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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1931391" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXDates: 172 and 173-993Location: Arrival Berth 208, Fonnein OribitalMartha does some quick estimates of work that could be done: Annual maintenance on drives/power plant — KCr80–100Repair comm system — KCr200–500Repair captain's cabin — KCr5–50Light popup lasers — KCr75 Actual costs will have to be determined once Martha selects one of the maintenance companies or, alternately, solicits bids from both. -----Ian and Swann head out for an evening stroll. The Bray Keaven’s current berth is a pretty tight fit. There is nothing in the actual berth itself other than the far trader. There is a cargo door and a personnel door in front of the ship — the far trader is nose into the berth — that open to a wide corridor that runs perpendicular to the axis of the ship (i.e., port to starboard). The corridor beyond has some foot and cargo sled traffic as people go about their business. Ian thinks that he sees a scruffy–looking fellow in dark, purple stained coveralls observing them as he leaves. Ian mentions the fellow to Swann, but neither of the strollers notices the man following them later. Fonnein Orbital is a fairly small place as high ports go (only about 500 permanent residents), so there aren’t many dining establishments. However, all of them have wireless access to the local net in addition to loaner units. Wandering towards one of the dining establishments, Swann ducks into a store and picks up a game before continuing on. Swann and Ian select a fairly casual cafeteria and sit down for a couple of drinks. Swann spends Cr25 for the game and Cr5 for the drinks. Ian also spends Cr5 for drinks. Doing some research, Swann finds out that the Klenbrooke arrived a couple of hours after the Bray Keaven did and is in berth 104. There isn’t much information available, but he does find that the Klenbrooke is listed as a Cavanah-class Yacht (3J, 4G) registered out of Souris/Outrun in the Crucis Margin Sector to a McMaster Sharpe. No information on Holly Clegg is available. Wandering by the Klenbrooke’s berth later, Swann and Ian don’t spot anything of note. After a bit more wandering, Swann and Ian return to the Bray Keaven’s berth where they spot the man in the stained overalls watching the berth door again. Ian informs the crew of the "watcher" at the berth door, along with his description. -----Aidan hooks into the network to see if there’s anywhere he might be able to offload some old computer parts. Sheepishly, he asks, "Umm, Vasilii, think you might be able to sell some antique computer parts?" -----Saro realizes that continued inactivity can adversely affect a person’s mental state, so he will allow his patient to engage in some trading activity with the understanding that Vasilii not over exert himself. To ensure this, Saro agrees to accompany Vasilii wherever he needs to go to do his business. The doctor would prefer if Vasilii could do this via comm from the Keavon, but if necessary he will escort Vasilii to places off-ship as long as the journey is not too strenuous. A bit on edge because of recent events and the dealings with the cubes to take place, Saro carries his snub pistol with tranq darts and tries to be more alert to possible threats. -----The next morning, Aidan wants to have breakfast off ship so he can do some searching on the station’s computer net. Swann offers to accompany him and watch his back. "Thanks for the company, Swann. It’s appreciated." Aidan and Swann head over to the Numoc Diner. On the way out of the berth, Swann spots what he thinks to be someone observing the Bray Keaven’s berth. The observer appears to be a large yet hard looking woman in her mid to late 30s. The woman is dressed in a gray ship’s jumpsuit and appears to be standing around trying to look like she is reading a bookreader while waiting for someone. After a bit of a walk, Swann and Aidan arrive at the Numoc Diner and order some breakfast. After enjoying the surprisingly good breakfast and real coffee — breakfast costs Cr10 while the coffee costs Cr30 for one cup each — Aidan starts doing his research. Aidan’s foray into the Fonnein Orbital Hotel’s computer system goes very smoothly. Aidan is able to determine that a Mr. Worin Tahashima checked into room 112 yesterday at 8 a.m. Room 112 is listed as one of two executive suites with two sleeping rooms connected to a central room. Four guests are noted to be in the suite, but only Worin Tahashima is named. A call was placed yesterday morning from the room to the Bray Keaven. No other calls have gone through the hotel’s comm system. Aidan also has a list of others checked into the hotel, about 40 guests total. Most have come in relatively recently — within the last week. A few rooms are rented to people on long term contracts. His backtrace into the second Sare de Salui’s calls indicates that they came from a public comm booth in the promenade area of the station. Aidan’s backtrace of the Holly Clegg call indicates that it did come from the Klenbrooke. His investigation of the Klenbrooke doesn’t turn up any more information than Swann found. While Aidan is doing his research, Swann tries to see if anyone is watching them. No one appears to be. -----Meanwhile, Kevon returns the call the Sare de Salui No. 1. A brownish–reddish haired man in his mid to late 20s answers the call. "Good morning, may I help you?" "Yes. I’m Kevon Holland, Captain of the Bray Keaven. May I speak to Sare de Salui please?" "Of course sir, one moment." The man goes out of the pickup range. A few moments later, a well–dressed gentleman in his 40s steps into view. "Good morning, Captain Holland. I’m pleased to see you. I would like to arrange a meeting so that you may deliver the package that you have for me. Of course, I have your payment in hand as well as identification information. When would you like to meet?" Kevon replies, "I will have to check with my crew. We’ll be unloading most of our cargo today, so we’ll be a little busy. May I return your call later?" "Of course. I await your call." -----A moment after finishing this call, the Bray Keaven receives a call. This call is from the stern, gaunt–looking man in his 40s. "I demand to speak with the captain. I am Sare de Salui, and I want my package." "Good morning, sir. I’m Kevon Holland and captain of the Bray Keaven. How may I help you?" "You can give me my damn package. I have your payment here, and I’ve been waiting too damn long for you to show up. I was going to double your payment, but if you keep me waiting any longer than this afternoon, you can whistle for that extra payment." "We’ll be unloading cargo today, so I’m not sure when we’ll have time to meet. How may I contact you?" "Don’t play games with me. I’ll call you again this afternoon. If you want KCr200, you’ll have the package ready to go when I call." <click> Shaking his head a moment, Kevon pauses and then places a call to the Klenbrooke. After a few chimes, a rather disheveled–looking redhead in her 30s answers the comm. "Good morning, may I speak to Holly Clegg please? I'm Kevon Holland, captain of the Bray Keaven." "Ah, Captain Holland. Holly Clegg, captain of the Klenbrooke. I was hoping that you’d call. I wanted to meet with you to discuss a little proposition that could be very lucrative. I’ve heard of the exploits of the Bray Keaven at Alief, and I think that my little proposition could be very profitable for us both. Have you been to The Grotto yet? Very good food. I could book us a table for dinner this evening?" "Ah, we’ll be unloading cargo today, so I’m not sure when we’ll be done. May I call you back later?" "Of course, captain." -----Also that morning, Martha, Vasilii, and Saro go to meet with the representatives of Kaufshiliu and Stork & Sons, the two maintenance yards on Fonnein Orbital. Both companies send an engineer to return with the trio to inspect the ship and produce bids. Saro does seem a bit concerned about Vasilii given that he is being fairly active for someone who is still recovering from an abdomen wound. -----The Kaufshiliu representative is a very neat, professional woman in her 30s. Kaufshiliu has a good reputation for fast, professional work and slightly higher prices. The Kaufshiliu representative's bid, after some negotiations is: Annual maintenance on systems — KCr113, 12 daysComm system repair — KCr223, three daysRepair captain's cabin — KCr48, three daysLight popup lasers — KCr70, one day eachRepair docking tube — KCr65, two days All of the work can be done concurrently, but the price increases by 20 percent. All work to be done by Kaufshiliu’s reps, though Martha can observe. -----The Stork & Sons representative is a rather slovenly, slightly strange young man in his mid 20s. His coveralls are filled with grease, and his accent is a little high and hard to understand. Stork & Sons has a reputation for being very good at custom retrofits and work (particularly on older ships), being a bit cheaper, and a bit slower. The Stork & Sons bid is: Annual maintenance on systems — KCr100, 16 daysComm system repair — KCr195, five daysRepair captain's cabin KCr28, four daysLight popup lasers — KCr65, two days eachRepair docking tube — KCr50, three days None of the work can be done concurrently. Martha can help with the work; cost reduces by 10 percent. Swann and Kevon (with some help from Vargas and Martha) can help with the communications installation or alternately do the installation themselves. Helping Stork & Sons will reduce the cost by 20 percent and cut the time to three days. Doing the installation themselves (with Stork & Sons parts) will cut the cost by 60 percent (KCr117). The time required will be eight days, but this work could be done concurrently with the maintenance. Another option would be to go with an upgraded comm suite, five days for installation, helping Stork & Sons only. Vargas can help with the annual maintenance and reduce the cost by 5 percent — total of 15 percent savings for Martha and Vargas helping. Swann and Kevon can also work on Kevon’s cabin. Helping Stork & Sons will cut the cost by 20 percent and cut the time to two days. Doing the work themselves will cut the cost by 60 percent (to KCr16.8) but take eight days — this work could also be done concurrently with the maintenance. -----Finally, Vargas and Ian arrange to have the bulk plastic and carbon freight cargoes offloaded and sent on their way. Observing the cargo handlers unloading the cargo doesn’t reveal anything unusual though Ian does spot the large woman still observing the berth. Unloading takes a couple of hours since some of the Bray Keaven’s other cargo has to be unloaded and moved around to unload the freight cargo out of the forward cargo lock. The ship’s port account is credited for CR22,000 (freight fee) and debited for Cr660 (cargo handling fee). -----The crew gathers for a late lunch after the maintenance yard reps leave and all freight cargo is unloaded. Vasilii gives a breakdown on the finances. "OK, to start with, counting the credits on-hand and the ship’s account here at the port, we currently have Cr282,583. That does not yet include money from the speculative cargoes, Aidan’s expense account, or payment for the cube. Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends." He glances at Martha and draws a deep breath. "Alright, we have two shipyards to deal with: Kaufshiliu Yards, which apparently has more manpower than the other yard, but you pay for it, and Stork & Sons Yards, which I’m guessing has less manpower, but will cut you a deal if the ship’s crew helps out with the work, and apparently does better work with custom equipment. "For both yards, I ran the bottom-line figures for essentials: the maintenance, comm system, and hull repairs, and then with and without the popup lasers. I’ll add the figure for the docking tube at the end, but I figure we have another tube that will work for the moment until we have the funds later to fix it. "For Kaufshiliu, I also figured with and without the work being done concurrently, concurrently meaning more expensive and a lot of their people crawling around on the ship at the same time, but we're out of here in 12 days, which, regrettably, is the best time figure so far. "For Stork & Sons, I ran the figures with and without Martha being involved, but even with her help, the best time estimate from them is still 25 days, and that's just for the essentials." Vasilii runs through the long, dizzying list of figures, then sums up. "If we set the pop-up lasers and the docking tube aside for later, the best money for the here and now is Stork & Sons, at KCr219 and 16 days. "For KCr93 more, we can save a week at the other yard. For KCr169, we can save about two weeks. "Perhaps, for the sake of speed, we could do the essentials now, and come back for the lasers and docking tube repairs after the run to Adugkin?" Vasilii offers. "Or, since the ship would be in the repair bay anyway, if we went ahead with the repairs to the docking tube after the essentials were done, maybe we could cut a deal for the popup lasers too, if the crew did the work, and get both done concurrently. "For that matter, we could also try sending some of the tools and aluminum in our cargo hold in their direction, see if they’d be interested in them and what kind of a break they might give us for it on the docking tube and lasers." When Vasilii has completed his layout of the expenditures, Martha replies, "My first captain once said that time was money, so my gut says we go for the fastest options available. However, will the cost of going that route cost more than the amount of money we’d make during the two weeks we saved?" Vargas says, "I’m glad that the Scouts always had someone doing the admin for us. Well, I’m more than happy to help out Martha with repairs and be on standby if anyone needs the cavalry." </blockquote>

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