Reggie was already wearing his jacket for when they went dirtside. It concealed a couple of matters best left unspoken.

" Want to go go first Captain? I can pave the way for the rest, as it where. Or I can try and find out to whom we speak about the cargo." Offered Reggie

Kurtiss Ferro, Works Director, was one of those young but so eager and driven individuals that everyone above him knew he had to be given something, anything, in which to quench his energy.  Most young people end up with small jobs in big places, but someone like Kurtiss Ferro is wasted there, and can only be given a big job in a small place.

A small place, comfortably out of everyone's immediate proximity.  Overachievers tend to be unwanted.  They set bad examples.  So the young man, quite soon out of school, was given his own small colony site to manage, the furthest from the main cities on St. Brendan.  He's been here since close to the start.

As works director, he is not the legal authority here.  St. Brendan has one Governate for the whole planet, with the leaders in Port Grace.  The Governate has one representative here, the Magistrate, who acts as judge and mayor, and there is a Sheriff, in charge of security and emergency response.  But Kurtiss is the representative of the settlement's sponsors- he is entrusted with the money, and it is up to him to plan and execute the physical development of Mission San Lorenzo.  His budget is bigger than the Magistrates, so in a way.. maybe he is the leading official.

He made his way to the docks as soon as he learned of what was going on... indirectly, through the crowd, the way almost everyone else did. He was far from the first, and hundreds of people are already there, with more arriving, as he shows up.

Kurtiss doesn't look "official", he's young, lean, and long haired, hardly the person one might picture in this role.  His eyes are wide with expectation, though, and of all the people here he looks the most excited.  He's very excited, in fact, and between that and the crowd he can't hear any call on his communicator.

He shouts at the people around him, first, as he tries to get nearer.

"Let me through, I think they are here for me!"

As he gets closer he starts shouting towards the ship.

"Are you here for me?  Did the Monsignor Saniez send you?"

With nothing better to do, Florence was simply watching the gathering crowd get closer to the ship. She wasn't particularly worried for herself, but she was concerned: things could go pear-shaped in a hurry in situations like that. At some point though, she noticed something different, someone who seemed to want to get closer for more than simple curiosity. She hadn't thought to switch the sound on - there hadn't been anything to listen to before after all - so she was unable to hear him, but the way he tried to progress was telling.

“There's one guy here who seems to know more than the rest.”

"Yeah Florence, that appears to be our guy. Confirm his credentials and we can get busy."

Florence blinked, surprised: with Dominique on the coms, Reginald in charge of security and Einar doing Einar things, she obviously hadn't expected to be the one tasked to do anything about the man they supposed to be Kurtiss. She considered asking how she was supposed to verify anything in this crowd, much less get heard but thought better of it, predicting there'd be little point.

So instead she stood. “Okay.” She turned away and walked out of the bridge to do what she be been asked to… with no idea of how exactly she was going to be able to. After a brief hesitation, she went to pick up her laptop: if she turned the sound to the maximum, hopefully the first few rows would hear her.

She then went to the airlock, careful to not step out. She had her laptop relay her question. “Hello. We're looking for a Mr. Kurtiss Ferro to deliver some cargo. Could you please let him through if he's around or warn him if he isn't please? And please step back a little, it would make things much easier for everyone and we don't want anyone to get hurt. You'll have at least a few hours to get close if you want to, there's no hurry.”

Alwin tensed a little when he learned of the crowd that had shown up.  Probably nothing to worry about, he thought to himself.  There could be any number of reasons why such a gathering gad amassed so quickly.  The most likely explanation being that they didn't get much traffic on St Brendan, and that their arrival was something of a novelty.  Still, he probably wouldn't relax until the crowd had dispersed.

One of the nice things about a tiny settlement: everyone knows who everybody is.  Florence's request has the gathered crowd looking around.  It is sensible enough.  After all, Kurtiss is the one who's been getting supplies and equipment delivered.  Usually not by starship, though.

People start passing the call for Kurtiss Ferro back through the crowd even as the Works Director, now flanked by one of the town's security officers, moves forward, and somewhere about midway the request reaches him.  After that, as people turn and recognize, the crowd parts, forming a tight lane for Kurtiss and the security officer to move forward.

The security officer is an older looking man, maybe somewhere in his fifties.  He pulls out his portacomp and starts scrolling through communications options.  The Albatross, naturally, isn't in his directory and there doesn't seem to be a "contact random starship" choice.  It isn't made to link to standard navigation channels, but the office back in town is connected, and so he requests to talk to the Albatross through them.

But meanwhile, not slowing down for such details, an excited Works Director jogs forward.

"Yes, yes that's me!  Are you here for me?  From Monsignor Saniez??"

The people around him seem to agree, and there is at least one "Yes, this is him!"

Florence eyed the crowd a bit warily as she waited for an answer to her request. She noted that no one was stepping back, but at least it didn't look like there was a real danger for the time being. That was something at least. Finally when Kurtiss stepped close, she turned in his direction. “I'll need to check your ID please.” Glancing at the people around, she added. “Not that I doubt you, but…” She shrugged, as if it was as much an inconvenience to her as to everyone else. “Procedures…”

Once she had confirmation that the man she was talking to was indeed the one she was looking for, she nodded. “Thank you. Come in so that we can decide how to proceed.” Looking at the security officer at his side, she added. “We'll need to open the cargohold, which means among other things that we have to lower a ramp. Can you make sure we can do that safely please?” After a brief hesitation, she added. “I'll close the hatch for now, I'm sure you can contact Mr. Ferro if needed, alright?”

After that, she invited Kurtiss to follow her inside and closed the hatch, not wanting anyone to wander in. Once done, she led Kurtiss inside. “The shipment comes from Monsignor Saniez indeed. If you can give me a comcode, I'll send the manifest to you.” As soon as she got his number, she sent the documents and continued. “As you can see, there's quite a lot but we shipped in a hurry and I'm afraid most of it is stored in the vehicles. We tried to sort it out a bit, but we simply lacked the containers to do more than that.” After a brief pause, she continued. “I suggest we get the vehicles out of the cargohold and onto the quay, where your people can then take over and drive them wherever you want them to. You're of course welcome to check the vehicles and whatever's on them in the meantime maybe with a couple of your people if you need to, but I'll need you to sign the delivery note before you take anything over. Does that work for you? Do you have any question?”

   Dominiq gave Wymp a half-sincere smirk as she watched him make his way to the airlock and head downstairs towards the Cargo Bay. She kept herself busy by keeping watch over both the comm channels, as well as an occasional glance through the window down at the gathered crowd outside of the ship. The throng outside reminded her briefly of the times she'd stepped off of a passenger shuttle and into the waiting crowd of people that inevitably showed up when she arrived. Those crowds had been there to see her; carrying placards and shouting to get her attention, while 2 and 3-D cameras recorded her every move ...

   From what she could tell, the gathered throng didn't appear to be the sort who enjoyed her slow rhythmic style and jazz-flavoured beat, but Shabazz knew that you couldn't judge your clientele by how they looked; she had fans from almost every walk of life and age range, so it rarely surprised her when she found someone that didn't 'fit the mould', as some called it.

   The only thing that she worried about was the size of the crowd and the fact that it was growing quickly. This group seemed easy-going enough, but that could easily change in an instant. Mob mentality was something she was familiar with  - not every crowd she'd met had been happy to see her, after all. Especially on the more conservative-minded worlds. She wasn't sure about St. Brendan, but it was always better to be more safe than sorry.

   She watched the crowd as the Works Director, Kurtiss Ferro, stepped forward. Doesn't look like much, she thought when she saw him. But considering the way the man looked and dressed, compared to the way the others were deferring to him, it was another case of the old mantra - Never judge a book by its cover.

   More people were joining the ones who'd already arrived. She stabbed a comm-link stud, then spoke calmly. "Looks like quite a welcoming committee. Careful, the crowd's nearing critical mass."

After checking, confirming, identifying...

They finally manage to get Kurtiss Ferro and security officer over to the ship, and they can meet.

Kurtiss looks very impressed with the Albatross.  There are boats tied up here as well, and the Albatross bigger than any of them.  Even the cross bay ferry.

He doesn't have documents describing exactly what he's getting, of course- a lot of it was fairly randomly collected donations, so he'd have no way of knowing what was coming in detail.  And the documentation at Lyonesse was sort of weak- they were more interested in getting it moving than doing a perfect inventory.  Still, the Monseigneur had made it clear that it was all listed as going to him.

"This really does make a difference," he says.  "You know, a place like this, we're still a very early stage colony site.  There aren't any known critical resources here yet, so we're dependent on fundraising.  We're trying to develop, and this will help.  We have donors who have been insisting we get some road building done."

"I hope you don't mind the crowd outside," the security officer says.  "We don't get visits like this often.  Most ships coming to St Brendan land elsewhere, and people use air and sea transport to get here.  We didn't know they were sending a ship that could do this."

"We're not poor," Kurtiss emphasizes.  "We're starting.  We don't have much, but we're working on it.  How long are you here for?  Do you want to see the settlement, see what we do here?"

“We were wondering why a colony of already several years needed what seemed like basic equipment.” Florence paused, then added. “It's no worries that you don't know exactly what you're supposed to get. The important thing is that you sign for everything you do get: it's more for us than for you, that way if anyone asks we can prove we delivered everything we were given.”

The girl led both men to the cargo-hold, quietly listening and nodding here and there. She reassured the security officer. “For now the crowd is not a problem, as long as they don't try to get in the ship.” She paused. “But when we're going to get the vehicles out of the hold... They take a lot of place. As for the ship, it was a matter of convenience both here and in Lyonesse really.”

“The ship will probably leave as soon as the cargo is delivered. I'm not sure to be honest.” Florence shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “But I will spend a few days here myself. I don't know exactly for long as I haven't decided yet, but I need a bit of time for myself.”

Horace saw the captain slip off of the ship after they landed, but didn't know where he was headed. He headed for the cargo hold to make sure everything went smoothly for the delivery. He knew Florence had the paperwork side set and ready, maybe Nique could fill in and replace Florence and help with the admin side of the operation. Unless he can get things worked out between Reggie and Florence. Florence might stay then.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:49, Sat 29 Feb 2020.

**********************************

The Commonwealth has been stable for centuries.  The Governates are allowed a wide range of individual social, economic and legal styles, and this is part of the strength of the system.  People who do not like their Government have the right to leave.  The discontented are interviewed by Commonwealth specialists, to determine if the cause is a genuine incompatibility with the charter of their Governate.  Generally, reasons for wanting to leave are personal, or economic, but when there is a fundamental mismatch of ideology, the Governate must pay relocation costs, and the Commonwealth selects a more appropriate Governate.

This has had the effect of suppressing political activism throughout the Commonwealth.  Rather than arouse the citizens of a government to demand something different, activists are sent away to a Governate more in line with their beliefs.

*************************************

The two men from the colony know the crowd isn’t going to swarm onto the starship… well, maybe a few children, out of curiosity.

“Don’t worry,” Kurtiss says. “We have one of the lowest rate of Resettlement cases on the planet.. outgoing, at least.”

“A credit to our colonist, and out donors, and especially Mr. Ferro,” the security officer says.

“A place like this wouldn’t make it without donors, and ours have been very supporting… very eager to see us develop,” Kurtiss Ferro explains.  “One of them funded these machines you’ve brought.  Yes, we already have a few pieces of construction equipment, we wouldn’t have built anything without them, but he’s been...well.. impatient with the progress on certain things.  Roads, especially.  This is a difficult landscape to build roads on, and we’d like to connect all the settlements in the region.”

“There’s been a lot of discussion about construction priorities,” the security officer says.  “We don’t always agree but the donors are the donors, right?  Kurtiss is spending their money, after all.”

"I am," Kurtiss concedes.  "It's true, we have to weigh priorities here.  So, can we unload?  And then, you can enjoy the hospitality of our little home."

"Not that there's much," the security officer says.  "There really aren't many visitors, and social life here is, you probably know, very much church, community and family oriented.  It's not the starports you must visit.  But we'd be happy to show you around.  Even getting here the way you did, you know, you are our celebrities of the day."

“I don't doubt it.” Florence nodded. And she didn't, not really. Such things were rare after all, especially on young colonies. She was pretty sure it would pick up at some point, but that wasn't a problem. Especially not now.

“It sounds like you have plenty of work to look to then. You can unload yes.” Florence added after a slight hesitation. “I'm pretty sure the Captain and XO will want us - as in the crew - to move the vehicles out of the hold and have your drivers take over once outside though. Just a matter of responsibility.” She wondered what they were waiting for in fact. Was she supposed to deal with everything by herself now? “But that should give you the time to call whatever drivers you need and make sure the crowd outside knows what's going to happen.”

“I wouldn't mind being shown around and I think I'd like to spend some time out there to see how it is,” She waved beyond the town. “But I'm sure you have a lot of more pressing things to do.” The girl grimaced slightly, not particularly eager to be treated as a celebrity. “As long as you tell me where I'll be able to spend a few nights, it'll be good enough for now.”

Horace stood just withing earshot was glad she handled it so well. He hoped she'd change her mind and stay. For that to happen she had to get along with Reggie and the captain. He wondered where the captain went?

The Captain had retreated to the ship's engineering spaces.

He had realized something:  in a small ship, there really wasn't that much daylight between "captaining" and "owning".  This was no superliner, with a hundred junior stewards to keep in line, nor was this a warship with a military crew to command.  With such a small crew, and shared ownership, captaining without broker skills was more like being Chief Engineer.  His job was to attend to the ship and make sure things got done.  In reality, Horace was better suited to the real decision making:  he was the one with the brokerage and marketing talents, and those were the things that really guided a little frontier transport.  Einar was better suited to driving the bus and keeping the tires filled than choosing the route.

Although...

That being said, there were other issues that did involve his expertise.  The ship, right out of the re-sale yard and still benefiting from its last servicing, was in good shape. But all ships need steady maintenance.  Normally, a crew can only do so much, and ships get their regular checks and services in star ports.  That was the real danger in stopping at places like Mission San Lorenzo, and that was why few ships would dare such a thing.  An equipment failure here would mean the ship was stuck, until it could be properly serviced, and since it didn't look like there were any facilities here...  that would mean waiting for a surface ship to tow the Albatross across the sea to a starport.  That could be a while.  So the mission of the Captain, now, was to make sure absolutely nothing was wrong, or even leaning slightly in the direction of wrong.  This was a lot of work.  So many systems on a ship!

Einar added to the ship's "to buy" list:  at least one vacc suit, and maybe an exterior repair drone.

Things like this needed attention.  Einar decided to let Horace do the decision making.

Comms << "Mister Gain, are you free at the moment? This is the XO speaking.">>

This message was deleted by the player at 05:59, Tue 03 Mar 2020.

   Dominiq played at the console while the others left the bridge and went about their duties. Occasional furtive glances outside showed the growing crowds near the ship, along with her growing unease about the situation. From what she could tell, most of the people gathered there looked like substance farmers and hardscrabble colonists who might pose little threat, but she knew that one could never trust people on face value - too many had soured that idea for her in the past.

   Her eyes caught sight of the redheaded Pierce talking with the Work Boss, Kurtiss Ferro. She couldn't hear what the two were talking about, but she guessed that it had to do with the cargo they were carrying. Shabazz looked at first to Pierce, then Ferro and noted the difference between them; compared with the redhead's utilitarian look and colourful silk scarf, Ferro looked more like a filthy, dishevelled farmhand than a leader ...

   She continued her work on the console and tried to keep herself busy while everyone else was attending to ship's business, and kept tossing a glance in the direction of the gathering throng. "Hopefully, this doesn't take long ..."

Florence's question surprises the two locals.

They had assumed, naturally, that she'd be staying on the ship.  Sure, space crews often disembark and move into hotel rooms, but that's generally resorts, to unwind and enjoy themselves.

Mission San Lorenzo isn't exactly on the tourist maps.

People don't stay here for the heck of it.  It has its accommodations, of course.  There are always visitors, such as temporary workers, traveling students, and visiting family.  But no one comes without good reason.

They stay in one of several places.  Longer term visitors often rent one of the "Box Cottages".  These are small prefab homes left over from the first colonization effort when dozens were imported.  Many of the original residents used them as temporary lodgings while they built permanent homes, and an enterprising entrepreneur bought a few dozen to make "Box Cottage Village Rentals".  The university here has "Academic Housing" available for students, staff and visitors.  And there are two genuine hotels in town, the Angel Arms (brand new and actually quite a nice place with an excellent Traveller's Aid Society rating) and the somewhat cheaper San Lorenzo Pod Hostel, where you get a private pod, pretty much big enough for a bed.

Kurtiss and the Security Officer explain all this as the cargo is unloaded.  As they see it, if Florence or anyone is looking to stay a few days to shake off the tight confines of shipboard living, definitely avoid the Pod Hostel- you want the Angel Arms.

It takes only about an hour to move everything off the ship, and count it all up.  Already is being trucked up the road to the diocese warehouse.

If anyone ventures closer to town, they would see that the road from the docks leads right into the heart of the little town, becoming the main street.  It's paved with fine gravel.  Like many startup colonies in remote locations it is a mix of modern and ancient.  It's easy to import some things, but on the other hand, building materials are bulky and heavy so colonies build with what they can produce available- here it is grayish and tanish bricks.  And there are... donkeys?  Quite a few of them, being used as pack animals.  The little animals can pick their way between the great humps of rock and native life, and they don't need expensive imported parts for upkeep.  They do a lot of the work that simple robots due elsewhere.

“The Angel Arms will work perfectly.” Florence smiled gratefully. As she listened to Kurtiss and the Security Officer explaining all that, she still paid attention to the unloading process, making sure every item delivered was marked as such on the delivery note. Once everything was done, she had all parties sign it - meaning Kurtiss and Horace here - then sent copies to the both of them.

After that, her job done, Florence went to see Einar to officially complete her resignation and get what she was owed. At the same time, she sent over the papers confirming that she gave Horace's share back to him, as she had always intended to do.

A minute later, she stepped out of the ship pulling the suitcase containing most of her stuff, the remaining of it in a messenger bag. She turned back to the ship for a moment, and said a few last words to Horace. “Thanks for the lessons. And good luck, no matter where you go from here.” She seemed to hesitate for a brief moment, but simply added, “Take care.”

With a small wave and a sad smile, the girl turned around and walked towards the town. Quickly, she became fascinated by the donkeys. She hadn't had many opportunities to see living animals and it showed: she was fine as long as they stayed a reasonable distance from her, but any that approached a bit too close was met with a yelp and a quick shuffle away.

As such, it delayed her arrival to the hotel quite a bit, but she finally got there and asked for a room for a couple of days. She'd likely need more, but since she didn't know yet, she thought that two would do for the time being.

Before she left, Horace gave Florence a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck, sorry I couldn't do more for you, but you did get to serve on your father's ship and you did a good job. Thank you."

On the bridge of Albatross, the computer call up various options for a next destination, now that the ship's first assignment has been completed.

Of course, leaving immediately is certainly not required.  You can certainly stay a little, visit, see what turns up, what can you learn.  Even though this rustic little frontier settlement doesn't seem like it would have much opportunity for a merchant... you never know.

But if you leave:  A quick stop at the orbital station is recommended, to top off the fuel tanks again.  Out on the frontier the stops can be far apart.

The Albatross could do a "hop" over to Port Grace on the other side of the planet first, and look for cargo and/or passengers, before going up to the orbital station- or just go straight there.  Despite St Brendan being "frontier" there are millions of people there, and there is always traffic, even exports.  Several business have grown up trying to make trade-worthy exports out of the green mush that is most of the life on this planet, and they've had some success, unexpectedly, in the skin care and cosmetics market.  And there are always people looking for travel.  The merchant shipping industry makes much more money off passengers than freight, due to the sheer numbers of people looking for transport.

After that, there is the coreward outpost at LDMLT01 and the Crosser Home Ship there.

Or you could turn spinward, and head for the thinly settled Mu Velorum sector via St. Herman, and see what's going on in those very backwater planets.

Or turn "trailing" and head for Meditrina, and the worlds of the Trans-Merlin Coreward sector.  Also thinly settled frontier, but with Merlin, an exotic colony world known for bioluminescent life, and a friendly, pacifist culture with a reputation for turning out skilled therapists and counselors.

Or turn back towards the Main Line- Deseret, and then Lyonesse and other worlds beyond, where humanity, and cargo, is somewhat thicker, but business is much busier.

***************************************
But meanwhile, Florence discovers the Angel Arms...
***************************************

There are even donkeys here at the hotel.  Not inside, of course.  They are outside, and they belong to people making deliveries.  Easier, here, than having a van.  Or a robot- on the more advanced planets, dropping off routine delivery packages is definitely robot work.
 But here, people, and donkeys, seem to be doing a lot of what robots do elsewhere.

The Angel Arms even has a reception desk with a real human, not just an automated kiosk to check in and out.  But then, hotels will usually have a human up front even in advanced cities, because a person out front is also security, adviser, greeter, native guide... robots just aren't that flexible.  All the best hotels have humans at the front desk.

There are a couple of wall screens in the lobby- one helpfully reminds people that the next ferry visit: 22 hours.

There's a very elderly woman who seems more interested in watching some entertainment on the other screen, even though her name tag identifies her as someone who supposedly works here. But there's also a mature looking man, with a weathered look that says "frontier colonist" and he's attentive and helpful.  He tells Florence that he'd be happy to answer any questions, but his only question is a routine, friendly, "what brings you here?".  Not in a probing way, just the friendly way of a hotel desk worker.
Just like the donkeys carrying loads around the town

Horace saw Einar slip back on the ship so he knew he was about. He went looking for the captain to find out the next destination from here, Port Grace followed by the High Port were logical. but that was the question.

“Hello.” Florence greeted the man with a nod, then answered his question. “Oh, I came with the ship you probably heard about and since my contract ended I decided to take a few days for myself. So here I am.”

The girl rubbed her chin for a second. “I'm not sure how long I'll stay. In fact, I'm not sure what I'm going to do exactly while I'm here but I'll probably want to spend a few days outside the city to see how it is. It should be interesting, and it's not like there are dangerous beasts around here after all, right?” She seemed to hesitate. “Though I'd have to rent a donkey to carry stuff I suppose?” She obviously didn't seem to know what to feel about that. “Would you be able to tell me who could help me see about… Well, preparing to spend a few days out there by myself?” Her eyes sparkling, she added. “It will be an adventure! I've never really been away from civilization and since it's safe here…”