After securing his gear. He greets the other crew members. He says to Minka, "Yes I realize that. However I would like enough time to make sure the engines are up to the task. Since your previous engineer left in a hurry I need to make sure he didn't leave anything undone, unintentionally or otherwise."

To Otto he comments."I guess it goes to show you that even adventure can became just another job."

Charles sends all who are willing to chip in a payment request and then places the order for the discs and arranges delivery to their ship before taking their leave. His drone hovering after him as he leaves the bar as he goes to get his gear.

Later he arrives at the ship his own gear also in a massive crate that mght have a military origin that is badly concealed with some logistics company stickers. When Jackson gets to work straight away he smiles and chips in.

"Aye solid plan. If there is stuff we can fix on the ground i rather do it here then on the fly. And with that he sends his drone up to take size of the ships exterior while he gets his gear stowed. "

They take another 600 cases aboard, and Sanjuro has 2000 credits left to keep the math easy.  The universe always prefers round numbers.

They look over the systems on the Nellie Bly.

It wasn't crew-less for very long- probably a week or two, and it certainly didn't go anywhere during that time as Minka claimed that the upcoming launch would be her first.  So the ship hasn't suffered from lack of a crew.

Or, from ground maintenance.  Ships like this aren't entirely maintained by a crew- they'd never have the time, or the ship would need twice as many.  So, when the ship stops over in a port, a port crew catches up with the service.  The Nellie Bly has been properly kept up- the servicing has been on schedule and the on board diagnostics are showing everything is good.  A few minor quirks, but every ship has them and as long as they aren't in critical systems they are a fact of life.

(If they quirks are in critical systems, they are still a fact of life, but that's not as long a time)

The Communications systems are better than normal.  Lilana has sunk a lot of money into equipping the ship with a state of the art mobile media production facility, and the long range antennas mean she can broadcast and receive in high quality even well beyond orbit distance.

The ship's lounge, small as it is, is also top notch.  It's a well designed, well made space, because it has to double as an interview venue sometimes.  The wall screens are high definition with 3D capability and the sound system is excellent, because Lilana has to see what her productions will look like on high end displays.

There is very little military specific equipment left- you already know the ship is armed, and it still has its old targeting sensors.  But while good for a civilian ship, they are now obsolete for a warship.

After doing a quick check and conferring with Minka, Jackson felt a little more comfortable with the ship. The ground crew seemed to have done a good job on maintenance. He wondered if had worked with any of them. He hoped things will worked out for them and the current hiring freeze doesn't turn into layoffs.


He contacted Minka. "okay I am starting the preflight in engineering. How's preflight up there going?" Jackson hoped that she had enough training to know what he was talking about

"Everything looks functional. Don't think we'll be any better at spotting someone running quiet than the next guy," Sanjuro remarks after coming back from his tour of the ship. "But anything running in the clear we're going to spot early. And if we have to call for help, we can definitely call louder than most."

He introduces himself to Minka and Otto. "Moving in's done when I drop this pack. Either of you have work to do that needs a couple extra hands?"

Charles gets himself settled and when its clear the ship needs nothing from him now goes to familiarize himself with the ship. Its coffee machine and the other crew. He also seems to be a little nervous and wanting to leave as if he was moving something hot and wanted to be out of the area though mostly he seems to be acting really cool about it.

"Im ready to dust off when you are. You want me anywhere cap?"

There is almost a steady stream of large ships that go up and down the "Main Line", passing and often stopping at Poseidon.  Warp "jumps" being limited in range, the Main Line uses a long standardized and efficient course, and as far out as Lyonesse, every stop has a settlement or station of some kind.

Even the very next stop out for the Nellie Bly, a small station in a system so minor it hasn't even earned a name, and is just referred to by number:  NCGL001.

Well... it's not so much as a system as single small red star, and the scraps of ice and dust the little star keeps around it.   NCGL001 shows signs of having been a member of a more extensive system in its early days.  It was ejected, a fate common to stars in multiple star systems, when the orbits aren't stable.  It's been on it's own for billions of years now, no planets, just the lone star.  And the small station.

Once there was a larger station here, but that was from days when ships need fuel and service more frequently.  That station was moved further out to the frontier a century ago.  Now it's just a little place, more of a traffic control and emergency services station than anything else.

NCGL001 is three days out for the Nellie Bly, just enough time for everyone to get used to each other, the ship, and establish a rhythm.

Charles had been doing his job but clearly wasn't the type that went the extra mile. After his shift though he had taken his large crate to the workshop and it turns out he had aqcuired an official military combat armor a new one from the looks of it and was in the process of removing all decals and giving it a new paint job. Dark green scales and brown tones and with large brass Viper logo on the chest and some on the shoulders. He seems a whole lot more passionate about that prize then about the actual job.

ooc: The Logo.
https://www.speedcultofficiall...6/08/Viper-fangs.jpg

Glooskap is their second stop, a few days later, and here the Nellie Bly pauses to refuel, Minka making a reasonably proficient docking maneuver that would only cause face palms in someone with pilot skill 3 or better.

Named for a mythical hero of the ancient Abenaki people of the northeast area of North America, Glooskap is an old fortress-station, built into an asteroid, its innards protected by miles of rock.  It is a key junction in the Main Line.  Here, traffic from the Main Line splits off for Deseret to coreward and Freyja to rimward.  Glooskap hasn’t been needed as a military base in a long time (though due to the traffic, there has always been a small station with a few ships, generally small ones, on duty).  The City-In-The-Rock is home to about 2 million people- just a moderate city as far as humanity is concerned, but this far from Earth is the largest asteroid or orbital city. It orbits a red star, otherwise quite ordinary, which boasts a cold, blue-ish green gas giant and an asteroid belt.

Gooskap has a thriving high tech industrial economy, created by lucky coincidence- the former military base left behind some fine industrial facilities and the asteroid belt has some rich finds of important rare-metal elements.  Neodymium deposits support the production of magnets, and a company here rebuilds older hyper-drive elements, effectively recycling the costliest component of starships and helping to keep their costs down.

Any character with a broker skill would know this is not the place what you bought at Poseidon, though.  You're just two jumps down the Main Line, not nearly far enough for anything from Poseidon to be remotely unusual or interesting.  Here it is just common stuff.

There are many ships here, of all sorts.  Recent political developments in the Commonwealth have made some frontier investors nervous, and some shipping operations have paused, and ships are awaiting new orders.  Ships that would ordinarily be travelling now are docked here, and the main commercial docking concourse is crowded.

When they make port and Charles sees the wasted potential in the docs he cringes and seeks out Lilana.

"So what our next stop here? If you want to get a cover as a transport this might be the place to pick up some cargo that will not make us any real profit but might give us a nice reason to go somewhere we shouldn't."

Jackson will do a go to commercial concourse have some conversation with some of the merchants waiting around. He isn't so much interested what is for sale here as what markets are no longer being serviced due to the impending slowdown. depending on the situation there may be ways to take advantage of the vacuum caused by the slowdown.

Briefly, Lilana considers disguising the ship.

“Would never work as a freighter,” she says.  “We just can’t carry that much freight and its obvious.  Maybe, if we had to, we could pass off as a chartered passenger transport.”

Wealthy passengers will often charter little ships for themselves.  VERY wealthy passengers have their own.

“But not yet.  We’re not doing anything wrong, not even slightly.  Acting like you’re doing something wrong when you’re not can be problematic.”

Minka gives a little laughing snort, thinking of something.  “We’re a documentary ship.  We ARE the cover story.  What do spies tell people… oh, we’re doing a documentary!”

“Well, we are,” Lilana says.

From a distance, Glooskap has an appearance like many of the asteroid habitats.  Imagine a potato in which someone has core-drilled a hole.  Imagine that the potato is over a hundred kilometers across, and core drill bit gouged a hole 8 kilometers across and just as deep.  Inside that hole, well shielded from radiation and other dangers, a spinning cylinder, the central axis of which is a long tube projecting from inside the potato, serving as the base for antennae and docking ports.

It’s all Glooskap, because spacers tend to be sparing and efficient with names.  If someone needs to talk about the star and differentiate it from the colony, one could use the star catalog number by which it is best known, HIP 46624, or “Glooskap Prime”.  In similar fashion, if one needs to name the asteroid as opposed to the colony one could say “Glooskap Rock”.  The other asteroids here have only catalog numbers, all starting with “GLK” which identifies the system.  Only the deep blue gas giant in the outer system rates a name of its own.  That is Plaweinoo, named for the mythological mother of Glooskab.  It’s the fuel source for the system, hosting a Helium-3 Harvesting station.  Fuel transports go back and forth, it’s a spacer’s job much less exciting than traveling between star systems, but someone has to do it.

The Nellie Bly has docked along a side arm from the main one projecting out from the asteroid.  Several of these docking arms meet here, and at the convergence is a bulge called Glooskap Docks. It’s much like the typical starport concourse scene:  some restaurants, hotels, shops and entertainment of varying quality and generally higher price.  The Axial Tram runs down the line to the core of the main colony, or it’s about an hour’s walk if anyone prefers.

Lilana checks her messages after the ship is docked.  Her informant is supposed to be here in Glooskap. But apparently, not patiently waiting in the Docks.

“I have to go into the main habitat,” she says.  “According to this, a place called Service Housing.  If anyone wants to come with… it’s appreciated.   Although... if you want to check out the merchant scene at the concourse, that's okay too.”

Charles nods. So no cover for now. He was interested in what their boss was actually up to though so when she asks who wants to come with he nods.

"How you want me along? Just crew or muscle?"

Glooskap… he'd heard of that, somewhere. Right, that business rep, Kalani, came from there. Got himself in a spot of trouble on a trade jaunt, a little too much entertainment with the wrong sorts. They'd got him out of that blackmail attempt. Pretty clumsy one. But he was in some sort of communications manufacturing outfit. Maybe he'd be able to point them toward some proper sensors? Sanjuro decided to look him up.

The boss had a meeting to go to, and Viper was going along - he could handle both with one trek, perhaps.

"I can come with," Sanjuro offered Charles.

More confidentially, he explained "Don't count on me for too much if there's trouble. I'm more jaw jaw than war war. But an extra body might make anyone looking for trouble hesitate."

The twentieth century saw technology reshape trade through ever faster transport and communications.  By the early 21st, actually having to talk to another human was becoming obsolete, one could live in utter isolation conducting business over the internet, in an apartment with millions of other humans doing the same nearby.

Interstellar trade overturned that model.  Between star systems, instant feedback was impossible.  Communications reverted to an 18th century model, and conducting business face to face returned as the standard- at least when between star crossing traders.   Active star ports all seem to have a commercial hub, generally known as the concourse, and traders have long known that it is more advantageous to be there, rather than looking at screens in the privacy of one’s quarters, between journeys.  In fact, many concourse spots popular with the merchant set also draw people native to that location.

In the Glooskap Docks, the spot is called GloosEx Mercantile. It’s the largest establishment on the concourse, dwarfing the nearby restaurants that reflect humanity’s continued fascination with the cultures of Earth:  Cafe Americain, Novya Druzya and Singapore Taco.  GloosEx Mercantile was built as a business oriented meeting place.  It has a retro-space-industrial style with gold coated foil wrapping the exposed ventilation ducts under the white ceiling. Big wall screens show the latest news from Earth and the Central Region planets, as up to date as whichever ship most recently arrived.  The food is good, mostly simple comfort fare, the drinks are excellent and varied, with genuine human bartenders instead of robots preparing them.  The interior is designed to facilitate meetings and discussions, with comfortable seating in circles around large tables in a very open area.  Not an “intimate dinner” kind of place.

The patrons are a mix of ship crew, traveling business representatives, and locals, and they are engaged in various conversations:  what’s going on with the Commonwealth and these demands for democratic representation, which ship is for sale,  the Paragon M-300 Personal Maneuver Device, and Glooskap’s Maglev Suspension Magnets.

To join a conversation in a socially adept manner requires a Liaison or Broker skill check, 6+, with an INT, ED, or SOC modifier depending on style.

*** *** *** ***

Meanwhile, on the Nellie Bly…

“I can’t bring my camera man on this one,” Lilana says.  “It’s no cameras, and that’s very clear.  I don’t want to walk into trouble, so I’m not thinking of this as a request for muscle… but company is appreciated all the same.  I don’t think anyone else is looking for trouble, I’m paying for information, not stealing it.  But… it’s still Service Housing, and it is the one place on Glooskap where you can run into trouble without looking for it.  It’s a place with.. as they say.. social problems.”

Minka will not be going either.  Lilana’s busy assistant is on the scrawny side, and she says she has a lot to do.

“Maybe I can get some background data.  There’s a lot of ships here, maybe one is a Ghost Ship.  Something we can add to the doc.  So I’ll be checking for ships that don’t seem to have a clear reason for being here. Oh also, on Glooskap there's no firearms permitted, just so everyone knows.  I'm sure you guys know.  It's like that on a lot of space habitats.  Space habitats and shoot outs don't go well together, Glooskap security will freak out if they detect one.”

In reply to The Boss (msg # 48):

Jackson always prided himself on succeeding on his own talents rather relying on family connections. But in the course of his career in the Port Authority he found that those connection often got things done a little faster.

He saw among the gathered he noted that many wore insignia form companies and ships that he worked with at the authority and/or his family had some sort of connection to.
Jackson shook his head and said to himself. "I guess that I have to do some name-dropping to get things done."

Along with finding out  how the current market was doing and possible  opportunities the possible economic slowdown might provide, Jackson would keep an ear out for tidbits of gossip or rumors that be of interest to their patron.

15:03, Today: Jackson Taylor rolled 9 using 2d6+4, unique dice. conversations on the concourse
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Tue 18 Feb 2020.

Charles nods and makes sure his heat is in his room. Putting on his fancy leather Viper jacket and fonzie outfit including a blade in his boot he is ready to join their boss.

"I'll have my drone watch over us from a safe distance. I prolly can help with the social problems as much as when someone picks a fight. You lead and i'll play along."

Jackson has been around long enough to know that this is makes for mercantile success: talking to people.  Putting together little comments, building a picture, finding the opportunities you'd never know about reading the computer screens.  Which many do... not the good ones, of course.

The Burgundy Crown is a passenger ship with a steady route, travelling between Freyja and Saguenay, making stops along the way.  Most of its income is passengers- which is true for most ships in space.  Some limited cargo is carried for regular clients, but the crew still does a little trade of their own.  It's Chief Steward is here, a very large, very bearded man, taking a break from keeping things on the ship running smoothly.

"Saguenay," he says, "is rock solid with the Commonwealth and always will be.  People there are realists, they don't buy into slogans and big ideas.  They want little ideas, that work.  They have a sea there that has been completely... terraformed?  Aquaformed?  Oceanformed?  Whatever.* They are devoted to the terraforming there and they know it's better with the Commonwealth supporting it.**"

He talks about the way parts of the planet are now ecologically Earth like, with Earth plants and wildlife, and how tourism there is growing... and how the growth in the hotel industry, including floating resorts built for "wildlife tourism", are a great market for luxury goods of the "home decor" kind.

He also talks about the stock he bought in the company doing the floating hotels.  Explorer Experience, traded as ExEx on the markets, he says, is going to be a great buy.

"I don't mind shilling for them a little.  There are people here on Glooskap who have never seen sky.  If there's more demand for tourist trips to Saguenay, better for me, right?"

But then, it's clear that his ship is continuing on to Freyja, which also has some nature sites to see.  But not with Earth aquatic life.

Some of the others ask if he's thought about re-routing to visit the "Crosser" aliens that have shown up coreward of Deseret.  News of that has just arrived, and the Crossers are always interesting in making deals.  They generally have some very interesting technology, especially concerning space hardware and engineering.  But the Burgundy Crown will go in the other direction, to Freyja.

"We have customers, and obligations.  That's for the little free traders, not us. Besides, it's better to go where the crowd isn't.

******************

Meanwhile, Lilana and friends set out for "Service Housing"... Charles quickly realizes that since Glooskap is an enclosed asteroid station, patrolling with a drone is not easy!  Doors, corridors... and the Axial Tram that runs down the line to the core of the main colony.. all make it difficult.

Due to the expense and power consumption of gravitic technology, most large starships and almost all habitats make use of spinning to provide artificial gravity.  Much cheaper, especially as the habitat gets bigger, and this one is very big.  Every such habitat has a core where the rotating section spins around the non-rotating section, and it's always a complicated meeting of moving platforms and strange angles.  Here, as in many places, the thought seems to have been:  the less people see of all that, the better.  So the Axial Tram opens into a large lobby area where sliding doors lead to large gondola cars that move along curved tracks while rotating themselves, to deposit the passengers, after a short ride that has been known to cause motion sickness in the queasy, four kilometers away in the "Service Housing" section.

Cheery voices in four languages remind you to take all your belonging, and assure that children, pets and service robots remain with you.

Service Housing has a strange look:  chaotic, colorful anarchy overlaid on the gray and beige walls of very simple, very standard residential units.   It's a fairly busy time, dozens of people coming and going (some with children, and pets... not many with service robots but there are few, mainly of the "carry the packages and follow me" kind.  It is definitely not the wealthy part of the Glooskap.

There's music from somewhere. Pretty good, in the skilled amateur/mediocre professional range.  It sounds Italian.




*Across the Hundred Worlds, this has been done on a few planets: making a body of water more Earthlike.  Aquaformed is the common term for it.

**This leads to a few side comments about how and why the Commonwealth is supporting terraforming.  Pro:  It is really about improving things on outer planets, spreading and strengthening human civilization.  Con: There are plenty of habitable worlds, no shortage of space, it's expensive and people on Earth don't like being told they are subsidizing it.

Well that sucked. Not unexpected but still not as usefull as desired. Telling the drone to loiter around him in a random pattern to not make it dead obvious it was his but staying in the same cell he tells the software to keep an eye out for people that are around them during the trip mostly to find out if someone follows them. When they get to the 'better' part of town he decides to keep it closer and starts to admire their surroundings and the music.

"I believe i can hear our destination. We could have picked something worse."

"At least its a space hab," Lilana say.  "People don't push their luck as much.  Less room to hide if it goes wrong, you know."

She seems to know where she is going, but consults her hand held computer a few times.  Maybe just to reassure herself.  But in the end their meeting isn't even off the main passageway.  No need to wander down the side passages through the endless residential apartments at all.

Just one of the many colorful little storefronts along the Service Housing Commercial Mainway.  If it wasn't for the roof overhead and the way everything curves up in the distance they might as well be in any Bohemian quarter in a city on Earth.

It's an entertainment "club" with a lounge, bar, tables and seating, and in the back, rows of little virtual reality suites.  One can put on a headset and sense-suit, and not just watch something, but experience it as if one was there.  Many people can afford these things on their own, but many can't, and even those that can might not be able to afford a VR suite as good as the commercial shops have.  They are found in many places.  A place like this makes the VR experience a social event.  One can go with friends- or meet strangers- and have a shared VR trip.

If cameras and drones and such were difficult before, they are prohibited here.  People here sometimes don't want others to know what they do for socializing.

The host knows who Lilana is here to meet.  It's a woman, maybe in her forties, with dark hair and pale skin- the pale skin of someone who lives in a space habitat.  There is an initial exchange, and pleasantries, and when they sit down to business...

Lilana is surprised to see that all this person has for her is pictures.  Not data, not audio or visual.. just printed pictures.  Simple and old fashioned.

"It's what they are of," the woman with the pictures says.  "That's what's important."

"A ghost ship?" Lilana asks.

"No.  But I think... its cargo.  Maybe some ghosts."

It's a camp, or a storage site, something like that, on a lifeless world.  There's an awning above it all, a sunscreen of some kind.  Bright reflective gold on top, white on bottom.

Beneath it...  cold sleep pods.  Lots of them.  Dozens of them.  Not randomly placed, carefully arranged.

"They can't be working," Lilana says.  "No power for them.  No connections.  I know some can be used short term as escape pods, but.. not long."

"I don't think these are working," the woman says.  "They look... pretty dead."

"And the people inside?" Lilana asks.

"Can't make it out from the pictures."

"But it's not possible," Lilana says.  "That many pods... if a ship with so many pods went missing, it would be big news.  Trust me, I would know.  Big news.  They might not find the ship, but a hundred colonists disappearing in cold sleep... you couldn't hide it."

"And yet," the woman replies, "here we are, with a ship load of cold sleep pods stored away.  Now tell me that's not the work of one of your ghost ships."

Sanjuro has been staying back a little ways, hoping to not make it obvious that he was with Lilana. He let Viper be the obvious one, instead trying to notice if anyone was paying them more attention than seemed appropriate. Even so, he couldn't help but overhear a little of the conversation.

The ghost ships were smuggling... low berths? How would...

That mystery he could work out later. For now, just make sure they didn't have unwanted company. He continued watching the other patrons of the VR den from a nearby table.

Setting the drone to look busy in the corridor having its visual hang in a corner on his glasses he joins Lilana inside and eyes the images with interest. Analog media now that was interesting. Instead of discussing the impossibilities of 100 people dissapearing and not causing waves he instead has a more interesting question.

"Where are these made? Who made them and how did they come out? If i was stowing this somewhere i wouldn't want anyone getting it out."

Turning to his employer he says.

"If you load em up in small batches all over nobody will notice. People vanish all the time. Your pods might not come from one source."

Charles's question has Lilana checking her computer, linking up with the local network.  Very quickly, she is doing searches to identify the pods.  It's a journalist skill- they become very adept at searching for information in networks.

One of theories vanishes in a worrisome puff:  these are not antiques.

Humanity's rush to the stars began in a mad rush, in the mid 21st century, first using ships and technology provided by aliens, mostly the Oumo.  By the end of the century, with the technology obtained from the Oumo, factories on Earth were turning out thousands of these things a year.  Over the next two centuries hundreds of millions of humans were moved from Earth to colonies.

But the great wave of colonization is long over.  People are no longer leaving at the same rate.  New pods are built now, but not like they were in the old days.

It would be less unsettling, perhaps, if someone was collecting old pods, long used.

But these are much more recent.  Not new, but none go back more than a few decades.

"This looks like... they call it a Lohnekee 2 type," Lilani says, noting one of the pods in the picture.  Earth made, in fact its still made but they went to the type 3 a decade ago.  They are still used for colonists, including resettlements."

Colonists aren't leaving Earth like they used to, but still, it's a few hundred thousand a year. In any number so large... yes, there are a few accidents.  Always.

"I don't like the idea of that," she says when Charles suggests the possibility of small numbers of pods being taken at a time.  "It means a long term thing.  It means someone has been keeping this a secret and therefore must want it to stay that way."

"Well then they slipped up, if that's the case," the woman with the pictures says.

"You are hunting the ghost ships. They been around long enough to become an urban legend. If they are up to anything it surely will not be short term stuff. Not that that makes it any less creepy."

He chuckles and oggles the pictures again making sure his glasses store a local copy on his drive for later reference.

"So i missed where these where taken as i got a feeling thats our next destination."

The woman with the pictures raises an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid I don't have the product, sir, I am just the advertising.  I prefer it that way.  Valuable information is like valuable anything, you have to worry about guarding it."

"But then you know who I must go to," Lilana says.

"Oh yes.  And information like this is in the most secure, untouchable of places.  In the head of an alien, those nomadic trader lizards who call themselves Crossers.  Perfectly safe, no one would try to muscle a crosser on a home ship."

"A Home Ship?  There's one in the Hundred Worlds, I know... you know where it is?"

"Oh yes.  And who you have to find there.  That's all I'm supposed to do, send you along.  Kozaana, coreward of St. Brendan.  Andy Explorer Third-Risk."

Lilana repeats the name, sounding skeptical.

"They are a flexibly gendered species," the woman explains.  "They tend to choose Human names of ambiguous gender, when traveling among us.  Explorer... a job title and, I think, in their system, something more.  And Third Risk, I believe, is a literal translation of a family name.  I have no idea what the significance is, if any.  But, there's your product, I am just the advertisement."