Pablo was about to respond to Nate but then Walter spoke first. Pablo's head went from Nate to Walter to Nate to Walter...

"If you had something to contribute, Nate, you should have just said what it was instead of blathering all that rubbish at us!" he said.

"It's too late now--you missed your chance. We're going back to Invermory. End of discussion."

I swear that man talks just to hear his own voice... Pablo thought to himself.

Nathaniel looks at Sir Walter, and considers for a moment thinking, "~~Am I the one not listening?~~", then responds, "I thought I did, but since you see the need to emphasis that again, after I have already said, twice, that Vonon has authority as Captain of the ship, I'm not so sure any more. Do you require formal documents to go with that?"

Thinking, "~~Need to know? So how do you know that a puzzle is need-to-know or not when you have no information on what it is about? Or even that the puzzle is 'ship business'? Disclosure with seal is much more effective. He apparently has no concept of how much the advocate seal I gave Vonon about the raw data constrained what I could say. Even after Mr. Camarda. I don't think Vonon does either, and he should know … Unless he figures the corruption he uncovered means that no one's 'word' is worth anything? He was sure not taking seriously the non-disclosure about the alien ship.~~"

At Pablo's contribution, Nathaniel shrugs, thinking "~~It was a suggestion, based on available data and my background. If there are overriding considerations, that's fine too. That's not the way Von… no … Captain Vonon presented it though.~~"

OOC: adendum to above thought stream content. Maybe it has not been clear that Nathaniel is a strong believer in keeping promises made. Like Sir Walter believes in 'for the good of the Imperium'. He won't make promises he does not intend to keep, though quite willing to word things so he can keep the promise. See the very early thought stream about the ficticious 'client' excuse he used to get a look at the salvage data.

Turning back to Sir Walter, he says, "It is true that very few situations are going to match text book patterns. There are always some aspects that match though. For example, I'm pretty sure that Captain Vonon is perceiving the ship and crew as one of the Vargr tribe aspects he was talking about at the TAS. I suspect that you are treating the ship and crew as a business and … constituents? … whose interests you need to protect. And PabloSerge … Is Captain Vonon your current senior ranking officer, or is it Sir Walter?"
EDIT OOG: Player woke up this morning realized he had put the wrong name in

"Everybody builds on and modifies the patterns they learned growing up and afterwards. They can't help it." He shrugs, "Right or not, subject to change with more information, it is what I see."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:27, Sun 13 Nov 2022.

"May I suggest we go into recess of the meeting now? It is getting awful tense in here and I don't like it. Mr. Harken needs to figure out if he can fit in or not, whether he comes or not is up to him as far as I got and am concerned, and the Captain. I'm just the Chief of Boat and computer guy, I do my job, do it well, and enjoy my time with friends and lovers."

"He needs to figure that all out, he's accepted, until he screws us, then I'll wave goodbye to him as he gets spaced." he says with a grin.

Nanthaniel looks puzzled at Sylvester for a moment, "~tense?~" It dawns on him that the others could have been seeing him as being rather too … intense.

He answers Sylvester with a weak grin, but just has to add. "I promise that I do not intend to screw the ship or any of you. Lack of relevant information could still cause that inadvertently."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:53, Sun 13 Nov 2022.

In reply to Nathaniel Harken (msg # 730):

"We can forgive that though."

Nathaniel gives that a bare seconds thought, then offers Sylvester a fist bump.

OOC: I am not sure, lol. Vonon, I guess.

IC:
- Ehm... Why is this important now?

"By itself, not important at all. That was just an example of why I believe that Sir Walter's claim is not totally accurate, that the group of you don't fit the categories I have learned. I may be, or have been, a nose in the books scientist, unaware of the wider universe, but some things do apply."

OOG: The universe is just a much bigger laboratory, with a lot less control over the variables and conditions
This message was last edited by the player at 23:19, Sun 13 Nov 2022.

      "Both." Vonon responds, almost simultaneous with Nates answer to Serge's question.  Vonon waits 'til Nate finishes, before expounding on the comment.

     "There's two companies here, Nate." Vonon says, waving between himself and Walter.

     "In one sense, Sir Walter is the Big Boss.  Sorta.  He runs Longshot Enterprises..." Vonon looks quickly aside, towards Walter, "...just Enterprises, right? We didn't go with something like Interstellar Enterprises, or anything?  Okay..."

     "So, Sir Walter runs the business end of things -- he handles investments, deals, contracts, sales and what not.  The rest of us all are both investors in this business, as well as employees of the company.  Anything Sir Walter needs done, we get it done for him, and we all make money."

     "On the flip side, the operation of this ship -- I.A.F. Longshot -- is run as a subsidiary of Longshot Enterprises.  We're Longshot Interstellar Transport, with a charter to do everything from simple cargo transport to planetary surveys, to Mercenary Support Operations.  And once again, everyone here is both investor and employee."

     "So, we all have jobs and duties working for Longshot Enterprises, working under Sir Walter, while simultaneously, we all have Crew positions and duties working aboard ship for Longshot Interstellar Transport.  Working for me.  I'm the Boss-of-the-Ship, and Sir Walter is Boss-of-the-Company.  It takes a bit of mental acrobatics, sometimes, but we manage to make it work."

Nathaniel listens to Vonon's explanation then smiles and says, "Oh, that's easy. The gymnastics. When doing research there's usually 2 bosses. One is the director for the research, that actually knows what the technical aspects are, and the other is a board, or their representative that is concerned about progress and publicity, but usually knows little to nothing about what the research is doing."

He pauses to think a moment, then says, "So for someone with a military background, that would be something like the field commander, and the general back at headquarters. Approximately?"

"That's a more explicit chain than I was thinking. I actually meant who he perceived as the ranking officer, not who really was."

"Sheesh! He's always got to split hairs!" Pablo comments.

"Why would there be a difference? Nope... don't answer that. Forget I asked."

He was already starting to think he was going to need therapy after listening to Nate for more than 5 minutes. He idly began to wonder how many bottles of 'therapy' he was going to need.

Sharik listened to Nathaniel speak at long length on a number of the topics (all germane enough); her experience had long been to let him wind himself up and down on his own.  She smiled lightly, if enigmatically, and held tightly onto Indy's hand, making sure that the primary reason this part of the meeting was bearable remained close to her.  She'd always been amazed at Nathaniel's dedication, his rationality, and... sometimes the complete inability to read an audience and a room.  But the Longshot's astrogator knew that it took all kinds and that she'd know him for a long time.  And while she liked him for his strengths, she'd always befriended Gnat for his flaws.  They made him human and, generally, fun (though sometimes trying) to be around.

From her seat nearest the kaff machine, Shar pushed a freshly poured cup of morning joe towards her ol' friend, Pablo.  Along with a commiserating smile, she also added a little bit ... okay, really a sizable bit ... of Irish cream to the mug.  She added a splash of the liqueur to her own cup as well.  The meetings seemed to be coming to an end (of sorts) anyways.  The major strategic and logistical topics had been tread (and re-tread).

With only the one last topic that really concerned her to cover: how two local vargr might be properly chastised before the Longshot and her crew got the hell out of town.  Sharik bided her time, nursing and sipping her liquid courage, as she waited for the other discussions to play themselves out.

Serge looked at Nat with some sympathy.
- Uh-huh, - he mumbled, masking his involuntary sarcasm. Then he added, this time more friendly:
- Okay, buddy, I think we'll get along. If you do your job and value the time of others, everything will be all right.

Inderpal decided to contribute to this discussion as she squeezed Shar's hand back.

"In the event of an emergency, I would be taking my orders from Vonon. Day to day, it's a more collaborative affair. Makes perfect sense to me, because I am a diplomat and nuance is my speciality. And if we get along, more profit for all of us at the end of the day. Any aggression should be turned against our enemies. Like the Vargr that kidnapped me."

She hoped that would change the direction of the conversation sufficently.

In reply to Inderpal Kumar (msg # 740):

     "Right." Vonon says, nodding in agreement towards Inderpal,

     "Sharik?  You had tracked down our two would-be kidnappers -- do you still have a trace on them?  And -- I'm curious -- since they were using a work vehicle to do their stupid deed, did they go back to work?"

Sam cuts in here "Sorry Indy, theres something we need to consider first. Once we deal with the Vargyr, then we are going to have to leave here, and quite possibly it would be wise not to come back at all, or at least for a very long time. Which means, if we want to investigate the alien abductions from Coventry, and any links to this planet, then we need to do that before we deal with the Vargyr"

She pauses and looks at Indy, and smiles slightly "That will be frustrating for you I know" she says gently "but we need to consider if there are any angles we want to pursue here before we leave - as we won't be able to follow them afterwards"

'Or... we split the crew temporarily, risky I know, but that way we could rendezvous at another location and, in the meanwhile, we could strike at the two different issues...'

"Exactly!" Pablo agrees with Dieter.

"I mean... just how many of us is it going to take to shave a pair of Vargr? Especially if we use the Doc's cocktail."

"As for this other issue... exactly where do we need to go to do this? And are we going to leave some security on the ship? I'm not sure Veronika is up to that."

Inderpal sighed a little. Sam was quite right. She listened to the suggestions.

"As soon as we do the revenge, we'll have to leave - that means splitting isn't an option as it could take a wahil Well, I suppose that we could wait and shave the Vargr another time."

"If we want to leave Duncinae as quickly as possible, that's one thing," Valeska says.

"If you think you have to flee because of what you intend on doing to the Vargr, you are clearly over-thinking it... unless you were planning on murdering them... or amputating limbs or something."

"We already established that they have done this kidnapping routine several times--Indy wasn't the first. We've got all the evidence in a sealed file that we are leaving with the TAS advocate."

"I'm not saying that the Vargr are second-class citizens, but our stated intent for them is not going to warrant any serious legal action... unless we piss off someone with clout."

"That being said, sure, it would probably be a good idea if we weren't on planet if the Vargr do file a complaint... I just don't see them doing that."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:49, Sun 20 Nov 2022.

In reply to Valeska Brandenberg (msg # 746):

"They'll be embarrassed and in hiding. I agree with Val, we'll leave, but we won't have to run away."

Sharik simply shrugged to Vonon, "Keeping tabs.  I'll set up an 'appointment' with them when the time is right.  As far as I am aware, the two have not changed their residences or employment.  A delay of a couple of days will, likely, not change that situation."  She did however, start to order various materials (chemicals and equipment) in anticipation of the operation.  Disposable ones that would allow them to work without too much of an audit trail; she'd already set up a P.O. box equivalent for the shipments.  That short term rental would be cancelled within the next couple of days.  She'd enough experience that this wasn't Shar's first grey-works rodeo.

She looked primarily at Sam, "How long to you expect any investigations into the disappearances to take?"  Though the lithe ex-operative knew how long she would time-box such activities, Shar wanted the rest of the crew's input, "We cannot vacation here indefinitely..." and she glanced at Walter, "... at least not from a business standpoint."

Sharik seemed confident that she could engineer the required circumstances and timing in the given timeframe.  She'd been prepping things in the background for a few days now.

In reply to Sharik Kaagira (msg # 748):

     "What if...?" Vonon says, "I mean, Sam, would you want to take point in the investigation of this maybe-alien-missing-person thing?  Take a couple of the Crew with Investigative experience and..."  Vonon ponders for a moment, before continuing,

     "Your team could take the Last Chance.  That way, you could go anywhere on the planet that you need to go."

Sam shrugged "Maybe we won't have to leave, but it would probably be wise too. Its not only the legal ramifications we need to consider. Someones attacked our pack, so we're striking back. We don't know much about these guys pack - but they might do the same. As for investigations, how long would it take? Well so far, the only real lead we have is the Newspaper guy, we can talk to him again. We can also try and do some searching to see if anyone else has appeared on the planet who should be on Coventry, and try and talk to them. I'm thinking a couple of days for that. But what might spin off from those investigations, if they throw up more leads to follow here - who can tell?"

She nods at V "Sounds like a plan. Who would rather use their brains to hunt aliens than their brawn to shave some Vargyr?"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:04, Mon 21 Nov 2022.