In reply to Hayden Marks (msg #31):

Cyril shakes each of your hands in turn and regards you evenly as he takes a seat.  "A soda, please", he answers Danica.

He shrugs and says, "Not much to tell, really.  Did a hitch with the Navy, was discharged after I caught a nasty virus.  Something they said they couldn't identify, but somehow were able to kill.  Hooked on with a company called Vanguard Solutions.  The Antioch Civil War was just brewing up at that time, so they needed technicians who could run fusion powerplants, CBR defense systems, and generally fix things.  It wasn't charming, but the pay was good.  Vanguard was paid by the Royalists, so things got rough near the end.  Company punched out, but not soon enough.  I was one of the luckier ones.  Spent a few months in a cryoberth and then a few more in Aidensburg University Hospital here on Alsace learning to breathe again on my own."

He extends his arms in front of his chest and looks at them.  Encircling his right arm above the elbow with his fingers, he states flatly, "This one was nearly taken off here.  Most of my organs shredded.  Burns to both legs.  I have to hand it to those docs, though, cloned tissue, regenerative drugs; they tell me I'm as good as new."

He takes a sip of his soda before wrapping up, "Company paid for my stay and my physical therapy and kept me on payroll for that time.  Since then I've taken a few university classes and", he smiles wanly, "been trying to spend my earnings from that ticket."

He pauses and takes another sip.  "My turn.  What's your deal?  Ship doesn't look like a typical trader to me and you don't look like a typical crew.  That's not a problem, I expect to know the score going in.  Been a long time since I had a spacing job, and it might be a nice change from sucking dirt.  You realize that with my combat resume and contacts I've got other options, so, what's the ticket?"

"Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are," Hayden says, walking back into the room just in time to hear Orcut’s questions about the ship and crew.

”I’m Captain Hayden Marks,” he says, extending his hand.  ”My apologies for not being here earlier.”

”Returning to your question, your powers of deduction are impressive.  It’s fair to say that this is not a typical merchant operation.  The Gypsy Moth is owned by Blackfin Shipping, which operates out of Perseus, which is also where she is registered.  What isn’t listed in the ship registry database is that Blackfin Shipping has a number of FRE benefactors who have provided a substantial investment in the corporation and its primary assets; the ship and the crew.  Like all investors, they want to see a return on their investment.  That return will come in many forms, economic and otherwise.  Keeping the Gypsy Moth at arm’s length through Blackfin ensures that we can operate freely and without undue attention, a necessity to fully exploit the various markets for maximum economic gain.”

”Are there any other questions? Hayden asks of Cyril and the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:29, Tue 22 Feb 2011.

Danica breathes a slight sigh of relief when Hayden appears, though she tries not to let it show.  She listens to Hayden's explanation of their circumstances and is quite happy with their choice in Captain.  Spin is everything.

Dani sips her coffee idly, until Hayden solicits more questions.  She taps the table briefly, looking thoughtful for a moment before she asks Cyril, "Mr. Orcut, I'm a bit surprised that you are shopping yourself, when Vanguard seems to have treated you well, given the circumstances."  Her fingers trace a small pattern on her mug, as she continues, "And you seem adamant that we can't possibly be attempting to make a living as mere traders."  Dani pauses as she leans forward, her hand still holding her tankard, "If I may be so bold, Mr. Orcut.... What is the source of your dissatisfaction?"  She tilts her head slightly and prompts, "What are you looking for as employment?  You know, your ideal employment situation..."

In reply to Danica Moreau (msg #36):

Orcut listens carefully to Hayden's speech, "Spooks, huh.  All governments have dirty secrets and they all play the same dirty games."

He keeps his face emotionless as Danica speaks, but when he answers a faint smirk tugs at the corners of his lips, "I didn't say that, you did.  I've got nothing against the company, they were good to me.  Doesn't mean I'm in a hurry to get myself blown up again either.  He leans forward.  Resting his elbow on the table, he uses his fingers to accentuate his next two points, "Two things I don't want to be in this life are, One: dead and, Two: poor."

Looking at Hayden, Orcut calmly stakes out his position, "Bottom line, I expect to be compensated for the additional risk.  That means not less than six thousand per month, life support, lodging, and medical included.  Also, I'm an engineer, not a secret agent, so you keep me out of that stuff to the maximum extent possible.  Do we have an understanding?"

Hayden couldn't help but be impressed with Cyril's quick grasp of the situation.

"And you would be disappointed to learn that we are shuttling mistresses and money for a few fat cat CEO's I take it?" Hayden says in a statement that neither confirmed nor denied Orcut’s deduction but simply offered a seed of doubt.


"No matter," Hayden adds quickly.  "It's clear that you want to be left out of such affairs and, as you say, to the maximum extent possible, that will be the case.  Your other terms track with our compensation package."  Marks adds, spending a moment to outline salary and  benefits.  He respected someone who wasn’t afraid to ask for what he was worth; assuming he or she could back up their resume with skill and experience.

"We have a few more interviews to conduct, but I don’t want to keep you waiting.  We’ll call you back within an hour and let you know our decision."

---

Once Cyril had left, Hayden turns to the crew.

"Let's discuss today's interviews.  Unless there are competing opinions, I’d like to offer positions to Lance and Cyril.  Lance seems like a good fit; eager, earnest, and flexible.  Cyril is a man with a high opinion of himself, but given his education, resume and experience, he’s likely earned that.  If he wants to avoid some of the more interesting aspects of the job - fair enough - there’s plenty of maintenance that can be done while we are out gallivanting around for the Pathfinders.  I’m not sold on Marie.  Nothing against her, but I think we should wait and finish up our interviews first."

”Returning to your question Doctor Jones, Simon says that they have already run background and credit checks on everyone in the dossier.  So I’m not sure we need to duplicate that effort.  As for medical history, clearly that’s an issue between the patient and doctor, but I’d recommend you get a release, just so your files are up to date.  Especially with someone like Orcut.”
This message was last edited by the player at 02:46, Wed 23 Feb 2011.

Danica shakes Cyril's hand rather perfunctorily and wishes him well, while leading him out.

Once Orcut is gone and the airlock is sealed, she rejoins the others in the main passenger lounge.  As Dani sits back down, she nodded to Hayden's general assessments of the candidates.  She looked thoughtful for a moment, as she seemed to be mentally reviewing the three interviews, before she spoke, "Hayden, I agree with you with respect to Charpie and Menkin.  Lance will make a good addition.  I do worry that he doesn't know what he might be getting into."  Danica purses her lips, "On the other hand, I don't think that is Cyril Orcut's problem.  Quite the reverse.  And while Mr. Orcut is very perceptive and eminently qualified; I do have one main reservation with him.  It is a perceived lack of loyalty.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but my main worry is that he has us pegged - and perhaps rightfully so - as spooks."

Danica shrugs, leans forward and places her hands on the table, as she continues, "But, what is to stop him from advertising that fact for the right price or job offer?  I'm not convinced that he wouldn't do it.  I'm not saying Orcut is indiscreet; far from it.  Just that he seems unconcerned with ideologies outside of himself.  And willing enough to jump ship from Vanguard Solutions, for example, on not much more than a personal whim."  Dani leans back in her chair, the leather creaking slightly, as she shrugs a second time, "Not the worst thing in the world, though - for him or us.  I... I just think that he may need to be watched, is all."

Dr. Jones chuckles, but his tone is serious.

"Yeah - quite the mercenary that one.  Sounds like he'd sell us, his country and his grandmother out for 10 credits.  Definitely someone we'd want around."

From his perspective, the captain's judgment was rather questionable, but then he was a merchant after all, and probably saw nothing wrong with putting credits before any other considerations.  Jim rarely gave them a thought.

"As for Newell's assurances of their backgrounds, well, I'm sure it would never happen that a high ranking Naval buddy would do a favor for a contractor and tell a Pathfinder investigation what his contractor friend wants told.  Like to get rid of an expensive medical burden or just an outright nuisance."

Jim finishes his coffee and gets up to get a refill.

"Nah, never happen."

"If you have some specific information to share about our employeer or Mr. Orcut, I'm sure we are all ears Doctor." Hayden says.

Jim sighs and sets down his mug.

"I've shared all I know, and my opinions as well. Unless you know something you aren't sharing, you have expressed exactly my point - we could do with more info.  As my example should have made clear, we may not have reason to trust Newell's sources - and Mr. Orcut's responses, as Danica also pointed out, seem slightly off."

"My own amateur hour investigations were merely attempts to gain some third party confirmations. As a merchant, I'm pretty sure one doesn't just take other merchant's at their word or assume they or their sources have no hidden agendas."

Gesturing vaguely with his mug the others whom he knew to be 'spooks'.

"I'm also no expert in that left hand knowing right hand business and such, but I know we want to be holding our cards pretty close to our chest and the fewer who can read them the better."

He took a sip of his fresh coffee before adding.

"As to Newell, he seems like a straight shooter, and I can't see his boss wasting a gem of an asset like this here ship.  But, we are heading into harm's way, not taking advantage of other sources to save some coin seems foolhardy."

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #42):

Thera looks up from the video footage of the interviews.
"For what it's worth, I think the Doc has a point. You're right, Newell seems to be on the level, as far as any spook ever is, but that's not to say his sources are impeccable. We need to cover our own backs with these interviews, and there's something about this Orcut guy I don't like."

She thinks for a minute before adding, "Call it intuition if you like, but somehow I just wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him in orbit while the rest of us go dirtside."

"Speculation does not help us gather information Doctor, nor is it useful in the decision making process.  We are in the process of doing due diligence in hiring additional crew, which we require in order to operate the ship.  When we have reason to believe that someone has a 'hidden agenda', we can and should factor that in to our decision making.  But projecting your paranoia, insecurities and fears into every situation isn't helpful.  Not everyone is out to get us.  Not everyone has a 'hidden agenda'.  The majority of people want a fair employer, who treats them well and gives them the opportunity to succeeded in a job that pays them a comfortable wage."

"Now, whether we hire Cyril Orcut or not, he's done us a great service in demonstrating that we have a long way to go in respect to 'living our cover'.  That anyone can step onto the ship and point out in five minutes that this isn't the typical merchant operation, should be prompting us to ask some hard questions of ourselves.  Make sure you are not shooting the messenger because you don't like the message."

"As to why we aren't taking advantage of 'other sources', we are.  Jack and Thera's efforts will likely yield useful information about potential candidates.  As to why we are not running background checks and credit reports on these candidates, it is because they offer almost no value beyond what we already know.  Is Mr. Charpentier's less than stellar credit going to keep us from making an offer to him?  Has Marie Menkin's ground car pay-off moved her to the top of the hiring list?  All of these candidates have had a credit check and an interagency background check.  Significant information from those checks has been included in the dossier's.  Now, if you want to spend your own money indulging your paranoid fantasies in the vain hope that you will find some key piece of evidence in someone's credit history that links them to some nefarious hidden agenda, please feel free to do so."

"In this business, gut feeling goes a long way," Bertrand muses in his regular voice.
"Didn't get the 'bad vibe' personally, but he seems a bit arrogant to me. Not a bad trait generally, but maybe not the kind of guy you want tending your jump drive."

"So it appears we have a quorum and won't be offering Mr. Orcut a position.  Fair enough.  Hopefully Doctor Hathorn will be a good fit for one of the engineering positions."  Hayden says, typing away into his hand comp.

In reply to Hayden Marks (msg #46):

Thera smiles. "I wouldn't rule anyone out yet, we may have to take the best of a bad lot. Let's see what the others are like. So far, we're just talking over feelings."

Danica listens to Hayden explanation about not shooting the messenger and nods in acknowledgment, "Point taken, Hayden.  Is it really that obvious?"  She gives the assembled a slightly rueful smile and then continues, "I ... I think that Mr. Orcut is eminently qualified, I don't mean to reject him outright.  He could be a fine fit for the crew.  He's very self-aware, which is a good thing.  He knows what he wants and what his limits are.  As I indicated early, he is a strong candidate."

Danica nods in agreement with Thera, "Thought, we definitely need to finish the scheduled interviews with the candidates.  That is the other aspect of due dilligence."

She turns back to Hayden knowing that he promised Cyril an answer within an hour, "Can we delay our response to Mr. Orcut?  Or do you think that he will take a postponement of our decision poorly?  That is, as a rejection?  What do you think?"

"Despite his prickly nature, Orcutt feels like a good choice for Engineer to me, at least with the info we have." Jack shuts down the playback unit and turns to the Doctor. "Doctor, perhaps your medical background check is a good idea concerning Orcutt. We should know if his condition carries any liabilities with it, such as required regular meds or side effects of said meds."

Jack muses aloud, "The others I have no strong feelings about but Mr. Charpentier, though young, does indeed seem... malleable. He may turn out to be a solid long-term asset if we give him a chance to grow."

"Captain, I'll have a report ready for you soon on Aksina and Padabig, once Thera and I have a chance to finalize our notes."

Jack glances at Thera, knowing he had sort of thrown her under the bus the night before, though not intentionally. "Thera, don't worry. I'm sure you'll find a way for me to make it up to you," he says amicably.

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg #49):

OK, tomorrow morning, the ship will move from the shipyard to the downport.  Currently scheduled interviews are:

Prisa Gadron - 353 (edited)
Syren Hathorn - 353
Nino Stern - 355

If anyone has anything specific they want to do for the rest of Day 351, please let me know.  Otherwise we'll move to Day 352 and let Gypsy Moth slip the surly bonds of Alsace (briefly).
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:43, Thu 24 Feb 2011.

In reply to Referee (msg #50):

OOC: Have I got my pole installed? ;)

Jack will spend the rest of 351 examining any vacc suits and HEV gear that may be aboard. In the interest of avoiding another too-long side thread, he'll skip the conference and join Dr. Hathorn's interview on the ship proper ;)

Dr. Jones cocks his head to the side at Hayden's triad over the checks he had done.

"Indeed.  Projecting paranoia?"

"Nope, just a little due diligence - 'living our cover' as you put it - such checks on potential crew are standard practice. Its not like I hired a private eye to stalk these folks or anything."

"As to speculation and insecurities - nobody said lets nix that guy. Just we have concerns. Now, if I where as subject to paranoia and speculation as you seem to paint me - I'd start thinking maybe it only took 5 minutes for that guy to nail our atypical operation because maybe he already knew. But seriously, I think you have the right of it and I'd rather think that way."

Pausing a bit, he looks Hayden directly in the eye.

"As to the cost, I have that covered.  But, perhaps you are upset that I did not ask your permission."

"I would remind you - you are acting captain for the purposes of our cover - a role I've whole-hardily supported. However, you have no real rank over me - that is not in my remit with our actual employers."

"As medic, the physical well being of the crew is my primary responsibility - and I see that extending to any hire-ons and any potential 'baggage' physiological or psychological they might have. Inter-agency checks are fine - in point of fact I presumed Newell did his homework, couldn't picture it any other way. I'm not an idiot Mr. Marks."

"But, I see no problem covering our bases.  As my forensics and criminal instructor put it, a local talent is perhaps more likely to know a person's illegal drug pusher than anyone else and drug tests aren't foolproof. Now you may think that is just paranoid speculation, but I certainly don't like the idea of a potential addict handling our engines, or weapons."

Jim goes back to drinking his coffee.

OOC: Pathfinders in the background are less formal than the Navy, and worse, he is a doctor to boot, he'll have some problem with even perceived authority and a bit of arrogance to boot ;)

BTW: net news research and simple credit check is all Jim went out for - background checks came up as an option.

In reply to Dr. Jim D. Jones (msg #53):

OOC Part One: Please remember the Free Republic has a strong sense of personal liberty.  Conducting credit checks, background checks, medical exams, drug tests, etc without that persons expresspermission is a violation of their rights and is technically against the law.

OOC Part Two: Civil disagreement is welcome and expected but if it spins into serious squabbling or affects others players enjoyment of the game I will drop the player who, in my opinion, is most detrimental to the group dynamic.

Now then (Garth voice), "Game on!"

Jack looks over the top of his hand-comp, slightly amused at the Doc's seemingly ruffled feathers. "Captain, the good doctor seems a bit more hung-over than paranoid to me. Perhaps he needs some greasy diner food, that's always helped me on those rough mornings."

He taps his display a couple more times and says, "Thera, what did you think of Aksina? She seemed competent to me, but overly sensitive."

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg #55):

"Yeah, that's what I thought. If we want a fighter she'd be great, though she might be a bit of a handful aboard ship - particularly if she got bored. Seems to be more comfortable with a supervisor on the engineering though."

In reply to Thera Santorini (msg #56):

Last chance for Day 351, moving on to Day 352.

Freight seeking activities will take place on Day 352 or beyond as, by the time Orcut's interview and follow on discussion have ended, there won't be much of the business day left.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:32, Sat 26 Feb 2011.

"Eh?" Dr. Jones stared at his empty mug.

"Er, yeah, sorry captain. Sorry folks," Jim replies contritely, "Jack might have the right prescription, if you all will excuse me."

Jim headed to the crew deck, mumbling something about 'damn fancy shoes' or some such.  Anyone passing the infirmary later might catch the sprawled form of the softly snoring doctor on the exam table before the shipyard crew chased him out...

OOC: Uhm, Doc's done enough damage for the day ;)

Brilliant save Jack - Thanks!