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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1831635" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XIII Date: 166-993 Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven and the Oser, Sentry systemOutside the Bray Keaven, Martha continues patching the hull underneath the bridge. After she is finished (probably in another 30 minutes or so), the Bray Keaven should be patched well enough to make a jump or enter an atmosphere though the patch isn't a permanent one at this point.-----On board the Oser, Swann starts to inspect the portacomp. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a data storage device on him. So he erases one of the romance vid disks in order to store any information he may find and want to copy. While setting up the portacomp, he notices it has an external attachment of some sort, possibly an antenna. He knows portacomps normally come with a built–in, short–range antenna for wireless networks. If this attachment is an antenna, it is something else entirely. The portacomp has a security system installed, but getting through the system isn’t a problem for Swann. He pokes around a bit and discovers an application that displays a long pair of characters, each followed by a distance in meters and a heading. The distance and heading are near identical and correspond roughly to the starboard smuggling hold aboard the Bray Keaven. Swann shuts down the application and then proceeds to copy anything that looks like it might be interesting to the romance vid disk for later inspection. Vasilii watches over Swann’s shoulder as he works the portacomp, out of curiosity as much as to be a witness to corroborate that no changes were made to the portacomp, should it be legally necessary. After noticing the unknown antenna attached to the portacomp, Vasilii says in a low voice, "Is there something in this thing’s operating system that describes, or at least lists, all the peripherals that are plugged into it?" "Next on my to–do list." Swann checks the OS for a list of peripherals, and anything else that might indicate what the antenna-looking attachment is. Ian and Saro continue discussing trying to drug Guderin for information. At this point, Eric wakes up and starts trying to squirm around until Ian kicks him. On board the Bray Keaven, Vargas leaves the bridge to go check on Aidan. He finds Mr. Silver calmly reading a copy of "Imperial Law Review: Diaspora Sector" on his bunk with an annoyingly innocent look on his face. Seeing the look on Silver's face, Vargas breaks into a big goofy grin as if to say "Yeah, I got your number and I’m not going to let it bother me." -----On the bridge, Kevon communicates with the SNS Fallow’s Knife. He is still getting an audio–only signal through the patched communications link. "Thank you, Bray Keaven, for powering down your weapons. What is your status?" Kevon relays the current status including that the prisoners are secured, though one is in need of medical attention. "We’re glad to hear that you’re still in control of your vessel. Our ship’s boat will dock with the Oser’s rear airlock. Be aware that our Marines will be lethally armed. When we are in the airlock, we will announce that the Marines are onboard. At that point, we expect your people to lay down their weapons and step away from them. The Fallow’s Knife will take up a guard position until our boarding party has secured the Oser. Lieutenant Darlow, my XO, will be commanding the boarding party. Docking ETA 20 minutes." "Understood. Bray Keaven out," the lieutenant commander answers, immediately switching to internal comms and relaying the CO’s instructions. "Stay sharp and keep your ear out for their arrival. Don’t give them a reason to be concerned. Concerned Marines are shooting Marines." Using passive sensors only, Kevon notes that the SNS Fallow’s Knife is a Timberhawk-class patrol cruiser displacing 400 dTons. A Timberhawk typically carries 13 Navy personnel and eight Marines. ----- "Kevon, this is Martha. Hull under the bridge is repaired enough for a jump, but I haven’t checked out the damage to the hull outside your cabin. Do we have enough time for me to at least check it out? Or should I start coming inside?" -----"Stay out there, Ms. Smythe. I’ll advise them that we have a crewmember on an EVA," Kevon responds. Vargas returns to the bridge and the pilot's seat. To no one in particular he says, in a light, conversational tone, "I think our passenger is a smart ass." He flips a few switches and looks at any readouts. "I like that in a person. Normally." -----After downloading the contents of the portacomp, Swann considers Ian’s earlier comment about the pirates being after contraband aboard the Bray Keaven. Swann looks at Guderin lying on the floor, considering. After Eric wakes up — and receives a kick from Ian — Swann rubs a hand across his face and says in a low voice, "Maybe they don’t have to know what these guys were after, at least not right away." Swann sets down the portacomp, and drags both Eric and Guderin back near the portal leading from the lounge to the rear cargo compartment so they will be the first people encountered by the Sentry Marines. Then Swann kneels down and says to the two men, "OK, the Sentry Marines are going to be here in a few minutes to take you into custody. We’re going to let you live, and let them sort this out. But if you cause any trouble before they arrive, there’s still time for us to shoot you and make it look like you tried to escape. "Since the mastermind of your little caper is unconscious, and on the verge of dying, my suggestion to you two is to keep your mouths shut and don’t say anything to anyone until you get back to Sentry and have the opportunity to talk to a lawyer. That would be the smart thing to do — you wouldn’t want to talk yourselves into more trouble, or make matters worse for yourselves by saying something stupid. And I also suggest you use your quiet time to pray that your patron doesn’t regain consciousness, so you have someone to pin everything on — someone who won’t be able to dispute your stories." Swann then places the portacomp, the fake IDs, the two shotguns, and the ammo on the booth tabletop in the lounge. He says to the others, "Better add all of the handguns and other weapons we confiscated from them to the pile." He then asks, "Ian, what are relations like between the Sentry Marines and the Imperial Marines? Any hard feelings or resentments that you know of? I thought at first it would be best if you were our ‘faceman,’ since you speak their language. But if these guys have a problem with their Imperial counterparts, maybe you should stay in the background and not show them your medals." As Ian adds the confiscated weapons in his possession to Swann’s pile, he replies, "Hmm, good point, Swann." Ian can’t recall anything specific about dealing with Sentry Marines, but he does know that it’s usually a question of attitude when dealing with planetary Marine forces. Be decent and professional, assume that they’re well trained — even if they aren’t — things go pretty smoothly — usually. Treat them like yokels who don’t know what they are doing — even if it’s true — then they tend to get pissed off. As Ian finishes answering his questions, Swann suddenly looks at Saro. "Excuse me, Ian," he says. "I just thought of something." Swann walks over to Saro and leans close to speak softly, directly into the doctor’s ear. Ian also leans in close so he can hear. "Doc, have you got something you can give our two friends to knock them out? I’m not asking you to do anything that would hurt them, just put them under for a good, long time, so they won’t cause any problems when the Marines arrive." "I like that idea," Ian says. "Let’s put ’em to sleep." Glancing disdainfully over at the bound captives, Saro replies bitterly, "In my experience a sharp tap on the temple with a nice, heavy rifle butt usually does the trick." After a pause, he continues, "Let me see what I have in my little bag of tricks." Saro rummages through his medkit looking for something that will put the men out for about an hour. Vasilii approaches Swann and Ian with a concerned look on his face. Still in a low voice, he says, "Swann, at some point these guys have to say something about those boxes — it’s the entire reason they came out here in the first place. If they do say something about the boxes, and we don’t, that’s going to look bad for us. "On top of that, Aidan Silver also knows about those boxes, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to leave the door open for him to blackmail us later, which means that if we are going to say something, we gotta say it first before any of them do. "Besides, I’m kinda liking the idea of Mr. Silver sitting in the hot seat, having to explain how he knows about the boxes without being part of the Oser crew." Swann says in a low voice, "Yes, the Oser’s crew probably will say something about the boxes eventually. But if they are unconscious when the Marines arrive, they can’t say anything now. We don’t want the Marines asking questions and searching our ship for ‘mystery boxes,’ or forcing us to go back to Sentry so this can all be sorted out. And we don’t want them asking Mr. Silver any questions about these boxes, either. While his actions during the attack were bothersome, and a little curious, I don’t think he was working with the Oser." "I agree with Swann on this," Ian says. "Let’s not mention the actions of our troublesome guest to the authorities. Besides, I’m looking forward to a long conversation with Mr. Silver during jump," Ian adds with a half grin. Vasilii nods as he listens to Swann and Ian with a look, at first, somewhere between exasperation and mental exhaustion, and then slowly turning into one of acceptance: "Hmm. Yeah, I suppose I owe Martha at least that much to avoid going back to Sentry," he says, then shrugs and adds, "Hades, I owe the whole crew that much for bringing that damn blonde on board." Swann looks at the Vilani merchant and says, "Vasilii, you have some legal training, so maybe you know the old lawyers adage ‘Never ask a witness a question you don’t already know the answer to.’ Well, we don’t want the Marines asking us questions about the boxes if we don’t know the answers to those questions. We don’t know what those boxes are, and Silver apparently does. We should find out from him what he knows first." Vasilii stares blankly at Swann for a moment, almost in mild disbelief, briefly lost in a thought. "You ever think about becoming a trial lawyer? We should start our own practice: Hellenic and Kugiikishshi, Attorneys to the Stars," he adds with a chuckle. "Alright, nix the report on Aidan to the Sentry people. "But back to the subject, I think the whole crew should have a sit-down to talk about Aidan before we talk to him. Get a plan together, that sort of thing. Frankly, I’d rather just search his stuff and his stateroom than talk to him, but we’ll iron that out later." He pauses for a brief moment. "Then again, I could keep him talking about Imperial law somewhere while you and Ian toss his stateroom," he adds with a grin. "I get him talking about himself, that should buy you a day and a half right there." "I think our best course of action is to let the Marines take the pirates away unconscious so they don’t say anything and cause any unnecessary delays," Swann says. "We tell the Marines what happened, leaving out the part about the Oser’s crew wanting the boxes, so they can file a report and let us be on our way. We jump out of here. Then we all sit down with Mr. Silver and try to get some answers." Vasilii nods in agreement as Swann talks. "OK, sounds good. But we need to make sure Emile, Kevon, and Martha are up to speed with this. If we say anything over the radio, the Sentry people might hear us. Someone should go back to the Keaven and fill them in." "No time for that," Swann says. "Besides, our suit comms should be safe enough." After a moment of silence, Swann continues. "I’ve been thinking about this ‘Imperial warrant’ Silver mentioned. I don’t think it’s an arrest warrant or anything like that. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard some talk about Imperial warrants before. They supposedly allow the bearer to bypass a lot of Imperial bureaucracy and red tape. I always figured it was just spacer static. But if they do exist, and Silver does have one, it means he’s probably some sort of Imperial agent on a special mission or assignment. An assignment that apparently has something to do with those boxes." "Not to get off the subject," Vasilii says, "but I think we should probably tell the Fallow’s Knife that we haven’t gone into the cargo bay or the engine rooms yet, just in case they find any surprises." "I agree with that," Swann says. -----Vasilii comms the Bray Keaven to inform them of the plan, and to advise them of his intentions to radio the Fallow’s Knife. "Just for consistency’s sake, Mr. Kugiikishshi, I think I should be the only one on comms with the Fallow’s Knife, especially considering I’m the most recently removed from active duty and still have the authority of my rank," Kevon says. "Sounds good. You know the NavySpeak better than anyone else here, I’m just the humble but greedy merchant on this run," Vasilii replies. "And at this point, just call me Vasilii. You’ve officially been shot at with the rest of us, so I’d say you’ve earned that much, at least. "Tell them we’ve secured the bridge, staterooms, and common area, but haven’t checked out the other sections yet. If they want, we’ll check them for any surprises, or they can have the first look, their choice." "I’ll let them know, Mr. Kugi—err, Vasilii," the young officer says. "Also, if they want, I should be able to bring the Oser under more stable control and bring it to a standstill, again their call. "The comm system looks to be in pretty good shape over here. I’ll start transmitting vid feeds from the Oser’s onboard cameras so they can have a look before they get here. That should make them happy." "Roger that. Stand by." Switching back to external comms, Kevon says, "Fallow’s Knife, Bray Keaven. Be advised that our engineer is effecting repairs on the outer hull at this time. Also, our crewmembers have not investigated the Oser’s engineering section or cargo bay, and we do not know what, or who, might be in there." He also relays Vasilii’s offers to start a vid camera feed and to stabilize the Oser’s drift.</blockquote>

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