OOC: And we're back in business. :)  Again, I appreciate everyone's patience.

With Hayden and Thera's spectacular New Year's meal, the crew and guests onboard Gypsy Moth enjoy one of the best New Year's in space they can remember.

By the next day, however, the ship is approaching Box 2 and it is time to go back to work.

Hayden spends most of the day fighting through the time delay to Espiaux and Savigny proper as he tries to negotiate maximum return on the speculative cargo in the port hold.

Box 2 control patches Gypsy Moth into the system data feed.  At Box 2 now are:


Dock Ship              Line       Tonnage   Departure  Destination
01   Messenger         FRPC       100       002        Alsace
02   Camille           ESL        400       004        Espiaux down
03   Elder Pine        ESL        400       005        St. Croix-Alsace
05   Vernui Orlan      ICE        400       009        Svetlana
08   Sasha             ICE        200       005        Svetlana
Orb  Holly             ESL        400       TBD        Espiaux down
Orb  Tokugawa          Ozawa      1000      004        Ozawa
Orb  (restricted)      FRN

Note: Orb here doesn't refer to orbit per se, but to a set of coordinates, a parking station, near Box 2.

Scheduled Arrivals are:


Dock Ship              Line       Tonnage   Arrival    Origin
01   Express           FRPC       100       004        Alsace
02   Vernui Nositz     ICE        400       006        Svetlana
03   Juniper           ESL        400       010        Espiaux down
04   Gypsy Moth        Blackfin   400       002        Alsace
06   Stout Oak         ESL        200       007        St. Croix
08   Yvonne            FRF        400       009        St. Croix
Orb  Charlemagne       Ozawa      1000      019        Ozawa


Control directs Gypsy Moth to a parking station near the ESL system sloop Holly.  On the bridge, Lafleur indicates Holly and says, "She should be our ride for the rest of the way.  Once she transmits the proper code, I'll get my people together and get ready to transfer the cargo and get out of your hair."


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The ship also begins receiving local news reports.  Most are the typical dross of celebrity gossip, political scandals, man-bites-dog oddities, and such, but one piece jumps out.


Gateway News Agency Report
001-5742
from Takamasu Standard, Espiaux
opinion piece by her Excellency Rhodia Gitten, Ambassador of the Halowon Empire to the Free Republic of Espiaux

Now that the toasts have been made and the champagne guzzled, the people of the Free Republic must now deal with the hangover of their government's disastrous naval policies.  Far from being the new jewel of the Free Republic Navy, adorned and feted by the fleet and politicians alike, FRS Bellone is an expensive testament to waste and irresponsible policies.  Unlike their neighbors, the Principality of Svetlana, the politicians of the Free Republic have chosen to eschew the defense of their peoples to pursue a vain and dangerous course of expansion.  With only two heavily populated systems to defend, why does the Free Republic insist on aggressively building bigger and more warlike starships, rather than system defense forces or peaceful pursuits.  Fleet command often casts peaceful Halowon as the boogeyman to justify their extravagances, but carefully neglects to mention that the Empire has twelve star systems to patrol, thus needing a large proportion of jump capable forces, unlike the Free Republic.  Continued construction of frigates, whose massive size and monumental expense defy the fantasy that they are to be used for patrol, threatens to spark a naval arms race which can only be of detriment to the Empire and the Free Republic.  One can only hope the people of Espiaux will call for their government to halt and abandon this foolish path before it leads to disaster.
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This message was last edited by the GM at 04:51, Wed 05 Oct 2011.

Doc's eyes are still red, despite the 'darned useless' drops he keeps habitually self-administering.  His disheveled appearance and constant stomach rubbing (his own, mind) doesn't radiate extreme health.  Of course, an all day diet of black-eyed peas and alcohol shouldn't be expected to leave one in the best of states.   He'd have to enjoy what he had saved of the Supra when he was feeling better.

With nobody showing much worse condition than himself, he wandered the ship, ending up on the Bridge when Lafleur announces his plans...

"You intending an in-space, ship to ship transfer, Mr. Laflour?," he asked, his brows raised.

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #2):

Lafleur looks better than the Doctor feels, but maybe the celebration has mellowed him somewhat because his tone is less stiff and rigid.  "That would be my preference, unless there's a safety reason not to.  The cargo will have to go insystem on one of those sissies* anyway, if we can transfer the load directly, then it's one less chance for something to go wrong."

*sissie = spacer slang for a system ship

As spacers, the crew knows that because the ESL non-starships in the Espaiux system are the primary method of delivery to and from the Boxes, they are well-equipped and should be proficient in space transfer of cargo.

Danica makes sure that she is present on the bridge for the approach.  Not that she doesn't trust Jack, far from it; Dani merely likes to pilot starships and is pretty good at it.  Plus, the Gypsy Moth still has the 'new ship' smell to it; worth more than its price in gold (or bank stock, as the case may be) to her.

As her hands worked the controls keeping their course steady, Dani quietly listened to the exchange between Lafleur and the doctor.  "Box 2 Authority, this is Blackfin Gypsy Moth arriving on approach vector, oh-two-niner.  Requesting clearance for standard docking protocols."  Her tone was slightly curt, but undeniably professional.

The light from the console and tactical displays reflected off of Danica's mirrorshades.  Her head tilted and turned to view various ancillary information as the Moth weaved through traffic along their proscribed path to Docking Port 4.  Dani smiled slightly as she had consistently throughout the trip when at the helm.  The Gypsy Moth handled well and she felt at home at the wheel.  She had been up early - much earlier than most of the crew since the New Year's party had gone late into the night and she had retired early (and without imbibing anything alcoholic).  Dani would never stop the others from partaking, she merely abstained herself.  She had always claimed it was for 'health reasons'.

As they approached the parking coordinates, Dani dutifully started the countdown to the ESL sloop.  She was extra careful with the new ship, and tried to ensure that she took everything nice and easy.  From there it would be a short jaunt to Box 2 proper.  But, off-loading Lafleur, his people and their cargo was the first priority.  Obviously, the Port Authority was aware of what was going to be happening and if they were fine with it, so was Danica.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:25, Sat 08 Oct 2011.

Doc's brows furrow at LaFluer's response. "Safety?"

"No, no," he replies as if that is a silly thing to concern one's self with.

"I'm just surprised, is all.  I mean after all the, uh, attention, you gave to securing the Moth, that you'd trust a vessel you haven't set foot on yourself, based solely on some codes.  That's all."  (His tactless sarcasm is at least tempered by his hangover.)

He knows Hayden has been on the horn to Espiaux and Savigny looking to hock some goods and Holly's reported dest is Espiaux down.  Being their size (400 dton), but sans a Jump Drive, she might be faster than the Moth, but a transfer would draw unnecessary attention in Jim's opinion.

He shrugs, the action causing him to wince in his hungover state, adding, "Plus, I believe it is our intent to proceed to Chaumeys, anyways.  But, your call."

Jim seems to become preoccupied looking around the deck and under consoles as if confused.

OOC: Danica - wondering if you missed: 'Control directs Gypsy Moth to a parking station near the ESL system sloop Holly.'?

Lafleur smiles, "Oh, don't worry Doc.  Before a single gram of the cargo moves a millimeter, my team will make sure there's nothing on that ship that isn't exactly per protocols."



OOC: Actually, from way back when (Day 350, pg 3 IIRC), the specification from Mauro Tung was for transport from Alsace to Box 2.  Lafleur appears to be trying to save himself a transfer stationside and possibly having to guard the cargo while on the station.

Getting down on all fours and crawling under a workstation, Jim responds with a distracted wave, "Gotcha.  Its your party..."

Doc then proceeds to make clucking sounds.

Jack cursed himself for sleeping through his alarm. It wasn't the alcohol, he had taken care to drink responsibly. Rather, it was the three hour dead-of-night stretch he spent on the bridge at the comms console, manually entering SpecOp codes and tight-beaming a quick "Can we talk? Box 2" message to both Petra Zamorin and Anorah Mauvais, signing off with his old FRPC code name. He beamed it to the Box 1, Box 2 and mainworld FRPC ghost accounts, hoping they were still active. That was the easy part; it was clearing the system cache of those codes that took so long. Hopefully one of the women would check their drop box and get back to him.

As Jack approaches the bridge, he hears Danica finishing up with Box 2 control. He stands in the open iris watching the exchange between Lafleur and the good Doctor.

"Good morning, Bridge. My apologies for my late arrival." Jack enters with a slight nod to Danica and a blank look to the Doctor beneath the sensor workstation. "Mr. Lafleur, I can appreciate your desire to remove a variable from your mission but our orders specify delivery directly to Box 2," Jack says, turning to the security team leader. "If you can convince myself and our cargo master that the Holly is indeed your specified destination, rather than one of the other two sissies in port, we'll be happy to assist you. Otherwise I have to uphold my ship's assignment and drop the cargo where we were specifically asked to - Box 2."

Jack looks to the Doctor as he begins making clucking sounds. "Doctor, perhaps you should find Hayden and see if he can offer you a hair-of-the-dog. I understand the folk remedies are often more effective than high-tech medical wizardry."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:42, Wed 12 Oct 2011.

"What?"  Doc backs out from under the console he was under.

"Damn!," he exclaims as he wangs his head, "Blasted engineers, you'd think they could make these taller..."

Looking to Jack quizzically, "Dog?  No, I'm looking for my cat. Little black fella."  He illustrates with his hands.

Scanning the bridge, he adds, "Don't want Jinx wandering off when we dock.  Haven't finished his training, you know."

Turning back to Jack, "Speaking of wandering off," he rubs his recently abused head, "you seen Hayden?"

Lafleur is eyeing the sensor display on one of the bridge panels.  He is being careful not to touch anything.  He nods to Jack's comments, "You can help me with that Mr. Keveloh."  He draws a data crystal from his shirt pocket and hands it to Jack.  "This contains the bank's crypto key for this shipment.  If you would be so kind to load to the ship's comm system we can open a secure channel to Holly.  There should be a security rep on Holly, waiting for our signal.  If everything is in order, then we can proceed to the physical inspection, either via launch or by docking.  If not, we'll dock at Box 2 and proceed from there."

OOC 1: Only one other sissy, sorry.  Elder Pine is an ESL Fat Trader.  She'll be headed out-system to St. Croix.  A little confusing when one company has both sissies and starships, I know.

OOC 2: Hayden's player is having internet connectivity issues.  The "negotiating via comms to sell spec cargo" is an in-game handwave to explain his absence.  I'll bot him for mundane things, but don't expect any actual decisions from him until Hayden's player returns.

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Gypsy Moth is about 5,000km from Holly and closing slowly.  Holly's rounded wedge, lifting body shape and large atmospheric flight control surfaces are plainly visible to the ship's infrared sensors.  Holly's two turrets can be discerned, but it is tough to tell if they still have their normal sissy popgun armament, or if they have been upgraded.  (A sensor skill check might reveal more).

Holly's station is only about 2,000km from the FRN contact and about 3,000km from Box 2 itself.  From this range, the FRN ship is clearly a Zeitlin Class SDB.  Despite getting a little long in the tooth, some armchair strategists consider the 1,000ton Zeitlin's the toughest ships in the sector.  Heavily armored, fast, and packing two huge particle accelerator bays, each the size of a scout ship, it would take a brave or suicidal raider to tangle with her.

Prisa Gadron has apparently been watching sensors from Engineering.  She chimes in on intra-ship comms, with a touch of pride in her voice, "Fleet's on guard, like always."

"Jinx, of course. I've not seen him nor Hayden this morning," Jack says as he slips past the Doctor into the sensor op's chair. "But I expect Mr. Marks to be in the starboard cargo bay prepping for the cargo transfer."

Jack takes the data crystal from Lafleur. "Very good," he says as he opens a comms window on his display and sets up a secure tightbeam pulse to Holly. "Looking good, Ms. Moreau, steady on for ship-to-ship docking please, our starboard cargo bay." He thumbs the ship-wide comms.

"Good morning, Gypsy Moth, and welcome to Espiaux Box 2. Any crew not at station please report there immediately. All sensors active and everyone look alive. We're about to say goodbye to our first guests on this ship and I want everything to go smoothly. Bridge requires immediate reports on any suspicious anomalies. Mr. Marks, please prepare for starboard ship-to-ship cargo docking."

With that, Jack sends Lafleur's coded message to the Holly.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:44, Wed 12 Oct 2011.

Danica slows the Gypsy Moth, pulling into the holding pattern required to maintain distance from the Holly.  She pushes back from the console to await resolution of the discussion to determine their destination.  The Port Authority had deemed it necessary for them to approach the Holly for the moment, so Dani figures that Lafleur was on the up and up - but, Jack's paranoia is quite warranted; someone had to voice caution.  A variation on the ol' 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' routine.

Dani notes off-hand to Jack and the doctor, "I saw Hayden practicing his balalaika this morning in the upstairs lounge for a bit.  He looked none the worse for wear, but his fretwork was a touch slower than usual."  She shrugged slightly.

Then as she waits for Jack verify codes and open the secure line to the Holly, Danica pushes the image of the Holly to one of the tactical screens and also to her own console.  She concentrates on her own console display, moving the visual around and taking a good look at the ESL sloop.  And while the tactical display is not slaved to her console, anyone near her would see that she is focusing in on various parts of the vessel, looking at different details from both the passive visual and infrared sources.

She taps her chin with her left hand as her right works the touchscreen controls - passing over the various sensor displays.  A quiet "hmmmm,..." escapes her lips.

[OOC:  10:25, Today: Danica Moreau rolled 13 using 2d6+5. Sensor/Int Check - observe the Holly.]

In reply to Danica Moreau (msg #12):

Holly's two turrets are visible on Danica's screen.  They are in the stowed position, not that that means much.  Normally they carry defensive armament and Dani doesn't see any signs of modification.  There are also no signs of recent damage or anything untoward on the hull.

The comms panel chimes and a green color pallette indicates an incoming secure transmission from Holly.  "Gypsy Moth this is Holly, Dupont security officer Clark Hollweg speaking.  Protocol whiskey, over."

Lafleur steps forward and answers, "Lafleur, roger.  Sending small craft."

Hollweg's voice responds, "Holly, roger.  Dorsal airlock, out."

He turns to Jack.  Noncomittally he shrugs and says, "I know Hollweg. I would like to request use of the ship's launch and a pilot to take me and two of my team over to Holly to conduct a visual inspection before we dock."

Hayden enters the bridge.  He doesn't look hungover, but seems careful not to make any quick movements.  He gingerly sits at the station next to Dani.  After spending a few moments to build his situational awareness, he allows himself a tight grin, "Got a few initial bids on some of our spec cargo.  Don't think we have to worry about going hungry this month.  Everything good up here?"

"Then Jinx couldn't be there," replies Jim obtusely as he takes a seat.

From the workstation he sequentially calls up security cam views throughout the ship, trying to spot the wayward feline as he rubs his abused (in more ways than one) head.