"Oh, sorry. I thought they looked familiar," Luise replies.

"You didn't have anything labeled. Anyway, looks good. I know more about the cost of high fashion than I do about trade goods."

"Have the mail picked up. Go ahead and sell the cargo and have the buyer pick it up."

"But, like I said, do we have any specific destination next? Or do we just want to see where the space winds take us?"

09:38, Today: Harry McStubbin rolled 12 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 3,4.  broker.

09:38, Today: Harry McStubbin rolled 17 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 6,6.  broker. +2 of Efate = 19.

OOC - What do they sell for StarMaster?

"Aye aye captain. See where the cargo takes us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:12, Mon 16 Dec 2019.

30 tons of uncommon raw materials - 390kcr: sells for 409.5kcr

65 tons of Basic Electronics - 910kcr +2 on Efate: sells for 1,274kcr

15,957,979 Cr after expenses. half a million profit.

Arc could handle a PGGB when he was feeling good, but tended to feel bad after drinking one. He wasn't feeling that good today... kind of the blahs rather than feeling sick. So he wanted something that was a pick-me-up.

"I think I'll have... a mudslide," he ordered. Although the alcohol was a depressant, the caffeine from the coffee should do the trick.

"A couple of guys I know... when we were on a hunting trip... we'd sit around the campfire at night and speculate on what kind of alien animals we might find... and how we'd hunt them," he answered Steve while they waited for their drinks.

"We were into the 'man vs. nature' scene, so, no drones, no smart weapons. Sometimes we'd consider using a bow, but no laser sights and no heat-seeking armor-piercing arrows. Where's the fun in that?"

"Yeah, sounds about right on the sapient octopus. Ha-ha! Nice image. Somebody was being creative! If you had 8 appendages, could you actually do 8 different tasks at the same time? Most humans have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time."

"But, no, I never had the idea, nor the desire, to tour the galaxy's bars. I'm content with just doing the rounds at a starport."

He'd spent most of the trip reading up on Efate. There were a few points of interest, but mostly he was interested in how the war had affected the planet.

He was looking around the subsector to see where cargo might be needed. Sometimes, you could always check outbound freight to see where stuff was needed, but that didn't always mean they needed (or wanted) what you hauled out to them. That was the point of speculative trade.

They certainly weren't in need of money, not after that deal about the alien ship.

So, it now got back to... what did they want to do? There was only so much trade you could do before it started to get repetitious... old... and just plain boring. Unless you were so inclined to that sort of life. He wasn't. He was still young enough to want adventure.

Of course, they could always go back to what they started out doing... skip-tracing... before the war interrupted them.

He decided to check with the new crew... see what they wanted to do.

He managed to corner Exler and Oen-kek in the mess hall before they left the ship.

"We used to do skip-tracing," he began. "In fact, that's how we got our first ship. The war disrupted that and we changed gears to trying a bit of speculative trade. I don't think that's our thing, though."

"So, what are two interested in doing?"

from Ex.

In reply to Kraig Pars (msg # 17):

Always partial to exploration, aybe finding a suital planet and start a colony.  being a king sounds good.
sorry for not being around recently but had computer problems and just got it back working.

"Yes! Land is always good!" Exler agrees. "Well, territory... though that really translates as worlds."

"I don't really want to wind up having to run a colony. That's for the women. And once you get one going, you have to start a second one. Expand your territory."

"Those are long term projects, though. I'm not old enough to have the patience for that."

"I agree, though: trade was boring. I like Oen-kek's idea--exploration. To start a colony, we'd have to find some place to colonize anyway."

"Anyone know any place we can go exploring? I thought everything in this area was already explored and colonized. It'd be a long haul to an unexplored area of space."

"I'm not that familiar with the planets around, haven't done any research. Exploration sounds fun."

"Well, it kind of depends on what kind of exploration you are talking about," Arc chimed in.

"There are two types and even those can be broken down into styles and levels. The first type is what the Scouts do--go out into the unknown and explore new worlds. Unfortunately, we're way far away from anywhere that can happen. It'd take us a year maybe to reach the edge of Known Space."

"The second type is detail exploring of an existing world. This covers mountains, valleys, jungles, deserts, wastelands, arctic regions and even underwater."

"By the time Jump drive was invented, we pretty much had developed sensors to the point where we knew where all the stars were and which ones had planets around them. Details about the planets were scarce at best, so that's where the Scouts came in."

"Jump-2 pretty much assured that we could reach any place that was close enough to be practical. The problem with Jump-6, though, was that you could expand beyond your ability to conquer and control the area. If it takes a year to get there and a year to get back, a lot can happen in the two years you've been gone! Another year to get back... and the world might not even be there any more."

"It's why the Imperium keeps collapsing--it expands beyond its ability to control."

"Anyway, those types of worlds aren't around this deep into Known Space. So, that leaves the Type 2 exploration--details. The same kind of expansion issues leave glaring gaps in the exploration of new worlds. Take Earth history: it took 10,000 years of civilization and technological development before the entire planet was fully explored. Even then, there can be pockets that escape notice."

"Now we get down to style. Sensor sweeps, aerial reconnaissance, fly-bys, or feet on the ground? Mostly, it'll depend on what we are looking for. Feet on the ground also covers all-terrain vehicles. Sensor sweeps are primarily orbital."

"I've been checking the star maps for the local subsector. Efate isn't a good place for that sort of endeavor. There are only two planets within our reach that we might consider exploring. Alell is an Amber Zone. Somewhat of an urbanized paradise, lots of resorts, ruled by a king and complex bureaucracy... it has an extreme law level. Tourists go to the resorts but are cautioned not to go anywhere else. There are some unexplored regions of the planet."

The second world is better... and worse. It's a Red Zone... interdicted but no one knows why. Strong Scout presence around the planet. It has no starport, no known population, no known hazards. Speculation has it as a secret military installation, but it may also have an emerging civilization that no one wants to interfere with. I'm starting to wonder if it may not have some Ancient ruins there."

"Problem there is getting by the scouts. It IS a red zone and interdicted. We can always move to another point in space, taking odd cargoes and jobs on the way to pay for travel."

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 23):

OK, we should avoid the red Zone and pick up cargo to take to yje amber zone planet.  From there we ould see what planets look best for detailed exploration.  We should concentrate looking for useful etal/mineral deposits.  Doing sensor sweeps first then if we discover a good site then do a foot on the ground search todetermin how easy it would be to access the site with the detreminating factor of wether or not it was located already or not.  If not then we could sell the information either to the local government or an appropriate mega corp.

In reply to Oen-kek (msg # 24):

ok checking with the Traveller map site the following world are jump 2 from Efate.  Whanga,
uakye. lousy, and manoeb.  The first two worlds are starpot e Menorb is a c and lousy is a d.
none are either red nor amber zones.

"We've got a Jump-3 ship now, so we go a bit farther than before," Arc reminds Oen.

"If we really want to do some exploring, we could always head for the Foreven Sector. We could get there in 8 Jump-3s. Doesn't appear to be anything all that dangerous along the route."

"Foreven, sounds promising, gods willing."

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 27):

wors for me, e should try and find cargo that has destinations as we head that way to help pay the costs of the ship
On another note
This message was last edited by the player at 14:55, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

In reply to Oen-kek (msg # 28):

On another note none of us are really equipped to go exploring.  My background is security, one of us is a skip tracer and one  of us is an ex marine. I think that covers all the active characters, your thoughts?

"Never fly empty is a Trader's rule," the Captain responds. "We don't have to stick by it, but I expect we'll look into it as we go. Cargo, maybe not so much. Freight definitely. Or maybe the other way around. We heading into the outback, so to speak. Probably not going to be much freight or passengers."

"And, since it's off the X-boat route, mail might be an option."

"In any case, we'll need to stock up on food supplies. 8 jumps is 8 weeks. I don't think we should expect to find supplies along the way. In fact, I'd want to have 20 weeks of rations--8 there, 8 back if we don't like what we find, and 4 spares just in case."

"I'll set about plotting our route. Anybody have anything else to add?"

Harry smiles, Let's explore! Aye-aye captain, I'll buy enough food to fill the larder for 20 weeks"

Harry goes to the computer station and links up with the local Wifi to search the internet for the area. He finds a few wholesalers to check their prices and to make arrangements for transfer.

He then logs into the Trader's Guild to find cargo going in the direction of the Foreven sector.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:34, Fri 10 Jan 2020.

She had no idea what awaited them in the Foreven Sector, but there were no reports of anything unusual, strange or dangerous. Didn't mean there wasn't.

There was a problem with going that far away from the Imperium. They wouldn't be able to make the monthly mortgage payments... at least, not in a timely manner. Having wound up on the Dust Runner because it was being skip-traced, she was well aware how tenacious and resourceful skip-tracers could be. She definitely didn't want to wind up in that position.

It was possible, though, that she could work something out with the bank. Well, a bank. The data was on the ship's transponder... part of its ID. It got downloaded automatically at every starport where the ship came in contact with the Air-Space Traffic Control net.

After checking the local web, she decided to start with TranStellar Banq. There were a few other possibilities, but that seemed to be the best choice.

As she headed out of the ship, she stopped to see stopped to see Harry.

"You might want to see about getting a few spare fuel bladders or maybe even drop tanks," she told him. "Never know what we're going to run into."

Ten minutes later she was sitting across the desk from De'Vante Hollister, the financial director for the bank.

She began explaining the current situation and where the ship was heading.

Harry checked in on fuel bladders and tanks then to double their fuel capacity to make a double jump or two if need be. He talked to the engineer, Roland, about checking and performing maintenance on the fuel skimmers and the Fuel Processors to purify the fuel in them.

"Hey Roland, go over the fuel system too, we're looking to add capacity for extended trips. We need good clean fuel to avoid misjumps."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:16, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 33):

Oen is manning comms.

Harry hits his comms, "Hey Ex, give Roland a hand will you, your strength might be needed."

In reply to Luise Wechsler (msg # 32):

There was some commotion at the entrance to the TranStellar Banq branch office. A tall and very sharp dressed man exchanged a couple of words with one of the bank's security guards, who seemed to turn pale, then nodded. The man spoke something into a communicator, then the doors opened again. A smaller figure walked in, wearing a hooded cloak, with the hood drawn over the face. The figure was clearly female, and a few strands of long blonde hair were reaching out from under the hood. Then another man entered, dressed just as sharp as the first one.

The group of three was heading for the bank manager, who turned just as pale as his security guard before. The two men kept the smaller woman in the middle and sent glances out to everyone around, warning not to approach.

"Oh my goodness.", the bank manager gasped. "I'm so sorry, dear baroness, but would you mind terribly to wait a little while? I have to take this customer immediately."

Before Luise could respond, the group reached the desk. The small figure under the cloak paused, looked at Luise and then said: "Luise? What are you doing here?" She removed her hood, revealing the face of Siyeon, one of the most prolific singers in recent history. She was blonde now, maybe as a disguise, but once her hood was removed, she was easy to recognize. She smiled at Luise, a quizzical look on her face.