Melina chews her lip as she thinks. "So, since one of our people found it again, is that something that we could do?"

Brent looked at Joxe and then back at Melina. "Yes, it might be the best option for now.  You could restart the mine and at least extract ore or semi-processed ore for pick up.  We might be able to help you with some technical assistance."

"I will have to bring that up with my father and the other managers," Melina replies. She covers her mouth as she stifles a yawn.

Joxe looks at the chronometer in the display. "It's getting late. Shall we take this up again over breakfast?"

Malcolm stands up. "Good plan. Melina, I can show you to a room on the upper deck."

"Um, okay," Melina says as she stands and takes in the tall, solidly built man with his shaven head.

"He doesn't bite," Veronica says with a grin.

"Oh, I might," Malcolm grins back.

"Behave yourself, Captain," the blonde retorts.

"Yes, Chief. Of course, Chief."

Veronica rolls her eyes and turns to Melina. "He really is a good guy, despite appearances."

Brent chuckles at the byplay.  "Well tomorrow is another day.  Let's all think on how we might aid the folks here in the village lanthanum or none.  It's the right thing to do and will help rebuild society along the main in one more small step."

With that, everyone retires to their beds for the evening. Malcolm shows Melina to one of the empty cabins, where she oohs and aahs over the modern conveniences.

163-1402 0700

Everyone awakens to the sound of a thunderstorm passing overhead. The ship did detect it, and determined that it is of no consequence, just some rain and relatively benign winds. The outside temperature is 15C.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:14, Wed 24 Apr 2019.

Brent rises early before the storm and tracks it on the instruments.  After making sure things were ok he went down to the galley and started coffee and breakfast.  Once things were settled Brent headed to his shared stateroom with a cup of coffee and kissed Joxe as she slept. "Good morning wife, I brought coffee."

Joxe stirs and rolls onto her side. "Oh, good. Then I won't have to kill and eat you." She takes the cup and carefully sips at it. "You're getting really good at this serving me business. I might keep you around."

Brent laughs and hands Joxe the coffee as he admires her lithe form stretched out on the bed.  "Oh, I prefer to keep all my appendages attached."  He chuckled and sat down in the bed next to her, one hand resting on the swell of her hip.  "You're easy to take care of and I do intend on being around and hard to get rid of."

"That's good," she says with a saucy smile. "I'd love to finish this conversation, but we have company." She sets the cup aside and sits up to stretch languidly. "Duty calls, and all that."

Brent laughs and then pulls her back down as she sets the coffee cup aside.  "Duty, duty, duty...  kiss me for a bit and then we'll meet the others for breakfast.  It's still early after all."

"Oh, no you don't," Joxe says as she wriggles out of his grasp. "The last time you said that, we were in bed until lunch." She kisses him once, and stands up. "We have company," she says with an apologetic shrug and a look that promises more fun later.

Brent laughs but he doesn't pursue Joxe other than a smack to her firm bottom.  "Well, it is good to be captain.  It seems that we've got a mutiny on our hands."  He rolls out of bed as well and kisses her before moving to clean up and get dressed.  "Let's get breakfast going and see what we can do to help these people and ourselves."

By the time the happy couple leaves their cabin, the rest of the crew is gathered in the common area. Everyone greets each other, and breakfast is served and eaten.

"So," Melina says as she sits back from her plate. "What do we do now?"

Brent slides up to the table and gets a plate of food.  He sits and down and eats a bit before looking up.  "I think the first thing to do is talk to your parents and the other leaders of the village here about what can be done to start some interstellar cooperation.  We also should look at what might be done immediately with the resources we have aboard to improve things in the short run."

"When you leave, can I come with you?" Melina asks hopefully.

After Melina gets her answer, Niamh says with a somewhat somber look on pale face, "I realize that I need to keep an eye on things on the ship, but don't hesitate to call me if you notice anything medically wrong with any of the villagers." Her expression then turns just a little more grave.  "Populations like this...well, let's just say that living in isolation can be unkind to a person's body as well as to their mind."

(OOC: Sorry I've been away for so long!  I'm going to try to keep up from now on. :) )

--
Bob K.

Brent frowns and glances at the others.  "Your parents and the village elders would have to agree to letting you come with us but if they do we would have you along Melina.  Everyone works aboard the ship so we'll teach you how to do maintenance and then you can pick skills that you enjoy."

"I understand," Melina replies with a nod. "I can go arrange a meeting with the elders, if you wish."

"I'll stay aboard the ship and catch up on some maintenance items," Joxe says.

"Please do Melina, we also need to speak to them about future trade and assistance."  He smiled and nodded at Joxe.  "I'll come back and help later."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:54, Sat 08 June 2019.

163-1402 1300

Melina leads everyone except Joxe to meet the village elders, one of whom is her father. They take everyone on a tour of the village, in view of probably all the two thousand residents. The people are mostly Imperials, with a few Solomani descendants mixed in (this is only readily apparent to Naimh's experienced eyes).

When the supply ships stopped coming, their ancestors salvaged what they could of the machinery and other tech to survive. Despite a small starting base of only fifty-one people, two devastating fires that destroyed much of their original tech, and in the second fire, the town's library, the village is self-sustaining.

The town has advanced to water power for the single smithy, where they've learned to make decent steel, and work salvaged duralloy to some degree. Heating is done with wood and charcoal, and lighting by rendered oil lamps.

(Note: Massive fossil fuel deposits were a product of only old Earth and Vland - no other planet has anything more than peat bogs and natural gas deposits. Modern hydrocarbons are all synthetically produced.)

The village library has books that cover the basic sciences, mathematics through calculus, basic medicine (though some surgery), and mechanical engineering. They know about electrical theory, but they don't have any working devices or a way to generate electrical power.

When the tour is done, the group sits in the village's hall while a delicious lunch of roasted meats, various fruits and vegetables, and several desserts is set before them. The available drinks are water, ale, wine, and a version of coffee.

Brent is attentive and interested as they take the tour.  He asks questions and makes notes as they go.  When they return for the lunch he eats as then as things slow down asks.  "We'd like to do what we can not only to help you but try to start communications and trade between worlds once more.  You have lanthanum here on the planet and our home system Egg has the technology but no way to make Jump drives without the Lanthanum.  We want to talk to you to see what can be done immediately to improve your standard of life and then plan for the longer term."

The ship's doctor is quiet yet attentive during the tour, while taking note of the general physical health of the inhabitants.

[PTGM: How healthy are they?  Any problems that Niamh can notice?]


Niamh politely and happily accepts what is offered to her, deciding to try their local coffee instead of anything alcoholic.

Naimh observes that everyone she sees appears to be in generally good health. Some of the elderly folk are showing signs of arthritis and similar issues, and there is one teen female walking around on crutches with a plaster cast on her right calf and foot.

This squares with her autopsy findings - other than the epilepsy, the man was in excellent health and well nourished.

~*~

Melina's father, Byron Agishdu, sets his mug of ale down and looks across the table at Brent. "All of that sounds good, but I am concerned about the possibility of attracting the wrong kind of attention. Melina explained what she learned last night aboard your ship. How do you propose to address that risk?"

The other dozen village elders went quiet to hear the conversation.

Brent was quiet for a moment as the Byron asked the main question.  "It's going to take us a while to get your tech level up to the point where you'd attract attention.  We couldn't find you until we were able to decipher the journal of your explorer.  Small size and low tech is your shield.  We'd focus the effort at first on the lanthanum mines.  Any raiders would go after them first.  The key would be to bring in defences at the same time we start to attract attention."

"How would you go about doing all of these things?" Byron asks. "Does your ship carry what we'd need to bring up our 'tech level', as you say? Would you and your people become our teachers?"

"Forgive me," the lady seated next to Byron says. "We know from the old journals that there were several farming enclaves on this planet. Do any of their descendants still live?"