TIMELINE: Day 3, just after noon


The two limousines leave from TAS building and head to an area near the edge of the starport where they pull up in front of a restaurant called The Golden Griffin... except that it's located in an old starship!

You've gotten there before Ceruleanne, and it requires a bit of effort on the staff to push tables together that can accommodate the large group.

The staff doesn't mind, since the fact that the Count is eating at their establishment will increase business.

  Kaengarr stared at the exterior of the restaurant for a good long moment once the company had exited the limos and before they went inside. In part, he was assessing the state of the ship. In part, he was concerned about the implications. "This is the ship. There was a job offer for a pilot here, but no name put to it. Maybe it was her."

  And if it wasn't, well...

  Since it probably matters more for some of us, how powerful is the spice smell in here? ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Fri 02 Oct 2015.

The spice smell isn't too bad. The Darrians may like a lot of spice, but there aren't too many Darrians on Grendal. In fact, as far as you know, there's only one. And he's had 40 years making the adjustment to local tastes and cuisine.

Probably the strongest is that of chili, of which Kaengarr smells a pot cooking. In fact, a sign on the front advertises "Home of Retro-Burn Chili".

  Kaengarr's concern about the aromatic nature of a chili restaurant faded once he got a sniff of the air inside. It was strong, yes - to a Vargr nose, at least - but fortunately not the overpowering stink that he'd encountered in other places that focused on spicy cuisine.

  Since they had time to spare, he took a good long look around at the restaurant interior. It was only a fraction of the ship as a whole, but it was as good a place as any to start getting a sense of the ship's condition.

Sam got out of the limousine and did a fairly obvious 360 degree sweep, looking for vantage points people could use to watch or attack them from, cover nearby creating dead ground and people in the area and what they were doing. Old habits die hard.

When she was satisfied there was no obvious threat she followed the others in.

Khea only glances at the ship. Like most Humaniti ones it looks very ungainly to her so she doesn't pays much attention to it, especially as she is not all the enthusiastic about being here and having to watch the others eat 'again'.

But once she notices the spice smell she warms up to the restaurant a bit and decides to keep it in mind to come back to it later if she has the chance.

Ceruleanne walks into the Golden Griffin as if from familiarity, and has no problem spotting the large group. Smiling, she walks up to the tables where they are gathered.

"I certainly didn't think we'd meet again so soon," she says in greeting, "but then Count Cromwell had chosen to formalize our association."

"I'll get right to the point, since time is of the essence. I hope that's not going to be a trend!"

"A client, Casey Blackwood, is the owner of Space Metals LTD, an asteroid mining company that has at least one ship out in the Belt. We received a distress call just about 5 hours ago... it said that 'claim jumpers' had taken over the ship. They were requesting emergency help."

"I know another group of troubleshooters that I'd normally have sent on this mission, but they are already engaged in another situation."

"The reason time is of the essence is that claim jumpers haven't yet broken through the bridge control encryptions. Once they do, they can jump the ship out of the system, never to be seen again."

"I have no idea what plans you have, though I got the impression that you wanted to get off planet as quickly as possible. Is this something you might be interested in?"

She turns then to Kaengarr and says:

"Hello. We haven't met yet. I'm Ceruleanne Blue, a facilitator for AcquireCorp."

  "Kaengarr Ruzokh, an old friend of Walter." the Vargr replied directly. His ears swiveled forward and head tilted slightly to one side as he took the measure of this new figure - one who apparently had the rest of the company doing hush-hush work on her behalf. "We haven't purchased a ship yet. Are you offering one?"

  It seemed unlikely that she'd offer up the Darrian trader, but stranger things had happened...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Tue 06 Oct 2015.

In reply to Ceruleanne Blue (msg # 7):

Vonon's ears picked right up when he heard the words 'claim jumpers'.

"What's the job pay, Miz Blue?" Vonon asks, trying -- badly -- to conceal the enthusiasm in his voice, "I'm always up for a bit of slapping around claim jumpers! What kind of resources does Space Metals have here, on planet, that we can use to recover their stolen ship.?"

Vonon suddenly realized he was slipping back into Patrol Commander mode, and stopped speaking, looking around at the group.

"Ah...that is, assuming anyone else is interested in earning some extra money...?" he finishes sheepishly.

Walter stroked his chin as he listened to the offer. "Well, I like it a whole lot better than the last "contract" that we had with you Ms Blue." he said "The hard part would be getting there quickly since the information is five hours old and they might be gone by now. What resources are available to us?"

Pablo had been sitting in the Golden Griffin for some time, lingering over chili and tortillas washed down with a decent tequila. He'd come looking for work either on-world or on a vessel shipping away from the Assembly. The idea of a job had been more than welcome. He had some savings, but he'd found a lot of doors closed to an ex-con.

As the group was seated and discussions began, he sat at a nearby table, trying not to eavesdrop too obviously, and waiting to see what developed.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:01, Mon 05 Oct 2015.

Sam sat down and ordered a drink as she listened to Ceruleanne.

Nodding at Vonon, she said " I'm always up for a bit more cash."

Turning to Ceruleanne she fired off some questions in quick succession. "I assume you've got a fast ride to get us out there? If so whats the travel time? If not how are we getting there?

I'm also assuming you have comms with the ship, or at least can give us the details to contact them en route?

Did they give any details of the claim jumpers - what ship they used to board, and how its armed?

Also, how many of them boarded, and how they're armed?

I assume we can we keep the kit we used on the last job, because, assuming we want to capture these people rather than just eliminate them, those tranq guns would be useful."

Whilst the questions were in quick succession, the tone was more business like and professional than rude. Sam even appeared to be relishing the challenge.

She sipped her drink and sat back waiting for answers.

Then added "In case its not clear, I'm in"

Piling out of the limousine, Sharik stood for a moment and looked over the edge of her mirrorshades at the Golden Griffin.  After giving an approving nod, she pushed the 'shades back up the bridge of her nose and moved in time with the rest of the group into the old starship that was now a restaurant.  She walked with what seemed to be a casual saunter, though she kept pace with her companions easily.  And though she seemed nonchalant, Shar was definitely keeping her eyes and ears open not wanting to miss anything.  Crowded places, like popular restaurants, were good and bad all at once.

Upon entering the diminutive brunette took in a deep breath, savoring the strong smells that were coming from the kitchen.  She sat at the table that had been prepared by the staff and ordered some of their house specialty: the Retro-burn along with Darrian equivalent of cornbread.  She also hedged her bets and made sure that the table had plenty to drink - non-alcoholic, since this was a business meeting.

Sipping from her water glass, she leaned back in her chair to listen to what Ceruleanne had to say.  A slight frown played upon her lips when 'claim-jumping' was mentioned.  "It sounds more like 'hijacking.', Ms. Blue." she noted off-hand, which as she recalled was an act of piracy, especially if there was a danger of the perpetrators jumping system.  She took in a deep breath, like Vonon, Sharik had a low opinion of such things - space was deadly enough without having to deal with such lowlifes.  "Not too presumptuous, my friend." she reassured Vonon, backing his play, "we are interested - assuming the details pan out.  What are the specific mission objectives?  Besides the safety of the crew, which I assume is top priority."  She arched an eyebrow and watched Ceruleanne carefully to ensure that was the case before continuing, "What priority are Space Metals and AcquireCorp giving to neutralizing the opposition versus ... say ... collateral damage to resources?"  That, she hoped, would make the question of lethal force a bit more explicit.

Sharik tapped some notes on her dataglove and started her agent spiraling outwards to look up 'Casey Blackwood', 'Space Metals LTD' and find the probable ship and locations that might be in question as well as the local stance on piracy as well as any intersystem accords and laws concerning such acts.  Once that was started, Sharik nodded in agreement with Samantha's logistical questions, "We are going to need something fast.  If we are going to be unable to pursue out of system," which made sense, there were too many systems close by, "then a surplus ship's boat would be ideal."  It was one of the fastest small craft that she knew to be readily available - though depending on how far away this ship in distress was, its operational range might not be enough.

"We'll also need details on the ship and crew in question.  How many are to be rescued?  Do we have dossiers?" Sharik prompted, tacking onto Sam's questions about the attackers, "What credible information to we have on the dispositions and statuses of both the attackers and the defenders at this time?"

As for the other logistical questions asked, Sharik was also interested to know.  She leaned forward in her chair once more, waiting for more details.  The only thing that she seems less interested in was the compensation rate, though she was willing to make a buck as much as the next person, she seemed confident that they would be duly compensated for their actions.  She seemed far more interested in ensuring the safety of the crew and space travel in general.

---

[OOC:  The transit times on page 145 of the Core Rules, list times in tens of hours (27.6h for a 6G craft, like a ship's boat) for 1 AU.  For reference, our asteroid belt around Sol is between 2.2 and 3.2 AU away from the sun.  So, a given rock in our asteroid belt could be between 1.2 AU (at closet approach) to 4.2 AU away (if all the way on the other side of the sun) from Earth.  Obviously, Grendal may be laid out completely differently, but my point is simply that the five hours that have passed may not be the bulk of the time...  intra-system travel times are huge (relatively speaking ;)).]