Khea slams the pad she is holding onto the table and starts shouting?
"WHAT?
We are sitting on the finding of the century and now we can't even profit from it?

When we sell it the imperium clan will hunt us down and if we give it to them they insist it was out of duty.
This can't be happening.

Turning to Walter she becomes more pleading than angry
"Don't tell me you intend to go along with it and simply turn everything we have over to them"

Walter shook his head. "I wish I could give you a good answer there Kheaiftouaw. I have no idea what the Count got us involved in but if turning it over to the Imperials helps us rather than being shipped off to a prison planet or getting tossed out an airlock with no suit, I am all for it." Walter said.

"Think in the long term. Some times taking a loss now helps get rid of unprofitable goods in order to get a better cargo for later. In this case, we have a scout ship strapped to our hull, its pilot riding with us and we are out of fuel. We have to report it to the authorities unless you also want to tack on kidnapping and grand theft of an Imperial vessel to any other misdeeds we may or may have not done. "

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 450):

Vonon - wearing one of the noxious-green shipsuits he bought for the Longshot - walks into the Bridge through the wide-open doorway and saunters over to the station he's been using.  A big sandwich in one hand and a mug of hot kaff in the other, he drops into his seat and spins around to face the group - taking a bite from the sandwich.  He raises the mug towards his muzzle, but halts in mid-motion, looking back at the group over, the rim of the mug.

"What?" Vonon asks in his slightly growly voice, "You're all looking at me like I'm a ghost!  I just went to get a snack, I've only been gone a couple of minutes.  What'd I miss?"

Sharik shrugged slightly, then smiled playfully and (quasi-)reassured her Vargr friend rather nonchalantly, "Not much, Vo."  The diminutive operative took sip from her travel mug of coffee and paused for a moment before summarizing, "We were discussing the vagaries and nuances of Imperial salvage law and claims.  With a brief interlude pertaining to Ms. Dupont's status."  She'd give him a more detailed run down later.  Likely over some Sylean brandy - a fair few Sylean brandies; it was probably the only way she could fully summarize the proceedings.

She glanced around the room from her seated position at the navigator's console and as her gaze passed Evelyn she winked conspiratorially before she continued, "Oh, and Valeska was just informing us that the Count had contract us out as ... uh..." she shot a glance at Brandenberg letting her know that she had some serious 'splaining to do, "subsector-hopping troubleshooters for some exotic unexplained phenomena."

The light from the scrolling data and sensor feeds on her console display played off of her face as she looked to others to fill in additional information.

"I didn't say that," Valeska replied. "There's no contract involved. Falko just asked the Count to keep an eye out for anything... unusual."

"All we really need to report to him is Evelyn's story, since that was one of the events that didn't make sense. It's still not an absolute that these aliens had anything to do with it, but obviously they were there."

"The Imperium is going to be interested in this alien species... so far unknown species... unless they've encountered them before."

"I didn't see any significantly advanced technology that the Imperium would want to squash. Xenobiologists will want to study the alien bodies, and the scientists will want to study the technology just because it's different."

"We just need to set a reasonable claim value. If we're out for money that badly, THEN we put it up for auction to the highest bidder... and take our chances."

"So, what do you think of filing a claim for... 20MCr?"

Khea finally calms down a bit and sits on an empty chair. While trying to smooth down her chin fur as to look less freaked out she says into the round.
Okay, how about trying to sell it to the imperium first. We give them the story and maybe a sample from what we salvaged and if they want the rest they have to pay. If they are not interested then we are save to go public with it."
Leaning back as the plan forms in her head she continuous: "As long as we make it look like its easier to pay us than to kill us to keep this information from spreading it might work.
With a laugh she adds "We could always bluff and threaten to take it to the Hierate if they don't buy it.

Still, we should test the robots and the guns we recovered. Not on the ship or on the planet of course. Maybe on an asteroid while we pretend to prospect it? After all this ship has mining drones so it would be plausible.

Speaking of which, what is our cover story for why we are back so soon in case someone asks?"

Walter looked at Valeska and thought for a moment. "Ask for 25 Mcr. and settle for 20 Mcr." he said. "...and we do not keep anything for ourselves" he added.

"I know some of you would like to play with the new found toys, but it would be better to turn it over to them. With our luck, we would find the one item that scrambled the Count's brain and all of us will be in a heap of trouble."

"Well I know all that!" Vonon responds, taking a bite from his sandwich and talking as he eats, "I was there during all of it.  And all the stupid arguing--that's why I snuck off to get a snack."

Vonon swallows his food and takes a sip of kaff,

"I mean," he continues, "I get Sir Walter not knowing--he's one of those, uh, what'cha call'em?--Suit Lawyers; contracts and stuff.  No offense, Sir Walter.  And everyone else, maybe, isn't that familiar with Space Law, but I was a Patrolman and you, Sharr--and you, too, Serge!--are Scouts.  Both of you should know, as I do, that the answer to everyone's concerns, here, lies with the Scout Service.  We just get in touch with them, and everything will be handled.  Rewards, letters of thanks, legal claims, everything."

"But Sir Walter is correct about one thing...Khea." Vonon says, looking towards the Aslan, "Whatever authorities we end up having to deal with, we will have to turn over all samples, recordings and files--including all those scans you took of the stuff we removed from the alien ship.  Y'know, the technical scans you took while we were in jump space these last few days; the ones you thought nobody saw you taking?"

Vonon, with a grin on his muzzle, raises his hand holding the sandwich--as if to ward off any comment from Khea, "However!  Before you go all Border Wars on me--I'm only talking about the equipment and original files.  Nobody needs to say anything about copies of those files remaining in your possession--after all, the Imperium is a Free Market society."

"Males and money. If you let them handle everything you get at best half of what it is really worth."
Shifting to Walter she continues
"Thats especially true if we do not know what we are handing over so we need to test the robots and the gun. Preferably also the vacc suit, before contacting them"

In reply to Kheaiftouaw (msg # 457):

Vonon wolfs down the remainder of his sandwich, then wipes his muzzle with a kerchief.

"Moot point, Khea.  We probably won't have the time." Vonon says, folding the kerchief and replacing it in a pocket of the lime-green jumpsuit he's wearing, "We're already in the Outpost System--if you remember, Planet Outpost is a moon circling a gas giant in the outer system.  And since I know how good an Astrogator Sharik is, I'm sure we dropped out of J-Space not that far from our destination.  Add in the Imperial Navy Base they're building, and there is a good chance we'll be spotted and challenged by either Orbital Control or a Navy Patrol Boat any tic, now."

Vonon looks over to Sharik, and then to Serge, and back to Sharik, "Okay Scouts, one of you cough it up!  I've always suspected you Scout-types had some way of contacting whatever presence the I-I-S-S had in a system, even when there wasn't supposed to be a Scout presence in the system!  I lost count of the number of times we'd haul some rock-hopper into the tank, back at Cassandra's Belt, only to have someone show up a day later in full Imperial Interstellar Scout Service uniform to get them out."

"So c'mon--is it a signal?  A code?  A local comm-number?  Some lawyer on retainer?  What?  Tell us how to contact the local Scout Service element on Outpost, please."

"I think us handing over the alien tech is the best move. We're not really able to exploit it, but hopefully we can learn some things from it which we can sell, as well as the cost of the information on its location as well. But is 20 MCR enough? The Imperium is rich, I'd start higher just for the heck of it. And they can only say no. Ask for 40."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:39, Tue 28 Aug 2018.

In reply to Vonon Ronkunu (msg # 458):

- Well, I do not have direct contact in the Outpost system, but most certainly there are scouts' representatives on the military base, although I think that about such matter any contact would direct us to Scout base in Drexilthar and/or would send a report there and wait their answer, which actually we can do ourselves.
- And since I still have some old obligations, I will have to send a report to IISS about the discovery. Of course, I intend to aline it with you - "you" means crew of Longshot - so that we could use it at best result - and "we" also means crew of Longshot, if you confirm my accession to the team and equal share.
- And also, though I am not sure it will help but just for mentioning, I am acquainted with a scientist Camilo Gonzalez de Silva, who specialize in ancient alien civilizations and he also lives at Drexilthar. Although this scientist is of some... eccentric nature.

"You make a good point, Khea," Val adds. "We don't really know what we have, so it's hard to place a true value on it."

"For example, the spacesuit. Is it just a standard vacc/suit made for an alien form? Or might it have hidden abilities that we can't see from the outside?"

"Or the alien tech. Somehow, it was able to generate the gravity field of a small star... or large planet. Snips of data from the Core indicate that the Imperium can do that, but it's not commonplace or common knowledge."

"Anyway, it may work differently with the Aslan, but you get way too much variation among us Humans to say it'll work the same every time."

"And we don't have to give anything to Falko except a report. If he has any authority or connections, he can get it from whoever we give it to. So, we sell it first, then report to him. He probably isn't here on Outpost anyway. He was on Grendal."

"Does your scientist pal, Serge, have any money? Is he like a billionaire recluse or something? Or were you thinking he might be contact for someone who does have money? Or maybe he can gives us a value on the alien body."

"The question, really, is: do we sell it as one lump find? Or do we split it up into lots? A single buyer is going to pay less just because they won't know what they are buying either. Four or five smaller buyers, however, might be more inclined to speculate, or at least see more potential in his own field."

"With Outpost being such a mercantile hub, and having a Naval Base, there's probably a good chance that there's a scout or two here at all times... getting supplies, keeping an eye on things. You know--doing those things that Scouts do."

"Well, we can kick this around six ways to Sunday. In the end, it's up to our new Fearless Leader, Walter, to decide. So, boss, what's it going to be?"

"We will do what I said in the first place." Walter said as he flipped the radio to the system control frequency.  "+++Naval Base Outpost, this is Longshot. We are transporting a damaged ISS vessel and request a vector to your location.+++" he said as muted his microphone.

"For the time being, just play it cool and listen to what they say when they survey the scouts damage, along with what we found. It might give us an idea as to what it is worth. We don't want to short ourselves, but on the other hand, if we get too greedy, we might have an extended visit on an Imperial Prison system as a guest of the state...understand?" he asked the crew.

- I think he is not a billionaire, though he certainly does have support. May be he can persuade right people to give a right price.

- About the money and how much should we haggle... IISS or Navy are not very quick about large sums of cash, but some other forms of compensation might be easier to bargain. For example, a ship. A ship might cost more than 200 millions but it will be much easier to bargain than 20 millions in cash.

Well now that the other crewmember who had been getting anxious was calmed down she carefully moved away from the conversation letting them make plans. Those didn't affect her. Buy or sell, deal or don't. Her job would be keeping things running and hopefully not getting anyone killed. She didn't make decisions she just went with the flow. She began looking for anything to fix.

"No, wait" Khea tries to stop Walter from broadcasting but is to late.
We still haven't decided what to do about the sensor logs. When we give them the scout they will have everything and they have enough ships to secure it before we can even find another buyer.

Befor she could say anything else the others interrupted her and she fell silent. She totally forgot that Serge is if the Imperium clan. With that and the promises Count made there was no way out of it.

"Fine, they get everything for whatever they feel like paying us. But if they want the guns and the robots we will overcharge them. We can also put a price tag on us not selling our logs to others like the Hierate and to make public that there is an unknown alien species running around and abducting people

Sam sighed "I think Kheas right, you may have just blown our bargaining leverage there Walter. But its done. I suggest we get to downloading those logs, and making whatever other records we want to keep now."

In reply to Samantha Kilgore (msg # 466):

Vonon raises a hand as if to be noticed, "Sir Walter--ah--that is, Captain, if I might make a suggestion?  As you've already told the Navy that we have a rescued Scout aboard, perhaps you might add to the message that you are requesting a representative of the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service to be present when we arrive?"

"I'm telling you, we'll have better luck dealing with the Scouts rather than the Navy--even ignoring the crazy Baroness running the Base."

Sharik leaned back in her chair, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.  But when she spoke up, it was obvious that she'd been listening.  "We can definitely make sure that the IISS is informed," the diminutive ex-scout glanced at her vargr friend and then her fellow service member for a moment before continuing, "One never really leaves the service."  Which was true, since all 'retired' scouts were action simply marked as 'inactive duty'.  Of course, Serge was actually on an active mission; so, he'd have to debrief and report anyways.

And the IISS was unlikely to standby while the IN impounded one of their ship.  "Seems to me," Shar ventured with another glance in Baklanov's direction, "that we are obligated by our service allegiance to report in."  She paused pointedly to ensure that the others had plenty of time and space to tell how what to edit from her report, if they wished.

She motioned for Serge to approach her console as she made ready to contact the local Scout office - the boom on her microphone was directional in order to minimize background noise which would make it easier for her to ensure that the line was both private and secure enough.  Even if there wasn't an official Scout base at Outpost, the IISS surely would have some official representation - every frontier and border system did.  Especially, one with such a contest Imperial presence.  She opened a comm line link and keyed in her IISS ident code, tapping her thin, manicured fingers on the console glass idly for the moment as she waited for the secure connection to be established.

Walter listened to the scouts talk back and forth. "Good point Vonon." he said as he keyed the microphone. "+++Longshot to Naval base outpost. If you can, please rustle up someone senior from the IISS to come with you so we can take care of the salvage paperwork...unless you want to pay the bill for them.+++" he added

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 469):

Once Vonon is sure Sir Walter has closed the comm-channel, he adds "Actually, Sir Walter, I'm pretty sure the Scouts are going to give us a Stranded Scout Reward, not Salvage, for Serge and his ship.  He was on an active scout patrol, after all.  Oh, I mean, we'll get a reward for bringing back both Serge and his ship!  I'm just saying I think the semantics are going to be different--we 'rescued' a stranded scout and his ship, we didn't 'salvage' him and it, you see?"

"Not to put too fine of a point on it," Valeska added, "but... if we'd been able to repair the Scout ship so that Serge could have flown it home, then it could be said that we rescued it. I'm not up on space salvage laws myself, but from what little I know, if we have to tow it back to a base, I think that counts as salvage. Probably a percentage of the value, allowing for depreciation, but that should be more than the scrap value someone might get. After all, it's an old ship, and while the systems may not be that old, there are still newer versions available. It's like a 20-year-old car--it still runs well, but... it's 20 years old."

"Of course, you reach a point where 'old' becomes 'classic' and therefore collectible, which makes 'old' original systems more valuable... to a collector."

"The only starship I've heard reach that status, however, is a Safari ship. Restored, of course."

"Since Scout ships are never 'retired', it's generally illegal to own one. Though... I did hear of an Admiral Farthington who had a custom Scout ship. I suppose, if he'd been a scout and was himself retired, the Scout Service could have 'permanently' lent him one. Isn't that the way it works?"

Sharik shrugged and then simply confirmed Valeska's conjecture about IISS resources, "Type S's, like their personnel are subject to recall."  Some more than others, of course.  Admiral's would like have some political pull and therefore their allocations might be at the bottom of the recall list.

The diminutive socialite did also note off-hand, "And Serge's ship can maneuver just fine.  It can likely jump as well, though with its jump grid compromised, any j-Space transition is likely to be ... uh ... unnecessarily dangerous."  As in potentially premature collapse of the protective hydrogen bubble leading to random partial ejection of the contained matter within back to n-Space. It was perhaps simply semantics - or another fine point on a fine point, "We were simply doing a courtesy to him.  Why take the chance?  The Deep Black is hazardous enough without willful neglect."

"The ship was stranded, so it was salvage.
But considering what else we have to sell we shouldn't press this issue too hard while not being seen as complete pushovers.

Getting nervous Khea then adds
"How should we handle my, ehm, the Aslan issue. The Hierate and and the Imperium are two hunters ready to strike. My presence might help us convince them to pay us to be quiet, least the Hierate learns what was found. Or it might drive them to use other means to keep this information out of their claws.