Tylen looked up from  a display of pokerwork signs bearing crude, semi-humorous, mottos and limericks.

"I don't think so Doc, maybe I should have bought a magazine like you suggested."

As he moved along the shelf his attention was caught by a small carved wooden box.

"Wait a minute, what's this?"

He lifted the lid and a tune began to play.

"Hey, wow! This thing's not electronic, it's MECHANICAL."

He closed the box,

"I'll take this."

The woman who opens the door to Jago looks to be in her late forties, with short-cropped grey hair.  She peers at the starship captain over the top of her spectacles.  "Captain Lanza?  I'm glad you could make it.  I'm Ellan Tyrreto.  Come in, please, have a seat."

She moves around the desk and sits, flicking through a stack of documents for a few moments, then she looks up, <Blue>"Thank you for agreeing to help us out here, Captain.  Are you satisfied with the service you're receiving here at the port so far?"


In the store, the young man grins as he sees the various items, and starts reeling off prices, all in the local Guilders, rather than Imperial Credits.  The prices all seem surprisingly low.  "Do you want any of these items wrapped?"

Meanwhile, Corlan surveys the shelves, "I have seen a couple of items that might have potential, but nothing yet that really grabs my attention."

The storekeeper's smile broadens as he sees the Credits, "If you folks are int'rested, I do have some more... exclusive stuff in the back?"

Jago doesn’t answer the woman’s question, he can’t for the moment think of any services he’s received so he just smiles, nods vaguely and hands over the data slug, “I hope this is helpful”.

After looking around for a moment, “how many ships have been in or out of here over the last month,” Jago asks after a while, “I don’t suppose it’s many, it will be even less once this business becomes known in the nearby systems.”

“We are headed for Frenzie next as it happens, I can take a message to the navy base there if you like.”

"Exclusive, eh?  Maybe you're the man to talk to," Yas says, seeing a chance to spread rumours about their ship.  She moves over to the man and whispers, "Perhaps you could point me in the right direction as to where I might obtain missiles for a starship?  You seem connected, after all!  Not that me ship is fresh out, oh no, but a bit extra never hurts, right?"

She tries to sound just a little desperate while attempting to mask it.  Even if this store hardly sells missiles the man may either have connections one way or another, or perhaps spread the word to ears eager to hear such things.  And if neither, well, nothing lost in trying.

"Fortuitous."  Shui raises an eyebrow at Tylen's discovery.  "A rare find."  It might even be an antique.  Who can say?  Shui certainly isn't an expert in that field.  "My condolences, Mr. DeSant."  She pauses at the shopkeeper's offer.  "Perhaps...you might find something in the back?"

But her tone is a trifle uncertain.  A junk shop that sells for surprisingly low prices.  How does he meet his overhead?  Tourists.  With money.  An offer to see the 'exclusive' items in the back.

"If you wish to see the items in question, I will join you."  The doctor judges it a wise decision to keep her guard up.

Tylen pays for his find happily and carefully stows the neat little box within his jacket.
He picks up on the change in the Doctors manner, something in her voice or body language alerts him to her concern.

"Yeah, um, me too Doc."

His hands move imperceptibly closer to his holstered pistols.

Ellan Tyrreto regards Jago with interest as she tests the slug for compatability with the several readers arrayed along one side of her desk.

"It would certainly be useful if you could take a message there for us.  We already contacted them, but we've heard nothing back yet.  Not even a confirmation that they received our request."  She sighs, "Your's is only the fourteenth or fifteenth ship to land here in the last month, and none have come through from Frenzie, so, regretably, there has been no word from there."

"Four days ago, the captain of our one regular mail carrier, Arnold Lytton, of the March Dancer, informed us he was moving further away from the border, and so would not be coming back through Arkadia while a state of war exists.  I expect that news from outside the system will become a valuable commodity."

"Ah... here we are."  Never Say Die's distress call starts to crackle from the set of speakers on her desk.


The storekeeper grins at Yas, until it sinks in that she isn't joking.  "Uh, no, far as I know the only place around here that sells those fancy ship systems is over at the port itself.  Office on the ground floor over in the main building, and a warehouse in the basement.  Even then he might not have what you're looking for.  Arkadia's kinda the groat's backside of the Sector, if you get my meaning?  Nothing comes in here, and nothing of real value comes out."

"Now, if you'd like to see this other stuff?" he moves around and changes the sign on the door to read "closed", then leads the way into the rear of the store.  The stuff in there isn't a lot different to what is in the front, but much of it is in better condition.

Corlan's eyes light on a wooden plaque, bearing a metal plate.  The plate is engraved with a spacecraft.  He moves closer and peers at it.  "Isn't this the same type of ship as Profit Margin?"

Saskia leans closer to study Corlan's find.  "Not exactly the same model, it's an older version, but definitely the right class.  The main difference is in the shape of the thrust vents."

She runs her fingers across the metal.  "I think this is a piece of hull plating."

"Ah, of course," Yas replies with a shrug, hoping the man will have a loose tongue for someone so full of secrets.

"Oh, look here, an antiquity.  Hmm...  What would you want for this?" she asks the man as she spots an old shotgun, used for hunting rather than combat by the looks of it.  Would look nice on the wall, though.

Jago nods sympathetically as the speakers crackle into life, “not looking good, is it.”

“Do you have any theories about this?” the Captain asks after the short message had run its course, “any ‘J’ transits you can’t account for? No offence, but it’s difficult to see what people might gain from piracy here, apart from the ships themselves.”

"The ships?" Ellan Tyrreto looks startled at that idea.  "I don't... wait...  That would make more sense.  Either one of those ships'd be worth... what?  A hundred times the value of any cargo it might have been carrying?"

She grabs a piece of paper and scribbles a note to herself.  "I'll mention that to our own investigators.  Thank you."

"As for J transits... well, we have a ship drop in, without landing, maybe once or twice a month.  We pick up the energy surge, usually out near one of the giants.  Then the ship never comes in.  Sometimes they'll call traffic control to say they're just going to refuel, other times we never hear from them.  We don't really have the equipment to track them that far out."


Meanwhile...

The storekeeper snaps his fingers, "Just a minute!"  He moves back out to the counter, and returns a moment later with a newspaper.  "Here you go.  They interviewed him in the paper last week.  Article tells you where to find his supply store."  He hands the newspaper to Yas, then smiles when he sees the gun.

"Nice, isn't it?  Let's see... I believe I have that priced at... fifteen thousand.  Guilders that is.  The whole thing is hand made."

His attention shifts to Corlan and Saskia then, "Yes, I bought it from a spacer who retired here last year.  He said it was an image of his old ship, and yes, it's engraved on a piece of hull plate, part of a section that was replaced after a meteor impact.  I'd like thirty thousand for that, and I'm cutting my own throat at that price."

”Who’s heading up the investigation then?” Jago asks with surprise in his voice, “I assumed that it was you.”

“I must admit that I’m rather concerned about these attacks, I can’t hep the feeling that we’d be an ideal victim.”

Tylen turns to the shopkeeper,

"A Spacer retired here you say? Gee he must have REALLY wanted a quiet life. Do ya see anything of him anymore?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:30, Thu 31 Aug 2006.

"Fifteen?  Well, I might accept that if you got some actual ammo for it too.  I mean, a gun without ammo is like a marine without guns - it goes against nature itself," Yas comments, half interested in the old gun.  It would look quite quaint over the bed, after all.

She did however took the chance to look around for anything else that might be of interest as well.  Perhaps they would have one of those soft toys that kids tended to like.  The sort of odd bear that look suspiciously much like a monkey in a bad disguise, or something.

"No, I'm afraid I'm just coordinating things between the Port Control and the Heirarch's Office.  He has his own military people investigating this, but I doubt that any of them have even been into low orbit.  I have." Ellan Tyrreto says, obviously proud of her acheivement.  "Last year I persuaded Captain Lytton to take me on a three hour flight on the March Dancer.  I saw Arkadia from ten thousand kilometres up."


Clambering up a stepladder, the man starts searching through some boxes on a high shelf, talking the whole time, "He didn't stay around here, I know that.  Said he was sick of space, and wanted to get as far away from it as possible.  That's why he sold me that plaque... Dawson, that's what he said his name was, he claimed he'd decided he didn't want anything to remind him of being a spacer."

"He might've moved to one of the smaller towns, one that doesn't even have a port.  In which case he could be in any one of a hundred places."

"Ah... here we are.  Put them up here for security."

He tosses a small box down to Yas.  One that gives a metallic *clink*.

"Buy the gun, and you can have those for free."

Conrad looks at the comm board, and shakes his head, then he flicks it over to broadcast on the local channels.

"Profit Margin to all crew.  I'm rec'mendin' that y'all conclude whatever business y'all have there, an' head back to the farm, people.  Fast as yer can."

He sits back then, running that incoming message through playback again, just one more time, in case it turns out to be some sort of bad joke.

Now we'll see who has a comm with them, per Jago's orders, an' who has the darned thing switched on.

Tylen jumps as his comm crackles into life. He listens to the message.

"Better make tracks people, Conrad sounds a little jumpy."

He nods to the shopkeeper,

"Thanks for your attention Sir, you've been a great help."

"Hmm, all right, you got a deal.  Those cartridges with the gun, for 15,000 Guildhalls or what it was," Yas say with a grin and then asks, "Are those still safe to fire?  Just in case..."

Before the salesman can answer her comm crackles to life and then replies to it, holding up a finger at the guy so he will give her a second.

"Yas here.  Roger that, we are on our way," she tells Conrad and then turns back to the salesman.

"Well, seems we have to go.  But first, I'll pay for this and take the answer to my question now, please."  She grins and then waits.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:28, Tue 05 Sept 2006.

The store owner seems happy to take their money, even if it means they won't be buying anything else.

"The shells should be good enough.  As I recall they were only made last year.  And it's dry in here." he replies to Yas.

"If you people get the chance, feel free to stop by again."

"We can get a taxi back to the port from one of those offices near the bar." Saskia remarks, handing Corlan's piece of hitech scrimshaw back to him, with a murmured, "If you don't want that, I'll have it."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Tue 05 Sept 2006.

”Nothing quite like it”, Jago agrees, “after all these years I still get a buzz when I see a planet form orbit.”

Jago watches the woman at work for a short while, then stretches his shoulders, sighs and announces, “time I was going I suppose, do let me know if you find anything interesting.”

As he marches briskly across the frigid apron, Jago ponders an approach to the Heirarch's investigation team, Tyrreto could have put him in touch, but he didn’t want to bee seen as to keen or over curious, the less people who knew what he had in mind the better the chance of success. He hoped that no one outside the crew thought of the Profit Margin as anything other than a potential easy target. Except that of course, Vargr, she should have turned up at the ship by now, and Jago was anxious to talk to her. And Jockram, Jago would like to know a great deal more about the Captain of the Hound, before he went swaning off into space with him as a partner, oh yes..

OOC
Sorry everybody, I thought I’d already posted this :O(

"Thanks, good to hear.  A pleasure doing business with you," Yas says with a smile at the shop owner and then takes her new gun and turns to leave.

"Let's go folks.  Not sure what is going on, but I should get back in case that Vargr turns up soon anyway, I suppose," she tells the others with a grin and the begins to march out.

Tylen opens the door for the others and waits until they are all out.
He whispers to Yas as she passes,

"TWO Shotguns Yas? Damn girl we already KNOW you're a badass!"

"Hey, that's two shotguns and one auto-shotgun!  This one is for those special, cosy moments, though, being nearly prehistoric and all," Yas hisses back with a wink at Tylen in response to his whisper.  She seriosuly doubt it will ever be used, but it makes a nice and different souvenir for her.

Twenty minutes later, Jago arrives back at the ship, just as a taxi drops off his loyal crew and Corlan (who is almost crew) alongside her.  The ramp drops, with its usual screech, and Conrad smiles down at them from the top.

Quickly he explains that he has two pieces of news for them:

First, Yas' new Vargr friend has arrived, and is waiting in the passenger-side lounge, away from all the crew-side equipment and systems.

Second, there's an Imperial Navy ship on its way into orbit.  It's not here to hunt pirates though... it's in trouble, and looking to make emergency repairs.