In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 56):

The Captain obviously felt condescended to.

"Right. Stay here, then, if you think my instructions are optional."

He signalled the Stevedore to unload the crate Ken was interested in on the dock. Ken was left with the crate in the loading bay with no way to open it as the airlock began to cycle closed.

In reply to Captain Shagguurap (msg # 57):

"Wait? What? What are you doing? You can't just leave him there!" exclaimed Lorrain as the airlock closed.

Ken shook his head;  "By space captain, can't you take a joke?"  He headed aboard.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 59):

The cargo lock clanged shut. Around Ken, the non-robot Stevedores looked confused as to what seemed to be happening.


A moment later, the cargo lock opened again. Lorrain and the Captain stood there. She looked furious, he looked embarrassed.

"Uh, sorry, Ken. I think I over-reacted." He looked embarrassedly over to Lorrain, who was looking very annoyed at him, then back at Ken. "I was going to send a Cutter for you, honest. Let's just forget this little mistake and get going, I don't want to fall further behind schedule. Really, we gotta go. Our launch window closes in ten minutes." He held out his hand to shake.

A robot Stevedore rolled over, grabbed the crate in metal tentacle arms, then wheeled it into the ship's cargo bay.

Linus rolled his eyes.

"Children, children," he muttered, mostly to himself.

Ken glanced at Lorain and then extended his hand to the captain.  "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding as well.  Let's boost then."  He headed aboard and noted the location of that crate.

Neva had finished her walk around, actually finished it a couple of times, and felt that she had a better grasp of the ship now.  When she heard the group arriving back to the ship she started down to welcome them.

She stayed out of the way when it became apparent that the captain was one of those "I have a time schedule to keep" type of people.  Something to keep in mind for the future.

Finally she walked out to where the others could see her and was quiet as she watched.

When Blake hears about the captain/Ken incident, he looks into what cargo was picked up here and where it was placed.  Something else to look into after jumping ...

Ken nodded to Blake and spoke quietly.  "Let's do a thorough check on our downtime of everything aboard."

Agreed.  Can you get the manifests ??  Or should we turn Neva loose ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 66):

Neva stepped forward when she heard her name.  "Turn me loose?  You make it sound like I'm a mad woman about to run amok on the ship."

Ken thought for a moment.  "It's his ship so asking for the manifest might be tricky, especially if coming from me.  We could have Neva perhaps ask under the pretext of organizing things.  I think she'd be the best suited to look for contraband in the cargo.  Given the magnitude of what we seek I don't trust anyone but our small group."  He turned to Neva; "Can you snoop around the cargo, particularly that last crate?  I'm just not entirely trusting our captain after that outburst."

Linus smiled. He'd never thought his service skills would be useful.

"The manifest will be in the system. I'll have a look around for it if you'd like."

The Navy might do things a bit differently, but the ship's office runs pretty much the same whatever the vessel.

Ahhh Linus, the ultimate secret weapon - those marvelous choco chip cookies ...

Once everything else has been discussed So Neva, how was your tour of this excellent vessel ??  After which he will bring her up to date on current affairs.

Neva chuckled.  This group always surprised her.  Linus most of all.

"This is a good ship.  I managed to sketch out the various locations.  I think I could probably find my away around it now even with lights off or, say, smoke filled.  So how was the drinks?  Watered down or extra strength?"

Ken chuckled as Linus spoke up.  "I'll leave it in your capable hands Neva and Linus." He headed up to the lounge to watch the preparations for departure.

The plan was to travel to the outer system using M-Drive, so it would be a while before they entered Jumpspace. This was to throw off pursuit, and so they could make some final observations using the ship's telescopic sensors (visible light, thermal and microwave) to fix the position of the Mothership in interstellar space.

Somewhat gruffly, the captain accepted Ken's hand, then dismissed the crew to their stations.

They were soon boosting for the outer system, a trip that would take days. The plan was to gain momentum in the general direction of travel for the mothership, and hopefully gather enough information to Jump before they reached the frozen outer system wastes of the Oort cloud.

Ahhh, days under M drive.  Sometime for snooping, I mean inventory verification ...

Ken spent the time in boost to the outer system working out, watching the scientific experts work and in general acting innocently as the others snooped.  he did speak to Lorain;  "What can we expect when we arrive at the Sky Raider's location?  Do you expect any organized opposition or activity?  I'd think after centuries of silence everything would be dead."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 75):

Lorrain thought about it for a moment. "It seems unlikely after all this time anyone is still alive.

"There is a Vilani asteroid colony that is still inhabited that dates back from this era, but it's been abandoned and resettled many times, and can rely on outside sources of fuel and parts.

"The truth is we're more worried about pirates, Zhodani, other thieves and of course Kalamanaru! If we find the mother-ship, others can as well. That's why we have you along."

Linus went off to find the ship's office. Preferably when nobody was around (likely at this time as they'd just left port, it is when you are a few days out up to when you depart that it's most active!). Then he'll have a poke around and pull up the manifest...

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 77):

On this ship the Captain was also the Purser, and kept the ship's files. His office was locked with a security passcode.

It looked like the ship had some kind of anti-hijacking program in place, which included passcodes to get into secure areas and strategically-placed surveillance CCTVs were in operation.

OK, that's physical areas, right? Linus looks for an accessible computer, to see what he can access that way...

Ken considered Lorain's words.  "I can't imagine the ship still operating after all those centuries.  That they've not reappeared after all that time then that's all the more sign that they are all dead."  He nodded in agreement with her last words.  "I agree that pirates and thieves, Zhodani trying to claim this ship or certainly Kalamanaru are the big threats.  He's been persistent enough.  I'd almost expect to find him waiting for us."  Ken smiled.  "And I appreciate your confidence Lorain.  Let's hope that we don't need to rely on violence or the threat of it."

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 79):

Linus found out he had "Guest" level access on the ship's network. He lacked the level of authority ("Crew") that would allow him to access ship's administration systems. This wasn't that surprising, as they were not crew on the Inquisitor. All standard parts of the anti-hijacking system.