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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 2305886" data-attributes="member: 515">Chapter III Date: 202-993Location: Fonnein Orbital As the crew gathers for dinner, Saro greets each member jovially; his demeanor markedly more relaxed than it has been in previous weeks. Going more than three days without being threatened and/or attacked has done wonders for his state of mind.Saro listens attentively as Vasilii discusses the cargo and passenger possibilities, noting to himself that the Merchant has also returned to a more stable state of mind as he gets back into the detail work he so loves.At some point during the dinner conversation Saro says, "As much as I needed this break from our normal level of hyperactivity, I have to say that I'm about ready to be moving on again. I'm sure Kerin's Tyr will be an interesting destination. Does anyone know anything about the system?"Swann says that he will make some inquiries around the starport to see what he can find out about their destination.-----When the subject of the grey Vargr is broached, Vargas says, "Ian and Swann, I have more then a passing knowledge of Vargr culture and language. If you want my help, I will be glad to assist in any way that I can. Just let me know what you would like me to do.”Swann says, "Vargas, that's a great idea, and a generous offer. We would appreciate your help. If you can come with us and talk to Markul, he might be more willing to help us.”“Sure, you are welcome to come with us,” Ian says."We'll probably go to the Drunken Monkey about 2130 hours, check the place out, then wait for him to show,” Swann adds."OK, I will be ready to go,” Vargas says. “I shall certainly do my best to help get the permit for you.""Yeah, I like the idea of getting there early and scope out the place first," Ian says between a mouthful and a drink. "Great food by the way, Doc! Well done. Thanks."-----Later, as the dinner begins to draw to a close Saro pushes away from the table and pulls his baliset from a nook behind his chair. As everyone continues to shoot the breeze (as opposed to thugs and pirates), he begins to quietly play in the background, concentrating on simple, commonly-known ditties that don't require too much concentration so he can follow the conversation as he plays.Vasilii catches his eye and nods thanks for the music. “Anything that isn't a Vargr power ballad should be encouraged,” he thinks.-----After a leisurely discussion and dinner, the crew break up to their various evening activities with most hanging out in the lounge area.-----While the others relax, Vasilii finishes lining up his cargoes.First, he pounces on the vid disks by placing a call to Augustina Kuehn, the captain of the far trader selling the 1 dTon cargo. The old female trader is pleased to get Vasilii's call, though it's clear that she is, occupied, and Vasilii and Augustina arrange a morning exchange at the Bray Keaven's berth.Vasilii then calls up Nerrick Jauuughsi, the merchant who has the leathers. Nerrick doesn't seem pleased to hear from Vasilii during his dinner, but he does accept an early afternoon cargo transfer as small bits of some unidentified brown meat dribble down his beard as he talks.After calling the two merchants, Vasilii leaves a message for the Munson Cooperative indicating that the ship does want to purchase the 15 dTons of catalysts and pick them up. Vasilii also leaves a message with FGC, Ltd., stating that he would like to purchase the 20 dTons of salt that are available and that the ship will pick up the salt.-----Meanwhile, Martha manages to contact three of the individuals who expressed an interest in being low berth passage to Kerin's Tyr and is about to contact the fourth when Vasilii gets a call.-----Having secured his speculative cargoes or least indicating interest, Vasilii is about to connect to the cargo boards to snap up the two minor freight cargoes when he receives a call from Augustina Kuehn who has the vid disks. The old trader seems to be a bit irritated about something, but tries to put on a pleasant face for Vasilii. "Hello, Vasilii. I know that we just talked, but something has come up. If my old creaking memory serves, you mentioned that you're headed for Kerin's Tyr, right?""Ummm, yes," Vasilii replies warily."Well, an old friend of mine has a proposition for you."With that comment, Augustina steps away from the vid pickup, and a 40ish man in an old faded Scouts jacket which appears hastily put on steps into view. The man looks considerably angry about something, but calms himself before speaking. "Hey there. Glass Flanagan, damn reactivated Scout. I just got a damn priority reactivation notice for me and old Brown Bess that means I have to jump out tonight for Sentry for some damn fool reactivate Scouts to search for SolSec deep strike teams or some other damn fool nonsense."Er, forget that I said that. Anyway, I've got a charter onboard right now who needs to get to Kerin's Tyr by 220-993. Ten tons of cargo and some salesman bound for the Kingdom of Harven on Kerin's Tyr. I don't know if you're accepting warm passengers or not, but I've already talked to the salesman, and the fellow is willing to get his butt frozen as long as you have a medico onboard. He is apparently in a bit of a bind since his beasties were prepped late."I picked up the charter on Shanape, and it's a bunch of low-berthed cattle or some other four legged beastie supposedly bio-geneered to handle that weird pollen better. The beasties have been frozen in their low berths since Shanape, so you don't have to worry about cleaning up drek. The low berths will require a power connection, but that's it. No damn servicing."Anyway, if you'll help me out of this damn bind, I'd appreciate it. The salesman is willing to pay Cr30,000 for you to jump his butt and the beasties to Kerin's Tyr. What do you say?""I could arrange to accommodate 10 displacement tons, I think, Mr. Flanagan,” Vasilii replies. “Does he want to go to Warne highport, or Tersberg spaceport, or somewhere problematic?"“Yeah, the sales guy is going to Harven, Tersberg or whatever that damn spaceport is called.”"A one-hour transfer, is, well, you understand if I'm cautious,” Vasilii continues. “But provided he's happy for us to inspect his cargo and paperwork and unload them again with a refund if we get any unpleasant surprises, we'll be fine. And I'm sure he won't object to that if there's nothing to worry about. We'll put him into low berth once we've checked over the cargo.”“Yeah, I’ve talked to him and he’s OK with an inspection of paperwork and cargo assuming that you don’t want to actually defrost his beasties.”“He'll be paying up front, I presume? And what's the gentleman's name?"“Nice try, Merchant. I think that he’d appreciate your attempt. Payment is on delivery, of course. He’s paid me to get this far, and I don’t think that he’s fool enough to pay you ahead of time. Ah, sorry, his name in Anil Salian.”Vasilii laughs. "Well, he can't fault me for trying.”"Thanks for helping a damn reactivated Scout out. I'll tell Anilthat you'll be expecting him in an hour or so."“Alright, send him along and we'll look him over. Nice to do businesswith you, Mr. Flanagan. And good luck with your mission."-----"Miss Smythe, hold off on that last low berth. We have a charter, sophplus cargo, soph taking the low berth. The cargo comes with its ownfreezer -- we don't have any power reliability issues do we?"-----Vasilii then gets very busy. He logs into the exchange and accepts the 3 dTon incidental cargo, but notthe 10. He hits the comm to ask whoever he can get that another person be present to receive/inspect the cargo. EspeciallySaro, since it's biological. He begins to prepare a pro-forma charter contract. And he asks any of the other crewmember -- all are much better than Vasilii with computers -- to see what they can rustle up on the Scout, his ship, the cargo, andthe salesman.-----“Vasilii, I’ll see what I can get on that cargo first, then I can come up and help you inspect,” Aidan says.He then plunges into the local computer net to see what he can find out about the Scout and cargo, tracing back through Shanape, and tosses off a search through legal records on the Merchant, Scout, and so on.-----"Roger that,” Saro responds. “I'll be here in the med station getting my stuff organized, just give me a buzz when you need me to help inspect the goods and I'll be right there."-----Vasilii muses quietly as he works on the charter contract. "Hmm, now if we'd just put Aidan in the low berth when he turned up with cargo . . . ”-----Around 2115, Swann, Ian, and Vargas head out to see if they can meet Markul at the Drunken Monkey.-----In the hour before the cargo delivery, Aidan attempts to research the Scout and his cargo. There are records that he is able to find through his old backdoor into the SPA system. Aidan is able to find that the Brown Bess (Flanagan's scout/courier) arrived two days ago from Sentry and came from Liar's Oath and Shanape before that.Mr. Salian's cargo does seem to have been onboard since Shanape, and appropriate SPA inspection and approval records have been attached.Aidan also checks for information on Anil Salian, who is listed as hailing from Shanape and is 29 years old. His travel records indicate the same routing -- Shanape-Liar's Oath-Sentry-Fonnein -- onboard the Brown Bess, and considerable travel before that. Mr. Salian's employer is listed as Genform, ILC. There do not appear to be any criminal records attached.Aidan's research on Glass Flanagan confirms that he is a Scout that has just been recalled to active duty and is listed as the captain/operator of the Brown Bess, a 35-year-old scout/courier. Flanagan does have a minor criminal history consisting of a number of arrests for fighting in bars and a few citations for reckless disregard of traffic control instructions.-----Vasilii warns the others shortly before the delivery is due. He puts a presentable suit on and decides to grab his revolver, since the cargo is a bit odd and it's always possible Sare No. 2 had friends.-----After hearing the results of Aidan’s search, Vasilii says, "Thanks, Mr. Silver. Do you want to join the welcoming committee?"“Certainly.”-----Feeling a bit silly about tooling up now that Aidan has checked thepassenger out, the Vilani Merchant gets ready to meet the cow-toting executive. Vasilii is wearing a suit over his now-habitual diplo armor, andcarrying his portacomp/phone, medkit, and the revolver under his jacket.-----Aidan wears his usual light grey suit, with a deep red cravat today, sword at his side, pistol in holster just in case. Naturally, the suit is tailored to cleanly go over the various pieces of hardware.-----Upon receiving word of the impending delivery, Saro replies, "No problem, I'll be right there." He finishes organizing his supplies and equips himself for the meeting/inspection.Meeting Vasilii and the other members of the meeting committee outside the cargo bay entrance, Saro comments, "You know, usually my low-berth charges are sophonts." He shrugs, "Whatever. Unless these 'beasties' have extremely unusual physiologies they should be no more difficult to tend to."In fact, I believe that non-spohont creatures have a slightly less chance of perishing from low-berth sleep. Likely due to their less complex and sensitive mental and neurological matrices."I just hope whoever has put them into their sleep chambers knew what they were doing. That would make my job much easier."-----Martha also is present, to make sure that the cargo containers check out and to supervise the connection to ship's power.</blockquote>

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