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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2111928" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter XXXIIDate: 174-993Location: Aboard the Bray Keaven and the Marellia Landing Vasilii and Martha end up spending all of their time checking on the passengers on the trip back to Fonnein Orbital. Almost all seem to be somewhat daze if not in shock, and Martha’s limited first–aid skills come in handy when dealing with a passenger whose injuries seem to be a bit more severe than initially thought. Martha does her best to help promote positive feelings and encouragement as she goes about her business. The more hope people have, she's found, the easier it is to recover. -----Kevon carefully guides the Bray Keaven back to Fonnein Orbital. Fonnein Orbital TrafCon directs him to dock at Outer Dock 2, which is apparently near the medical facility for the station. With launches on station to help relay communications and provide and escort, the battered far trader gingerly makes its way to the indicated outside berth. Docking the starboard airlock with the outside berth goes smoothly. -----The next hour or so is a bit of a blur for Kevon, Martha, and Vasilii. As soon as the airlock green lights, a swarm of medical personnel, emergency response teams, and Tukera Lines personnel board the vessel to take off survivors. The survivors are triaged in the lounge just outside the berth airlock. -----Aidan, Swann, and Ian show up with as part of the incoming swarm and help guide survivors off. -----Onboard the Marellia Landing, Saro and Vargas continue to treat their known wounded while Tariq and a drafted passenger check the staterooms. Tariq reports that a couple of passengers were missed in the first sweep of the staterooms and they are in serious condition. Saro finishes stabilizing the wounded in the lounge and then goes to see the two missed passengers. When he returns, he finds that the emergency response shuttle has docked, and the shuttle’s two emergency teams are starting to examine his patients. Saro involuntarily smiles when he sees that one of the doctors, Dr. Noruk, is a Virushi. The next hour or so flies by for Saro and Vargas as they help the station’s medical teams prepare the survivors for transport, deal with a couple of survivors whose conditions suddenly take a turn for the worse, get the survivors on the shuttle, and then attend to them as the emergency response shuttle returns to the station. Dr. Noruk and a Dr. Phillips both credit Saro and Vargas with ensuring that none of the patients died before the emergency response shuttle could arrive. Vargas, in a quiet moment afterwards, leans over to Saro and says, "Nice to be appreciated." -----Shortly after the crowd leaves the ship, Swann checks on the cube. The cube seems to be fine. It’s just sitting in the port engineering smuggling hold where Vasilii dumped it. -----Ian checks the security system, the ship’s locker, and his stateroom. The security system appears to be functioning normally. Nothing appears to be missing from the ship’s locker that isn’t accounted for by being in someone’s possession. Ian’s room is a bit of a mess due to the collision, but nothing seems to be missing except for a couple of towels. -----Swann runs into Kevon in the passageway and suggests that the Lt. Commander contact Ms. Clegg and inform her that the exchange might be delayed. He also suggests that someone see about getting clearance to transfer the Bray Keaven to the repair facilities."I’d do it, but I haven’t been the contact person, so I wouldn’t want to foul things up by introducing someone new into the mix at this late date.""I’ll contact Holly and make the clearance arrangements as soon as I’m done with the investigators," Kevon says. -----Martha also makes sure that the ship is secure after everyone departs, including running the anti-hijack software to help locate stowaways. She then contacts Fonnein TrafCon in order to reschedule the move to the Stork & Sons yard. The TrafCon rep says that the Bray Keaven is welcome to have almost any movement slot. After some consultation with Kevon, Martha chooses a 1300 time to move the ship to the Stork & Sons yard. -----Outside the ship, Kevon is almost mugged by a couple of reporters, Tukera Lines personnel (a manager and a PR spokesman), a TrafCon rep, an Imperial Navy lieutenant, an accident investigator, and assorted spacers who all want to talk to him about his, ahem, "piloting skills." Not sure whether to be flattered by the attention, Kevon smiles slightly and answers the questions to the best of his ability. He downplays his heroics to the reporters, singing the praises of the medical personnel who "are the real heroes of this day." -----Once the face-time is concluded, Kevon will go with the lieutenant and investigator to provide his view of the incident. "When I saw that the Marellia was going to hit the atmosphere in about 45 minutes, I knew that we wouldn’t have enough time for a safe evacuation unless I did something to keep her spaceborne. We couldn’t adjust her vector by just the docking ring, so ‘rubbing bellies’ was my only option. "We took our time to make sure the approach was right, and I then moved the Bray Keaven into position," he continued. "I found that my angle was off a degree or two when I hit the Marellia too hard, but I was able to settle her in and slowly redirected the liner away from the planet. "When I realized that we gave her about two more hours, I pulled away and initiated a docking maneuver to retrieve passengers," he concludes. Both Imperial Navy Lt. Marks and SPA Accident Investigator Abazzed seem rather impressed with Kevon's daring and thank him for his effort and time. -----Finally, a little after a couple of hours after the initial crash, the exhausted crew of the Bray Keaven and Aidan assemble in the lounge for a moment of peace and an early lunch. Everyone seems to have questions. "OK, where were we?" Vargas asks. "So, has anyone called Ms Clegg in regards to the change in schedule?" Martha asks, a little wearily. "Any word yet on the far trader that started this?" Vasilii asks. As Ian arrives in the lounge, he hears the Vilani merchant’s query. "I’ll second that question. I haven’t had a chance to catch the news since we arrived on ship." Looking over at Vasilii, he says, "Man, you look like you were <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> at, shot at, and hit both times! Has the Doc checked you out yet?" "Sounds like everyone could use a rest. Shall I call out for a meal?" Aidan says. "A rest period might be good as well, but I don’t know how long we can keep Ms. Clegg waiting." "A good meal would be welcome, thanks Aidan," Ian says. "I would like to get rid of the last cube as soon as possible. We need to contact her and make sure she knows we had an unintended adventure that disrupted our plans and schedule. We need to set something up with her today. "Also, we should contact the shipyard to reschedule our arrival." Martha informs him that the transfer has already been rescheduled. -----Aidan arranges for a fine lunch to be delivered from The Grotto. The restaurant manager, upon hearing where the food is to be delivered, immediately insists on providing the lunch for free. Aidan smoothly accepts. -----When he returns to the conversation, Aidan asks, "I say, is that spot of adventuring normal? If so, I think armor should be added to the ship." Vasilii just blankly stares at Aidan for a few seconds, then buries his face in his hands, shaking his head. "By the way, ahem, it seems that some of the evacuees you brought aboard were having fun going through my luggage," Aidan says. "You might want to check to see if anything was stolen. "Now, I think the second cube was going to be delivered?" "Hmmm, we need an interesting cover story," Vasilii quietly thinks to himself. He quickly composes himself, and looks up at Aidan. "Yours, too? They went after my business suits, can’t imagine why though. I’d have thought they’d have picked up on the fact that the suits were tailored to their owner, but I guess that’s what happens with ungrateful passengers. "Well, since it was my idea to put them into the staterooms, I’ll split the bill with you on repairing or replacing your stuff, if it’s damaged." "No, no, of course not. Naturally I wouldn’t blame you. Luckily, there’s nothing of value there, an ID holder with my noble identity just in case, but otherwise," Aidan trails off, then resumes speaking. "Now I hope they didn’t damage my target rifle, that was quite expensive. Obviously someone thought I might hide things in the lining of my luggage. Romantics." He grins. "Some letters from old friends and lovers, perhaps." "As for armoring the ship, well," Vasilii continues. "I really don't see it in our future, since the main and forward cargo bays won’t hold any air now, and we can only hope the jump grid’s not damaged any more than it was, on TOP of all the other repairs and maintenance." "The jump grid’s most likely damaged. I’ll be doing an assessment either before or after we move her over to the shipyards, and I’ll let everyone know," Martha offers. Vasilii looks over at Kevon. "I apologize, you were right. Next time there’s an emergency, the thankless little bastards rot and die in space." -----At first, Martha looks askance as Vasilii, obvious flashes of horror and disgust on her face at the mere suggestion. Then, making the assumption that the Vilani merchant was merely joking, the young engineer shakes her head softly as she looks back down at her plate, biting her tongue to avoid comment. -----Swann rubs a hand across his face and says, "Maybe we need to do a little PR work. Why don’t we contact the local news media, offer them an interview with the heroic crew that saved so many lives. During the interview, mention how much damage the ship received, and how we don’t have the money to pay for the repairs. This should get some public support for us, maybe even put some pressure on Tukera to offer to pay for the repairs." Vasilii nods with approval as he looks into space, thinking. "Milk ’em while they’re the most vulnerable. Very nice." He looks at Swann. "Should we get some copy together? Plan out a few good sound bytes? Hell, bring a camera crew onboard for a few good money shots of the damage." "That sounds — distasteful," Kevon responds. "I don’t think it would be ethical to use whatever fame we’ve garnered from this incident to manipulate someone for financial gain. Just in case you didn’t notice, people died on that ship, and through no fault of the liner. And my maneuver certainly wasn’t their fault; I screwed up the approach." Rubbing his face in an attempt to stay focused while his body starts to crash as the adrenaline rush begins to wear off, Saro says, "I agree to an extent. While it is distasteful, we are going to need some help repairing the Keaven. However, I say give Tukera and the planetside officials some time to offer to assist in repairs. If they never come forward, then maybe we can contemplate using some pressure for some assistance. If we start hardballing them before they even get a chance to offer, we could sour the grapes, so to speak." "Sounds like a good plan there, Doc," Ian says. Vargas absentmindedly pets the beaker sitting on his shoulder. "I gotta agree with Saro. I’d love to have someone front some money for repairs, but then we might get a rep as the folks to go to when there’s a rescue to be done. And we have a hard enough time just haulin’ cargoes." Martha murmurs from around a bite of food. She swallows quickly, then repeats herself. "I agree. Let’s give them a chance. Mr. Silver, since you seem well versed on matters of interstellar law, what’s the correct process we should follow to make claims for damages, et cetera? I want to make sure we go through the right steps." Martha checks Aidan’s reply against her own knowledge of interstellar law. "Certainly Martha, that makes sense. Hmm, please allow me a short time for review." Aidan dives into his handcomp in order to form a detailed reply. </blockquote>

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