone on vacation for the entire week. Swann does not find any incriminating data to indicate that a quantity of anything that could be a vaccine remains at either facility. Of course, beyond the emails/notes, Swann doesn’t find any indication of anything unusual at all at the facilities. With a little time left before dinner, Swann does a bit more poking around in the computer systems for the hospitals in Judithan and Kingan. He does find a record for a Mr. Mark Laird at Judithan Community Hospital who was admitted 5 days ago with symptoms similar to those indicated by AHV. The treatment log is empty for the day of admission, but the nurse’s log from the last few days indicate that he is recovering well and will be released soon. Swann makes himself another note: "We need to pay Mr. Laird a visit, see how he’s doing. Also need to see if we can track down the meds he’s been receiving." -----After a long day of preparations, Ian, Vasilii, and Swann enjoy a dinner with some of their military comrades. After the Marine rations, the trio finds that the food is delicious. During dinner, the trio exchange information and discuss their plans. They realize they will have to take the ship’s air raft since none of them knows how to drive a ground vehicle, which are the most common means of transportation on Alief. When discussing the weapon’s permits, Vasilii mentions he is just planning to take along his snub pistol with some tranq rounds. Swann tells him, "I think you might want to take along that body pistol we found in the ship’s vault. Get all the spare clips and ammo, too. Tranq rounds are all right when you’re trying to keep a low profile, but you can’t always count on them to work. And sometimes, you need something a little more lethal for self-defense. Even if you don’t actually shoot someone, the added threat of lethality can be a wonderful negotiation tool." Happily sated, they head back to wait for the Bray Keaven’s return.</blockquote>

Verification