Khea pauses for a moment when she realizes this, unsure if that is unusual or not. It would be if that would be a Aslan ship, but after the microjump she is not sure if that is just another thing the humaniti simply have.

Not trying to sound too surprised as it wouldn't leave a good impression when the engineer doesn't understand technology she calls the rest of the group: "The ship looks undamaged and all systems are working. The ship can even still hold the atmosphere with the unlocked bays. So I expect we will get the full reward.

Vonon pauses a moment to think about that, before he responds,

[Hurr-hurr, that would be The Cromwell Players, miss.] Vonon places his gauntleted left hand over his chest and gives a slight bow to the woman -- simultaneously holstering his pistol with his right hand.

[Cap'n Galway?  If you would, sir.] Vonon steps aside from the door and gestures with his now-empty right gauntlet -- knowing that the Bridge is just a few steps away from the Messhall, [Our Director awaits...*yip*]

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 237):

Pablo was finishing duct taping the last of the hijackers to chairs, when Khea's question came through. He grinned and answered, over the team's channel, "Ms. Khea, the only damage up here is a decent size chunk out of the captain's chair.

  Kaengarr also holstered his weapon and spoke to the remaining crew as Vonon and the captain moved out. "Everyone else, you're free to move around, but be careful. I don't think they left any more surprises, but we can't be sure." He paused for a moment, weighing the situation. "Since this ship isn't going anywhere for a while, write down everything you remember about their attack and especially anything your overheard. We'll be dealing with them in the meantime." He then stepped to one side; they could file out easily enough and he was still available should any of them want to speak.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:01, Thu 17 Dec 2015.

"You know that the gassed us, right? Has anyone checked the air ducts and purifiers?"

  "Poetic justice then. They had their helmets off when we walked in with stunners and tranq gas." Kaengarr grinned, but he relayed that tidbit to the rest of the team nevertheless. "Keep your suits sealed. Hijackers used gas against the crew. Need to find the source and if there's any more."

  To Vanessa he then added, "We can't access internal sensors with the system locked down, so it'll be a search by hand. Think they had control of your life support to do it?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 16:52, Thu 17 Dec 2015.

Sharik nodded curtly to no one in particular as she listened in on the comms, then she simply acknowledged, "Roger that."

"Sounds like the Long Shot is secured, Sir Walter." the auburn-haired navigator narrated to noble pilot, "They want us to bring the shuttle around to the cargo bay and pick up Pablo and Vonon to reconnoiter the scout that we passed.  To see if it is really the Rockhopper."  Shar added after a thoughtful moment, "Sounds like there are possibly two ships in the area - another one called the Rock Dancer, which the hijackers arrived on, potentially..."

Shar kept her visual scanning of the various sensor displays going, though she trusted her intelligent aide program to continue to filter the feeds as well.

She reopened the common channel and asked the others, "Have none of the hijackers revealed the location of their getaway vehicle?"  It couldn't have been that far away, since there didn't seem to be any small transports in the area that the four might have used to approach the Long Shot.

"Oh," Sharik added as an afterthought, "Has anyone tried to find out who hired these guys?  It's pretty coincidental that they picked this particular ship ..."  Sharik didn't want to say it, but from what she'd gathered from the chatter - the attackers weren't that smart (though they were equipped with gas).  Seemed like a setup of some sort with someone who had more brains pulling the strings - it could have been one of the four, but not likely.  To her it was starting to stretch credibility that this situation was simply a small-time, random hijacking.

After watching Khea with the engineering, Sam decide to head up to the Bridge.

AT the bridge, she takes in all the signs and says "have we checked in yet? Or questioned these guys" she says, gesturing at the Hijackers.

"No report has been made, other than communications within the team. The prisoners have been secured, their effects are available here for inspection. They have not been interrogated." Pablo indicated the pile of comms, laser pistols, etc, from the prisoners.

With that, he headed down to the cargo bay to meet the lander.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Fri 18 Dec 2015.

  "We can do that now. At least three of us in the room while we do," Kaengarr stated over the group's comm, though face to face he was waiting for Valeska's thoughts.

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 248):

"Can we get the crew in suits just in case? If you do that, I may have a way to access systems. Get us in suits and get me down to Engineering."

  Kaengarr considered that for a moment, then motioned to the door as he spoke over comms again."Per request, getting the crew suits and taking one to engineering."

  To Vanessa he added, "Locker back of the deck and access down." It wouldn't be much of a detour that way.

 
  That being room #14/north on the map!
 

Facing the prisoners, the Count switches into his lawyer (advocate-3) mode, Reading of their names, the charges they will face and possible sentencing, ending with...

"Several interpretations of your punishment, and by the powers invested in me, we are legally authorized to summarily execute you, in whichever manner I decide upon. However, being that I am in a good mood, I will take into consideration any cooperation that you provide, meaning answer all my questions truthfully."

Casually pulls out his Arc-Field Sword and places it conspicuously in front of him.

"I need you to understand this completely, any untruths will go very, very badly for you. I hope that you will be persuaded to being fully candid."

Tapping the hilt of his sword, "Which of you wants to make their statement 1st? Just wiggle your foot to signal yea."

Having finished the inspection of the ship Khea returns to the bridge. As she is still a bit unsettled by the atmosphere on the lower levels she keeps wearing her suit and only removes her helmet and gloves which she carries with her so that she can reseal her suit quickly.
While this seems to be another common advances of the humaniti, based on the lack of response from the rest, Khea didn't trust it fully, at least not before she found whatever device was responsible for it.

The crew all have personal vaccsuits in their quarters, but there are emergency vaccsuits in the ship's locker.


Once alerted to it, Khea finds the gas cannisters in the ventilation system on the lower deck. The second canister had a timer on it; unless reset, it would have gone off in an hour.


Pablo and Vonon are shuttled over to the Seeker/Miner. It is deserted. They find some evidence that the ship is, indeed, the Rock Dancer.


Darrel may have been watching too many of his own videos... The prisoners aren't particularly intimidated by the Count's threats; they are more resigned than anything. Only the captain is a bit reluctant to speak.

This is their story:

Griffin overheard John-Clancy talking about a change of luck at Callahan's space bar. John-Clancy told the captain, who decided maybe they could claim jump whatever it was that the Long Shot had found. The original intent was to gas the crew, move the Long Shot to a different asteroid and change the coordinates in the ship.

When they got to the ship and discovered what they'd found, that's when they decided to just take the whole ship. The gas hadn't affected the captain fast enough to keep him from activating the security measures. They didn't anyone could get out here fast enough to stop them.

Pablo looks over at the rest of the people on the lander, after they finish sweeping the Rock Dancer. "Given that this tour group of yours seems to officially consider itself the good guys, should I assume we are not going to keep the Rock Dancer? Not that I am a fan of Grand Theft Starship, but I am puzzled a little about who these 'authorities' are that you'll be wanting to turn the whole lot over to. The locals haven't got much of a presence out here, and while the Imperial Spy...er...Scout Service has clearly deployed at least one ship out here with dodgy tech, they don't have any legal standing."

  Once the Long Shot's crew had been seen to, Kaengarr took up a spot on the bridge from which he could observe the proceedings, allowing Darrel to work at getting the story (or at least a story) out of them without interruption. He wanted to hear everything for himself and just as much keep to watch on the hijackers, whom he considered just as dangerous now as before. They were cornered beasts, after all.

  Pablo's question was one that Kaengarr had also been considering, and he had an answer - pending the willingness of the Long Shot's crew to go along with it.

  "We have three ships and four hijackers to bring back, so here's how we'll do it: we'll pack the hijackers into the mess, under guard, so they're not in the way. Once the Long Shot is working again, its crew can fly it back, Walter and Sharik can pilot the launch, and Sam, Khea, and Darrel bring along the Rock Hopper, Dancer, or whatever it's called now, using the control codes that we shall request from its ex-crew. Vonon, Pablo, and I will stay on the Long Shot to keep them under control during the trip. Once we're back, we cash in, and if we get to keep their ship out of the deal, great. They won't be using it anymore."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Sun 20 Dec 2015.

Kaengarr's plan sounded good enough to Pablo, though he suspected that the port authorities would grab the Dancer and auction it off, barring some serious legal grease. He did have a little experience with prisoners and a lack of brig facilities.

"Captain Ruzokh, all that sounds good to me. But let's keep the prisoners in oine of the airlocks off the bridge. That way we don't have to deal with them every time someone wants a snack.  And if they get stupid, one button push and they can take up their argument with vacuum and the black.

The inner airlock door is a lot more secure than a stateroom door,  and we can give them their meals and occasional fresher visits if you want to be humane. Otherwise, just let them stew for a few days, and let vacuum clean the lock after they are remanded to whomever."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Sun 20 Dec 2015.

  "Works for me as long as we can see what they're doing. Don't want them getting funny ideas about hacking into panels," Kaengarr replied. "Anyone else?

In reply to Kaengarr Ruzokh (msg # 257):



"The level of law enforcement on Planet Grendal is a bit lower than you're used to, Pablo." Vonon says, "We are operating under the authority -- and thus the license -- of a private company that specializes in, shall we say, recoveries. Technically we're security subcontractors. And while we're expected to follow the laws of Planet Grendal, those laws are rather lax."

"As for the laws out here in space...I'm not sure.  It depends on whos umbrella this system ultimately falls under.  The planet was settled by folks from the Principality of Caledon, so it might be some kind of client state or protectorate colony of theirs.  On the other hand, this system is closer to Imperial space than it is to the Principality. If this system is an Imperial Client State, then Imperial Law will apply out here in space. If this is any kind of Caledonian territory, then I am unfamiliar with their policies on the capture of hijackers or their laws on salvage."

"If the Rock Dancer was the ship belonging to the hijackers, it will most likely be impounded by Grendal authorities and eventually auctioned off. But, depending on local law, it is entirely possible that the Longshot could be declared salvageable -- even though the crew never left the ship, they did lose control of it. We took control and handed it back. In really strict law systems that would only make us eligible for a recovery reward. But, in less strict systems, the moment a crew loses control of their ship, it is declared lost and thus eligible to be salvaged -- the insurance company would have to pay more to get it back. Now, given the age of this tub, the owner may decide that it's not worth what he'll have to pay his insurer to get it back."

"If there is any ship that we might be able to keep, the odds are higher that it might be the Longshot."

Vonon shrugs and drops his lower jaw in a grin, "Of course, I was law enforcement, not a jurist."

Sam looked at Pablo

"Ship are worth money, to someone, always, unless they've been paid off. And how many fully paid for ships have you ever been on? If we try and 'liberate' a ship, someone will come after us. Best we do the job we contracted to do, and negotiate for a ship. I mean we don't have to say we recovered another ship until it suits us to remember, do we...?"

She walks over to the Captain of the Rock Dancer. "Ship bypass codes. Now please" Looking up she said "I'll pilot that one - ok?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:41, Mon 21 Dec 2015.

With her inspection finished Khea finally reaches the bridge and joins the others.

Darrel and anyone who has Advocate skill would know this:


Grendal is an Imperial Client State. What that means is that Grendal has a loose alliance with the Imperium, particularly in the area of trade--trade and tax concessions, including 'favored trade status' in exchange for putting the Scout base there.

Otherwise, Grendal is an independent system. The operative word here is 'system'. As the sole government in the system, they 'own' and have claim to everything in the system, and that includes the law and legal system.

Grendal's government uses the standard law package. No one has felt an overpowering urge to reinvent it.

So, anything that happens in the Grendal star system falls under their laws.

Claim-jumping, if proven, is usually just a fine, but may include confiscation of property to cover the fine.

Space-jacking (hi-jacking a starship) is not normally punishable by death, but could involve a fine, forfeiture of property, imprisonment for not less than 20 years, and possibly hard labor. It depends on the circumstances.

In this case, they didn't actually succeed in space-jacking the ship, though that seems to have been their intent. Proving it, however, is another matter.

As far as taking their ship... against their will... that would definitely be space-jacking.

===============================================================================

As it turns out, the launch actually belongs to the Long Shot. When the captain sees it in the launch bay, he identifies it as 'Betsy', the Long Shot's shuttle.

It'd take quite a bit of work to set up a cradle on top of either ship in order to piggyback it.

It'll take about 20 hours to get back to Grendal.


Once the Long Shot crew is convinced that you aren't just more hijackers in a different uniform, they let you know that the reason the other hijackers were claim-jumping in the first place was because of the Long Shot's find: there's about a ton of iridium down in the cargo hold.

After all that has happened, the different ships are secured, and everything sorted out (as best as it can currently be)...

The Count goes back to the prisoners, taking a much more informal and natural tone, "I suppose my little speech was a bit overly dramatic, and you're right, I must have over acted it..."

Offers water/food and helps them drink/eat, sits down amongst them..."I can assure you, I will be involved in your trial and I am sure you all realize my position will carry great weight on your fates. At the least, all of you are looking at many years in prison and/or hard labor. You will end up old, broken and shunned for the remainder of your short lives. You do understand that."

A long sincere pause, "I can severely damage your cause or greatly help it, I'm asking you to help yourselves by helping me, if you were to truthfully answer some simple questions, then my legal briefing would go a tremendous way in affecting the outcome of your fate."

Darrel waits for a moment, "Do any of you have anything to add to the report before I start asking questions?"

Sharik listened to the Count's interrogation of the would-be hijackers.  A slightly smile crossed her face.  A touch over-wrought most likely (and admittedly the bound captives hardly seemed cowed), but she could see the actor in celebrity peak out.  And the auburn-haired operative could appreciate the performance - if not the result.

Still, they got a story out of the captive.  So, it wasn't all bad.

And things seemed well in hand.  So, Shar simply busied herself with the more mundane aspects of making sure the launch was stowed correctly and that she was ready to help navigate (and potentially co-pilot) whatever ship was necessary for her to crew.  Likely the crew of the Long Shot would pilot their own ship.  Which left the Rock Dancer.  If nothing else, it sounded like they were going to confiscate the ship for the authorities to sort out.

She hummed a light tune as she worked, it was an old Solomani composer from what was referred to as the late Baroque period.  Sharik had always found the counterpoint in the fugue to be amazingly compact and mathematically logical; something akin to the music of the spheres and analogous to a jump calculation.  Which is what likely appealed to her as an astrogator.