OOC: While the interviews are still taking place on Day 353, we can start setting the scene for speculative cargo fixing on Day 354.  The cargos to be examined today include: silver streaked marble, chinchillas, aluminum alloy ingots, and possibly one other.  Who will be going to look at each lot?

Dawn breaks of Day 354 with mild temperatures and a gentle breeze.  The crew of Gypsy Moth continues their preparations for departure in three days, while the Captain and some others shift their focus from human relations to purchasing speculative cargo.

Jack wakes early, stealing a few minutes to do some isometrics in the VIP exercise room. After a quick shower and quicker breakfast, he sits with a fresh espresso in the crew lounge and reviews the reminders in his hand-comp.

Vacc & HEV suits... done... Updating astrogational database... done... Life Support recharges... done... Jack works his way through the routine of getting a ship ready to depart, sipping his coffee thoughtfully and musing on each item as he checks it off, letting his mind wander to adjacent ship areas, overlapping chores, different scales of timetables. He copies Danica on all items he views as complete, requesting a ping back if she finds a discrepancy or notices that something was overlooked.

"Oh yes - the Express." Jack logs into the local datanet and runs through a list of boutique wine vendors, remembering his father's advice on the local market offerings. He picks a small but respected northern hemisphere Alsacian vineyard, selects a vintage 5737 table red and a 5733 fine white and has the two bottles shipped to the captain of the Express with a simple Gypsy Moth sends her thanks.

He writes Hayden a quick note: Captain, available for spec inspection. But today's possibles are out of my expertise. He sends it with a command to not deliver until the captain's personal comm is in public online mode; no sense waking the man if he's not up yet.

Jack makes himself another espresso and wanders up to the bridge. The quiet inside Gypsy Moth is soothing, the little moans and hums and dings of a living ship. He activates the viewscreens just as the sky is lightening, then the astrogation computer. He quietly surfs the display, tracing their run to Trinity, playing with different routes, all the time thinking of that destroyed scout vessel and wondering if old Grant Mullins is still alive.

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg #2):

Jack finds a leotard-clad Thera already embarked on her regular morning workout, which seems to involve a good many exercises that look all but impossible. She finishes with a number of disturbingly eyecatching pole-dancing routines before leaving to shower. At breakfast, she offers to assist wherever she's needed in the ship preparations.

Hayden was up early as well, but whereas the other crew have gone down to the lower deck, he has moved aft, to have breakfast and relax a bit by playing his семиструнка, a seven string guitar that his mother had taught him.  Hayden played Georgian folk music, often to relax, or occasionally to entertain guests.  A good steward needed a few tricks up his sleeve to keep his charges content -  this was one of them.  Seven string guitars were rare and the novelty, some good wine, and a half dozen songs were good for one evening of happy customers.

With no passengers onboard however, Hayden plays to clear his mind.  Today promises to be busy and he would likely be negotiating deals worth hundreds of thousands of credits.  Emotion had no place in investing - and so the sorrowful tune folk tune he plays serves as a catharsis, for the next few hours would require him to be level headed and focused only on the bottom line.

In reply to Hayden Marks (msg #4):

Great Western Materials (purveyors of all forms of construction stone) is about an hour away from Gaither Downport.  They open at 0830 local.

Hayden's going, anyone else?

Jack finishes up his musings and gets ready for a day of running about. He lingers in the crew lounge until Hayden is ready to leave.


OOC: Jack will go along to Great Western. @Ref - how's Cr200 for the wine for the Express?

In reply to Jacques Keveloh (msg #6):

OOC: Jack, nice gift!  200Cr is fine.

You're not sure exactly what you expect a construction stone salesman to look like, but you're pretty sure Liam Bratak isn't it.  Of average height and slim build, Mr. Bartak is stylishly and impeccably dressed.  He greets you with warm smile and a shake of his manicured, long fingered hand.

Inviting you into his large, elegantly furnished office, Liam offers you drinks.

He chats amicably about a wide range of subjects before finally arriving at the business at hand.  "I certainly complement you for your taste in construction materials as ours are the finest in known space and very popular.  Unfortunately I have very little Tuscan marble in stock, but we do have some Salasia silver-streaked marble available."

Danica spends the early morning going through her stretching and meditation routine in the crew lounge on the upper deck today.  She listened to the haunting strains of Hayden's instrument resonate in the mustering and lounge areas.  She finds the music to be generally helpful - though for certain parts of her routine, the music is just another worldly distraction to be slowly stripped away from consciousness.  Still, the soft, lyric melodies are a remarkable touchstone for Danica to use during transitions in her workout.

Once she is done with her final exercise, Danica trots over to Hayden and waits for his current song to finish.  She gently touches on the shoulder and gives him a smile and a thumbs up.  She leans over and notes quietly, that she'll be on-board for most of the day dealing with the general armaments and ordinance for the ship's locker should be arriving today.  After breakfast and for much of the morning and possibly early afternoon, Dani expects that she will be going over them, inspecting, stripping and cleaning everything, and then initializing all of the biometric security chips.  Given her certification as a weapon engineer specializing in energy weapons - her setting up the armory only makes sense.  That as well as the fact that Hayden and the rest of the crew are keenly aware that Danica can be a bit particular about weapons.

She gives Hayden a slight salute and then apologizes for interrupting, letting him return to his playing.  Meanwhile, Dani returns to her quarters to freshen up before heading to the galley for breakfast.

OOC: As an authorized agent for the ship, she'll also oversee any cargo that is arranged to arrive for the day.