Pretty tired by now Khea forces herself to stay in the engine room and to watch Sylvester. Not the quality of his work, she will have to check that tomorrow, but just so that he doesn't do something he is not supposed to do. And all the time she is cursing herself of giving him those tasks this late.
And while a general doubt about security with so many new people they barely know anything about on the ship crosses her mind, with being so tired her Aslan upbringing kicks in and she dismisses this as a male thing for Vonon to worry about.

Finally satisfied everything is in perfect order, Sylvester sits down to a cup of coffee to relax.

     Just about ready to bite holes in hull-steel, Vonon makes a quick decision--Delegate!

     Vonon again opens the intercom channel down to the outer airlock,

^{COMM START>>>} "Okay, then Captain....Captain.  You just stay right there, I'm sending someone to let you in.  You can deal with our Chief Engineer.  I hope you're not allergic to cats.  Bridge, out." ^{<<< COMM ENDS}

*CLIK*

     Vonon switches intercom channels, opening the channel down to Engineering,

^{COMM STARTS >>>} "Khea!  There is another frelling Engineer at the airlock, and once again I am leaving his fate up to you.  Go let him in and interview him ... or eat him ... or toss him back out onto the dock ... I don't care.  But if you want to keep him, let me know.  Vonon, out." ^{<<< COMM ENDS}

*CLIK*

     Vonon steps over to the Comm Station ... looks it over ... and opens the in-coming call.

^{COMM STARTS >>>} "You have finally reached the Independent Armed Freighter Longshot--you have my sympathies.  All of the Crew are presently busy with severe attacks of Angst, and are tied up in their quarters--literally.  You are speaking to the Captain, and right now I really, really, don't give a frack!  So you've five seconds to justify your existence within the Universe, before I hang up on you--go!" ^{<<< COMM ENDS}

Reese answers immediately. "Greetings. Your Auto-doc would recommend administering 20mg of Temazepam to all of your crew, which would probably be okay were you operating in Jump Space today. However, as a trained and experienced Medic, I would instead administer 25-50mg of Hydroxyzine Pamoate depending on body weight, so that their anxiety would be alleviated and they would still be functional should the ship need to vacate the station anytime in the next 24 hours."

Reese pauses for half a beat before saying "Reese Hardsimm, at your service. Permission to come aboard, Captain?"

OOC: rolled 5 + 3 (+4Medic +2Int) = 14 to diagnose.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Sat 15 June 2019.

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 379):

     The stated five seconds pass, and though the comm-signal is silent, it remains open.  Finally, after several more seconds than indicated, the 'Captain' finds his voice,

^{COMM STARTS >>>}  "Oh.  Um...you...so, you're a Med Tech, then...?"  ^{<<< COMM ENDS}

"Among other things, Yes Sir. I've served as Ship's Doctor on three ships. My primary career before that however was as a Field Agent, 2nd Class." Reese responds, knowing the smile on his face will alter the tone of his voice for a positive reaction despite the call being audio only.

Opening his computer and holding it on his right forearm he quickly brings up his resume and mails it to the Longshot's station address. "I'm sending you my resume now. Also attaching a list of non-narcotic pharmaceuticals that I could procure in the Station Pharmacy that are far better suited for use by an active ship's crew than those commonly stocked and prescribed by the typical Auto-Doc."

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 381):

^{COMM START >>>} "Unless it's on the Space Patrol Controlled Substances list, I don't know squat about pharmaceuticals.  But one of the Crew does, so I'll ask her.  Okay, Citizen, you've earned yourself an actual interview.  Come back tomorrow morning, sometime after start of business hours, and we'll look over your papers and certifications."

     "But, since we just lost our Doctor and nobody else with any real medical skill has come forward, I feel pretty confident saying you've probably got the job...even though I'm a little fuzzy about having a bunk for you.  You might want to invest in a hammock."

     "Alright, then, see you in the morning--Doc!  And if anyone but me gives you any backtalk, you tell them to call Captain Ronkunu.  Goodnight, Citizen Hardsimm." *CLIK* ^{<<< COMM END}

"Excellent Captain Ronkunu, I will see you in the morning. Hardsimm out." Reese taps his comdot and returns to the tiny room he's been renting.

Once there he brings up the catalog for the Station Supply Market on his computer and looks for likely basics to take on board. Eyeing a habitat module he considers calling to ask if there's cargo space for him to set that up, but decides to wait until after he's got the job. Pharmaceuticals are next on his shopping list. After a couple of hours Reese decides to get some sleep before packing up and heading back to the ship in the morning.

An early riser, Reese decides 'in the morning' probably didn't mean 05:00, so he stops at the Supply Market to put in an order before heading over to the LongShot.

Arriving at precisely 07:00, Reese takes the liberty of hopping up the tube to the boarding ramp and using the ships comm to announce himself.

"Reese Hardsimm to see Captain Ronkunu." he says confidently into the comm and waits for a response.

Sylvester was up early drinking a cup of coffee in the galley when the comm announces Reese for the captain. He looked around for Vonon for a moment and then minded his own business when he didn't see him, too irritable for his liking. If it sounded again, he would look for the captain.

"Another Engineer?" Khea tried to ask Vonon but he already cut the connection.
Well, at least she can have some fun.
Selecting the channel displayed on the screen, Khea roars he best Aslan greeting into the comm
"[Aslan]si'fehyrHeOaOkhlhtw (What do you want?)"

Marcus is startled by the suddenness of Khea's greeting and instinctively answers back in accented Aslani, telling her, "I came inquiring about an engineering position. The captain said he would have someone, which I presume is you, get back to me."

"I can run diagnostics on my... my... my physical form but only limited ones on my core processing," Veronika answers Walter. "The speech impediment appears to be... be... be a fracture in the vocalizer crystal. Replacing the c...c...crystal requires a Tech 3 roboticist and standard rate of pay is Cr5000 per hour. Standard time increment for effecting such a repair is 2 hours."

"However, replacing the... the... the vocalizer unit itself only requires a Tech 2, pay rate is Cr2000 per... per... per hour, and it would take only 15 minutes, though you would be charged for the full hour. I would no longer have the same voice."

"Programming gli...gli...glitches require a Tech 3 and could take up to 10 hours to find and repair or replace...ace...ace the programming module."

"I have not been pro...pro...programmed with advanced computer skills so I cannot determine where the problem lies. There does... does... does appear to be a short circuit in the main processor, as I... I... I randomly switch from one assigned task to another."

"As for... for... for surviving in space, this unit was not designed or constructed for such a con...con...condition. My core would be preserved, but my... my... my skin and sensory units would free...free...freeze and need to be replaced."

"Bing" went the notification on his computer. "Excuse me a moment" Walter said as he glanced over the message. "I have been informed to inquire about getting some robots for the galley and housekeeping use. Would you have 4 of them by any chance?" he asked, not expecting to find anything like that since they are not used for mining.

Sir Walter listened to the tasks needed for fixing the fembot. "Hum, the fembot is not what I am looking for and we do not have someone with those skills. I will have to check in to Cassandra to see if it is still here at a later date." he said.

Sylvester looked at the time on his com piece on his forearm. He wondered when they'd shove off of this world, a day, maybe two. Walter was still looking for bots and crew was still being interviewed and settled in. It was going to be very entertaining.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:33, Thu 20 June 2019.

"So then, when you want to be the engineer on the ship then you have to give me a reason why I should replace our current one."

Lifting her finger from the com button she grinned when a thought crossed her mind and she reactivated the com.

"Or are you here to duel him for his position?"

"It is always helpful to have a second engineer so you can have someone available all the time, plus in times of crisis or emergencies, where the extra talent is extremely useful."

"I would prefer not to duel for it, as that would benefit no one. While I've heard good things about this ship, if my skills are not needed here, then I will have to look elsewhere."

Disappointed Khea answers to the comm system "And what talent do you think you have"?

"I have many skills, but my expertise on power plants and maneuver drives is documented in several books and articles I have written. I am one of the best at getting things running again after critical failures, or if it should occur, combat damage. I can fill in on many other stations on a ship, particularly bridge positions, if one of the crew should fall ill or be injured, but my primary love is keeping the engines purring."

Sylvester went to look for Khea to see if there was anything she wanted him to do this fine morning. He started looking for her in the engine rooms.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:32, Sun 23 June 2019.

Sharik watched the interaction between Sir Walter and the fembot, Veronika (who did indeed appear to be true to her image/form), a light smile played upon her face.  The diminutive operative-turned-dilettante couldn’t help herself when Zeller switched topic, shelving the matter of the whether or not to purchase the ex-pleasure bot.  She leaned in conspiratorially once his back was turned and noted to Veronika, “Don’t worry, hon.  Sir Walter is just warming up to you.”. She named dropped for him; so, that Veronika might remember it in the future.  Or depending on her chip malfunction, she might remember nothing.

Shar found herself rooting for Veronika on some level.  At least, there was one endearing trait about her; she was quirky, like the rest of the crew of the Longshot, and would probably fit right in.  And if Walter was looking for status, well, Veronika would be a definite statement.

She’d gotten Vonon’s various texts as well, and simply pointed to the area that was (at least) labeled for work and domestic drones.  The basics were there, but the selection looked scarce.  Perhaps they were popular.  Or very unpopular.  Anyways, at least techlevel here was more inline with the request.  In her experience, servitors were just a touch out of range - both culturally and technically - on C-belt.  “We are going to need at least .... four more of each...” she mused, as she considered what Vonon’s text had said.

The auburn-haired pilot sent a simple text blast back to Indy, ++ ETD: 72 hours.  Hope you didn’t check out of TAS hostel yet ...++. Sharik rarely checked out early.  While she like the accommodations on the Longshot, there was generally no reason to go running back to them.  Plus, there was still some shopping to do.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:15, Sun 23 June 2019.

Sylvester explored the ship, getting the layout in his head and ready for take off in a few days. He wanted to be totally acclimated by the end of the day if he could, but would wait for some stuff. The galley was easy as were the location of it in relationship to his room.

The next thing was to start to get to know the rest of the crew, who had a sense of humor, and who didn't was the interesting part. Vonon was funny. the ladies were interesting. Perhaps an affair of the heart would be promising, maybe not too. He heard there was yet another engineer signed on as well, a Marcus Fallin. God it had a big crew, he was used to a skeleton crew bare minimum, that would mean more training time though to improve himself.

"Purring? Is that intended as an insult? Do you know how we Aslan deal with insults?"

"Here is what we will do. You will wire some of the articles you have written and we will continue the interview tomorrow."

Khea cuts the connection, hoping that faking an insult will buy her some time.

She switches to the internal communication. "Sylvester, there will be some articles about drives and power plant operations arriving soon. Look over them and see if the author knows his stuff. The author will come back tomorrow so you can interview him and give me your opinion."

While walking to her cabin she pulls out her personal communicator and writes a text to Vonon as her probably is asleep already.

"Vonon, I got an idea. With two other engineers I could leave the engine room to them and resume my position as shipmaster. That means managing salaries and other organizational matters to keep the captain free to make decisions about the ship.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Tue 25 June 2019.

"You want mining droids or robots, I got those!" Marta replies, getting a bit annoyed at the Baron's insistence on wanting something that isn't on Rockport.

"What you want are luxuries... what's generally considered Class C luxuries. You know what a Class A luxury is? WATER!"

"If you don't want Veronika, then I'm afraid I can't help you. Hell, I don't think there's a service droid on the entire station! Anyone that can afford a luxury robot probably has enough money to leave this place."

"Anything else?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:54, Tue 25 June 2019.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 398):

OOC: Psssssssst!  Uh, StarMaster...we're not at Outpost anymore...we left there and went to Rockport, in Cassandra's Belt...in a completely different star system than Outpost...

Sir Walter shook his head. "Sorry, No thanks." he said as he made his way out. "Something to add to my list of things to acquire for the ship. looks like we will have to get with the Captain and see about a more suitable location to get the robots that we need. Was there any other place you would like to check out Ms. Kaagira?" he asked.