IC: Inbound Tupolev Day 070-071/5742
The past five weeks have been busy...
Over Espiaux, Simon Newell commended the crew on their actions onboard Suzain. He praised them for saving the remaining survivors and recovering the stricken lab ship. Furthermore, he notes that Blackfin Shipping has filed for salvage arbitration in the recovery of Suzain and that the crew, as parties to the proceedings, are entitled to a percentage of any settlement forthcoming. He does caution though, that proceedings may take several months or years to be adjudicated.
Simon graciously agrees that the crew has earned some rest, but he stresses the need to move forward towards the group’s original objective. As a token of his goodwill, the company hosts a blowout party in a private room of an elite Espiaux restaurant that night.
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Given the short time he had to work with, Hayden did a masterful job lining up cargo, while Thera skillfully filled Gypsy Moth’s passenger staterooms. Danica, Jacques, and the rest of the crew had their hands full arranging for fuel, life support, and spares, getting the passengers aboard and settled, and docking at highport to load cargo, not to mention plotting the ship’s jump.
Doc had the additional task of keeping a certain female Doc happy until the ship left as well.
When the Gypsy Moth broke Espiaux’s orbit only four days after arriving, the entire crew breathed a short sigh of relief. True, there hadn’t been much chance for shore liberty, but at least there would be some semblance of routine in the near future. In her cargo holds, Gypsy Moth carried:
10tons Farm Equipment (still aboard from Alsace) – one 10ton combine
40tons Frozen Seafood (Freight) – five 10ton reefer containers
10tons Fish Oil (speculative) – one 10ton tank container
50tons Petrochemical Lubricants (speculative) – sixty two .8ton pallets of four 200L drums per pallet, plus two single drums
8 tons passenger baggage in crates
1ton News Databanks for Gateway Media
P1 - Two high passengers: Detmar Torben and Yuki Kaman, wealthy honeymooners*
P2 – Two high passengers: Candace and Elle Porchier, teenage daughters of Dorothy*
P3 – One high passenger: Dorothy Porchier, writer
P4 – One high passenger: Harlow Porter, law student
P5 – One high passenger: Marya Rapp, Dorothy Porchier’s publicist
P6: - One high passenger: Dr. Cole Vogt, xeno-ethnographer
* - each passage discounted for double occupancy, but still more profitable than carrying singles
Hayden had shied away from speculating in the stereotypical luxury seafood cargoes, especially since the ship’s port hold was largely full of it as freight. Instead, his commercial senses told him that oils that didn’t naturally occur on Tupolev would be better bets. Whether for medicinal or industrial use, saltwater fish didn’t live on Tupolev, and the planet didn’t have the technology to synthesize petrochemicals.
The news reports were safely lodged in the magazine adjacent to the dorsal turret. They wouldn’t bring a lot of revenue, but a few thousand extra credits was a nice return for otherwise unused space.
As for the passengers, well, they each have their stories.
The honeymooners are rarely seen, except for meals. Detmar is a lean, muscular endurance athlete of moderate professional ability. His new bride, Yuki, is the youngest daughter of a prominent Espiaux industrialist.
Ms. Porchier is a noted writer of popular, but not particularly literary romance holo-novels. She is known for overwrought drama, unlikely plot elements, and near pornographic erotica. Dorothy, her two daughters, and her publicist Marya, are on a publicity tour through Halowon space. A drama queen, she incessantly harasses Marya with trivial demands and narcissist self-doubts. She also takes copious notes about the honeymooners, but Detmar becomes angry when Elle jokes that her mother plans to model a new book after the two.
The elder Porchier daughter, though only seventeen, quickly develops a crush on Lance Charpentier.
Harlow Porter is a law student at the top university on Espiaux. He is on a fellowship to study pre-digital surveillance civil investigation methodologies on Tupolev.
Marya Rapp, quite simply, is a dingbat. Although she introduces herself as Dorothy’s publicist, she is, in fact, nothing more than her assistant. If anything, Dorothy’s high maintenance demands and constant drama reinforce Marya’s belief that she is the vital right hand to a great author, rather than the harried aide to a second-rate pulp romance writer.
Dr. Vogt is bringing several minor Aslan artifacts, all in his baggage or his room, for display on loan to museums on Tupolev. He is just past middle-age, and, for a rather portly academic, takes his reverence for Aslan warrior culture a bit seriously.
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Gypsy Moth spent precious little time in the Vauclain/Ozawa system, just long enough to refuel on Ozawa and have dinner with an old friend of Hayden’s. After the staid urbanity of Espiaux, Ozawa strikes you as rustic, yet bustling.
Those of you who have been to Ozawa before are surprised at how much the settlement has grown. Those of you who haven’t are struck by the town’s dusty, boomtown atmosphere. The planet isn’t much in the way of recreation, giving rise to the joke, “I spent a month on Ozawa…last night.”
The company has tried hard to integrate the settlers from disparate cultures, but the divisions between old-timers and new arrivals, as well as from the different planets and polities are never far below the surface.
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Day 070
Gypsy Moth has emerged from jump space in the Tupolev system. You have given the port authorities at EKJ downport your estimated time of arrival early on Day 071 and alerted your freight consignees to the imminent arrival of their goods.
All of you, but especially Thera, are looking forward to the departure of your passengers. Gypsy Moth can seem cramped with ten souls, the additional eight on a five week voyage have been enough to make you long for some elbow room.
OOC: As usual, assumptions on space transit, unless otherwise stated, are that the ship's transponder and active sensors are on and that she's taking the most direct route to the planet.
OOC2: I know at least one player has a contact on Tupolev. Let me know of any comms to contacts, of anything you want to ask or do w passengers before landing, and also if any of your characters wanted to buy anything on Espiaux or Ozawa. I'll give people a chance to respond, then we'll move on to planetside.