The week in J-space to reach Quare goes as expected--boring and too long.

But then the alert for exit sounds almost all too soon.

Within 30 seconds, the ship receives the standard transponder request, which, as far as the console shows, has already been transmitted. This is because the communication/sensor satellite is farther away than normal. It detected the J-space transition and issued its request before it received the ship's transponder signal.

It's not a big deal; it happens sometimes. You're just way out in the sticks.

There are advantages to having a starport in orbit. In the case of Quare, they outweigh the problems of having it down on the airless planet.

There seems to be no problem with your approach to the highport--a vector is automatically transmitted to the ship, which includes a docking bay assignment. Since all you're doing here is refueling and taking on cargo, that's just standard protocol.

An hour or so later, your ship docks at the indicated bay.


When you look into what kind of freight is available for shipment to Thanber, you find there's nothing. It's strictly a mining world with two small dome cities on the surface and three extensive underground cities.

It's a vacuum desert world. It could USE some water and toilet paper!

"Damn! I've been in space too long!" Luise says when she sees the data feed from the planet!

"How the hell did I get the two worlds transposed? Somehow, I was reading the data for Quare and thought it was for Thanber. And vice versa."

"Well, we aren't going to get much in terms of supplies. Anything that's here will be expensive, and there won't be much in quantity."

"However... there might be freight waiting to be trans-shipped to Thanber. One can only hope."

In reply to Luise Wechsler (msg # 168):

"Hmmmm, I should have done better research myself Luise. I didn't use my initiative to double check what you said. Standard freight and mail if there is any, or just jump without cargo I guess. We can't get it right every time, as long as we're right 95% of the time." he says with a smile.

13:30, Today: Harry McStubbin rolled 9 using 2d6+5 with rolls of 2,2.  broker.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:31, Mon 28 Sept 2020.

"Any chance for shore leave?" Forge asked when the ship arrived at the dock. "Maybe we can find something that needs our talents."

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 170):

Harry stayed on the ship this stop, he'd be security so others could go ashore.

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 171):

"Let's get a cold beer Forge, I need a drink!"

"Works for me." Forge said as he headed out with Roland to get something to drink and see what is going on. Maybe there was a patron that need some help that the group might be able to handle.

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 173):

"Lucky Jack's? It's here in the Starport with our kind, get whatever is cold and on tap! I was here once when I was in the service!"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Sun 04 Oct 2020.

In reply to Roland Steel (msg # 174):

Harry checked to see if there was any freight or mail for Thanber. Hopefully they could salvage a little bit from this jump to make a profit.

"Sounds good, and real food would be nice for a change, not prepackaged." Forge said to Roland.

Lucky Jack's is, for all intents and purposes, a Spacer's dive. There's not enough traffic through Quare Highport to support anything better or larger, but the quality of food and drink isn't bad... what there is of it. Variety is only about a third of what you'd find in a normal bar. That mostly has to do with how long it takes to reorder.

You don't look like high-end customers, so all that's offered on the menu is carni-culture synthebeef. There really isn't any place on the planet to grow food animals, even if that was done any more.

Determined merely by observation, there appear to be a few 'regulars' at the bar. There's a game of poker going on at one of the tables in the back corner.

The decor is Early Modern Industrial liberally accented with rust--patina the decorators call it.

No sooner than you've ordered your food and drink than a stranger slides into one of the extra seats.

He looks like a Spacer in need of a shave, wearing worn and greasy gray coveralls. On the other hand, his hands and nails are clean, and his face doesn't have any of the telltale dirt streaks of dirt and grime that are the usual marks of an engineer.

"If you can spare a few minutes of your time, I'm buying drinks for everyone," he begins.

"The name's Arlo Thresh, assistant engineer on the ISS Dreadful. That's the big ship parked outside. We're on station because of Arden. Don't expect to be here much longer. Figure Arden will invade as soon as we leave."

"Found something on one of the gas giant moons that should be... investigated." At that point, he lowers his head and whispers. "Ancient."

"And I am guessing that it would be helpful if it was checked out while there is still a chance, before Arden comes and pays a social call." Forge said in a low voice, more use to boarding actions and not scouting. "You paying, so you have my ear, what is the scuttlebutt?" he asked.

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 178):

Roland listened to the tale too, half interested. As long as he was buying he'd at least pretend to listen.

It wasn't that he had been stuck with ship duty, but he didn't like the look of this highport. It looked like it was about to fall out of the sky at any moment! It wasn't; it took more than decrepit looks to do that. So, he'd gone through all the files and reports about the place. In the end, he couldn't find anything bad to say about the place, but he did find a couple of mentions of scavvers--scavenger rats, people looking to scavenger or scrounge or outright steal anything that wasn't nailed down.

So, he double checked the security protocols before exiting the ship. He need a couple of drinks... just to be 'sociable.

Not many choices in this backwater highport. There were always dives, even deep dives. Somehow, spacers always found a way to make hooch.

He found Lucky Jack's. It didn't even claim to be a bar and grill, or even just a bar; it was simply Lucky Jack's. He quickly spotted Harry and the others as eh entered. He didn't have much hope for finding a real steak, but then again, sometimes these out of the way places surprised you. If the food was too bad, no one wanted to hang around, workers were lazy and work was shoddy.

"So, this is what you guys are up to!"

Then he noticed the other guy... who was definitely not one of the crew! And the whispering.

"What'd I miss?"

"Not much, he just started, sounds like he wants to get us involved in trouble, I don't know about that."

"Okay, so the Dreadful was out patrolling the system, more like an exercise," Arlo continues to whisper, "when the captain decided we needed to practice refueling at one of the gas giants."

"Personally, if you ask me, I think he was just bored. Wanted to see some action. Thinks he's regular Hornblower. He's not, but he takes it out on his crew."

"So, we're doing the refueling and he was testing everyone by having us perform odds and ends. Me, I had to do a space walk to polish the name on the hull. No biggie, you know? But, see, while I'm out there, just as I finish up the polishing... better than even what the captain wanted, if I say so myself, I turn to head back to the airlock. I pause for a moment just to take a look at the gas giant and one of the moons coming around the curve of the planet. I got kind of caught up on the moment, you know?"

"So I see this feature on the moon. It was like a canyon or a big crevasse... whatever. And I spot this... building. It was built right into the side of the canyon, like those old cliff dwellers."

"When I get back inside, I check the sensors to see if I was imagining it. And it don't show up on the sensors! So, I think, yeah, just my imagination playing tricks with the shadows. I couldn't shake the image, though, so I wait for it to come around again and there it is again! And it still don't show up on sensors! It's only visible from a narrow angle."

"Didn't think to take a picture then. I would have the next time it came around, but we'd finished refueling and we hauled ass out of them... one of the captain's emergency procedure drills."

"We kept busy around the system for about a month and then came back to station. I've been waiting for a ship to dock that I felt had some potential... partners."

He pauses then to see what everyone's response is.

"What's your cut? Which gasser and pong? Any atmo? Is there room for an arf?" Forge asked, with the thought of doing something other than being cooped in a merchant ship, besides reading the manual on the turret.

"You got vacation time? Maybe you can join us since you are a scout. Might be a promo if you play your cards right." He added, trying to get an idea as to the risk.

OOC:
Gasser - Gas Giant
Pong - Moon (referencing a ping pong ball)
Arf - Air raft

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 183):

Roland listened but was unimpressed, but then again, it could be Ancients!

In reply to Roland Steel (msg # 184):

The more he listened, the more interested Roland became. It could be a serious opportunity for them, but he let Forge do the talking.

"What? You think I'm daft?" Arlo replies. "I got the info, you got the ship."

"Yeah, I figured I'd go with you, but, hell, if I play my cards right, screw the promotion! I'll just retire!"

"I'm thinking there must be lots of good stuff out there. The location alone would be worth a lot, but probably not enough to retire on, not when we split it. But, put our hands on some artifacts... the sky's the limit on them!"

"Not sure where we'd sell them, being out here in the Big Empty."

"Of course, it might not be the Ancients at all. Could be something else. Every once in a while you hear a rumor about another race that was out this way--the D'Nari. Just rumors, but you never know."

"So, you interested in making a deal? We can do it up like a mining claim."

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 186):

"I'd be interested, but you'd have to run it by the captain too, and the rest of the crew will follow if she agrees."

"If she agrees to what?" Luise said as she joined them at the table, drink in hand.

"Didn't think you'd get that far ahead of me already!"

When it was explained to her in hushed tones, she thought about it for a minute before she replied.

"I don't see any problem with that. Breaks up the routine. This way, we won't have to spacewalk and paint the ship pink."

"Without knowing specifics, of course, I estimate we'll have a minimum of six hours to check out the mine, see if it's been depleted, before we have to bug out in case Big Daddy comes looking. That'd give us plenty of time to reach the Limit without having to risk a screw-job."

She was speaking in a sort of code just in case. Deniability.

Harry finds that there are 7 lots of 20 tons each going to Thanber. They are all minor cargoes at 3,000Cr per ton. There's no time limit on them. It is apparently cargo ordered by Thanber. Out here, it's practically expected that it'll take up to a year to get something shipped in.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 189):

I think we can take 6 at 360,000Cr. Correct me if I'm wrong SM.

"Works for me, then again, I will be the knuckle dragger to keep you guys out of trouble. Count me in." Forge said.