Dawn breaks over Gaither Downport at about 0700 Local, but it is difficult to tell as the weather is much worse than it was for most of the preceeding week.  40-50kph winds drive a stinging, cold rain across the tarmac and a low, roiling overcast obscures the sun.

You are glad most of the cargo loading was finished yesterday, before the front arrived.  Gypsy Moth's port hold is packed to the gills with the following:


10tons   Farm Combine             Freight FFT Tupolev
10tons   Silver-streaked Marble   Spec Cargo
10tons   Aluminum Alloy Ingots    Spec Cargo
10tons   Consumer Tools/Parts     Spec Cargo
10tons   Computer Components      Spec Cargo
10tons   Spun Cotton              Spec Cargo


The ship's new crewmembers, Prisa Gadron, Nino Stern, Dagal Aksina, and Lance Charpentier, have all moved aboard and are more-or-less settled.  There is still some confusion and uncertainty as everyone works out exactly who is doing what and how each other communicate, but things are off to a mostly smooth start.

At precisely 0800, grav trucks and G-carriers arrive with Dupont's cargo, and its escorts.  The cargo consists of three armored, undersized shipping containers.  The nine hard men and women who arrive with it bring aboard several crew boxes in addition to their duffels.  They secure the cargo containers in the starboard hold, politely but firmly refusing any offers by the crew to help.

The security detail's leader is a wiry black man of about forty years of age.  He introduces himself as Girard Lafleur.  Lafleur wishes to discuss security arrangements with bridge personnel at a convenient moment prior to departure.  The others, at least according to the name tapes on their unmarked black tactical uniforms are named: Agoste (female), Diehl (male), Fletcher (female), Gomez (male), Oettinger (male), Telford (male), Vaughn (male) and Zeigler (male).

Loading isn't complete until 0900 as the detail doesn't seem to have the same experience in loading and securing cargo that the Downport's professional stevedores have demonstrated on previous days.  It is also somewhat slowed by Lafleur's insistence on triple-checking everything.  By the time loading is complete, about half the security personnel are dripping wet.  The unpleasant weather is at least some consolation to the crew for the detail's standoffishness.

Once the special cargo is loaded, Agoste, Oettinger, Telford and Zeigler take positions in the hold while the other four settle in to the passenger lounge.  They appear to be equipped with a mix of carbines and SMGs, along with sidearms and cloth armor.  Lafleur insists on having access to the bridge.  He takes the port, forward passenger stateroom while the others plan to double up in the other passenger staterooms.

On the bridge, the rhythmic hum of routine communications calls on the traffic control and ground control circuits are like a welcome music to spacers - a comforting reassurance and old friend.  Internally, comms are less crisp, but Gadron and Stern got an early start in engineering, so they look like they'll be ready.  After a busy week, the prospect of space and jump is appealing.

From the military side, FRS Gargoyle boosts at 0815.  A half hour later a Navy cutter  lifts off.  Punctually at 0945, FRPS Express lifts off from her launch pad and streaks skyward.  Gypsy Moth is scheduled to lift at 1000.

Jack was up early, watching the clouds grow a lighter shade of gray through the bridge viewports. They were leaving today. Finally, back in the black! he thought.

He threw out a last-minute call to both Anorah and Petra, hoping to hear from them but knowing he wouldn't. He wanted some information outside the usual channels... maybe he'd hear from them on Espiaux.

He double-checked the flight plan to the jump point, and triple-checked the jump plot. He knew Danica would do the same but two sets of eyes never hurt. He had hoped to pull the launch on the out-system flight and play around with her a bit but things had changed on the ship and he didn't think a mock dogfight with Danica was the right thing to do. Not today, anyway.

His Crew Coat felt good, the snub pistol at his hip was a bit too small for it's holster but it was secure. Hayden had wanted the crew to sport stunners (Jack placed his own stunner in a cubby on the bridge near his astrogator's station, against usual protocols) but Hayden had also decided he didn't want to "wrangle cats" so Jack was taking some personal initiative and carrying his snub instead.

As the navigation system finished its data integrity checks Jack pinged the Express to confirm the tandem flight to the jump point. Their bridge officer confirmed and they rang off with old superstitious spacers' farewells.

Gypsy Moth was rumbling to life. The VIP passengers were arriving and the M-Drive was winding up as Nino and Prisa got to work.

Jack pinged Engineering. "Drive room, status please. Are we good for lift-off at 1000 hours? We have a special escort to the jump point and we don't want to miss her."

Danica is up before dawn.  Her meditation and biofeedback routines virtually require it; she has completed her stretching and exercises well before breakfast and was starting to go through preflight checks before 0700 hours.  She knows the drill; she has more than enough piloting experience to know what to do.  But Dani also knows that Dupont was dropping off their 'special' cargo at 0800 hours.  So, things could get tight in timing.  Jack had also mentioned a Pathfinder escort to the jump point which meant that promptness mattered - they'd be lifting off at 1000 hours, by hook or by crook.

Danica's myriad piloting displays dance under her fingers as the dynamic controls are reconfigured and reoriented constantly.  This helps her keep her concentration focussed on the tasks at hand - but also makes sure that her plot solutions are not biased by a single perspective.  And most of the internal and external sensor data is processed and filtered, then segregated by color to allow easier contrast at a glance.  The glow of the instrumentation and controls panels reflect off of Danica's mirror shades causing them to glow in a plethora of shapes and colors.

Through the morning and preflight checks, Danica wears her ship's coveralls.  However, she fully intends to change into her vacc suit for the actual N-space transit.  Dani is not about to take that kind of chance on the Gypsy Moth's maiden voyage; one has to respect the Deep Black.  But on the ground the suit was too bulky to warrant extended use during pre-flight.  Still, Danica did carry her stunner strapped to her right thigh.

At 0800, Danica takes a break from the checks and heads down to meet with the Dupont people.  While, she figures that Hayden and the others were likely to be there as well, it never hurts to see and meet the people they would be travelling with in person.  She regards them coolly, but cordially.  And backs off when they refuse the offer of help from the Moth's crew.  Dani heads back to the bridge to finish final checks, well aware of Girard Lafleur's request to access the bridge crew.

Danica watches the Dupont personnel struggle with the special cargo loading through the bridge surveillance cameras.  She pushes it to one of the main tactical displays, figuring that Jack would also be interested in keeping an eye on the proceedings.  She places the camera display next to the split display of upper and lower engineering and the passenger lounges.  A slight smile plays on her face, but she is more concerned about which of the grunts do most of the work, trying to work out some of the dynamics and pecking order in the Dupont security.  It is just second nature to Danica at this point.

When the cargo is stowed at around 0900 hours, Danica glances up from her seat and signals Jack.  "Hey, fellow bridge crewmember," she notes playfully, "I guess we should meet with the Dupont security head now."  Dani locks her console, pushes back her seat, stands and straightens one of the pleats on her uniform.  She gives Jack slight smile, noting quietly, "I hope this doesn't take too long."  Danica starts towards the exit, hoping that Jack is following, "Shall we?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Sat 09 Apr 2011.

Hayden got an early start on the day as well. Up at 05:00, he checked each of the passenger staterooms, making sure that each had linen, toiletries, etc.  Noticing the weather outside, Hayden lays in extra towels for each stateroom.  The physical work was good for waking up and it didn’t take long to accomplish.  By 05:45, he was having a quick breakfast; fruit, pastry, and drinking coffee in the crew lounge, while sorting out a bit of paperwork.  Between 06:00 and 07:00, he was down in the port cargo hold, double checking the cargo cables and ensuring that all cargo was secure for the upcoming flight.  In the hour before the Dupont cargo was scheduled to arrive, Hayden showed and changed from his jumpsuit to his uniform with crew coat, now that most of the hard work was done.

As the Dupont security staff came aboard, Hayden made sure to meet each of them.  Marks kept an electronic passenger preferences form on his handcomp, and circulated it to the new arrivals.  It covered all the basic info a good steward would need to know: dietary restrictions, sleep schedule, entertainment preferences, etc. He assisted everyone with finding a berth and gave each one an overview of the relevant stateroom controls and facilities.  Hayden also made sure that they all knew where the safety gear was located in their cabin.

As the passengers and cargo were loaded, Hayden updated the manifest documents and updated them from his handcomp to the ship’s main computer.  He let his steward software suggest a meal plan based on the responses to his survey.  By the time the Navy cutter lifted, Hayden has wrapped up the bulk of his Purser duties.  He found a quiet place for a quick cat nap before liftoff.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Fri 08 Apr 2011.

Thera watches the loading operations from the background. Cargo operations aren't her forte, and she assumes her crew mates will have things in hand, but if necessary she will suggest to Hayden that somebody from the crew should double-check the stability of the cargo. The last thing we need is loose containers crashing around as we lift, and those guys don't look like experts.

Thera wears her vacuum body sleve and a breather mask in a belt pouch. She wears cloth armour under a loose fitting shipsuit and tops it with her coat. She carries a small bag of lead slugs. She will carry whatever armament has been agreed as 'appropriate', probably a stunner from the Locker.

She doesn't like the armed guards and keeps a wary eye on them, but figures the bank is paying the piper and she will treat them as ships troops as a default position. She will, however, suggest to the crew that 'ship's troops' shouldn't wear weapons if they have cause to enter crew areas - if they're given permission to enter crew areas at all...

Jack chuckles out loud as he and Danica steal a few moments watching their most important cargo being loaded. He was getting a kick out of witnessing the meatheads sweat in the hold. An icon chimed on his console and he brought himself back to work.

As Jack finishes his ping to Engineering, Danica stands, ready to meet the Dupont sec chief.

"Right. Time to earn our keep."

As they walk towards the passenger level, Jack straightens his crew coat, settles his snub in its holster and sets his comm to the shipwide channel.

"So..." he murmurs to Danica. "Do you want to deal with their hard-ass, or should I?"