At Tala Station
Trudy offers to draw up a contract for the station to support Wanderer's maintenance needs at no cost, for as long as the ship is in service with Joxe, Brent, and their descendants. "It's the least I can do in payment for your services," she explains.
They find that the station has most of the tools they need, although there are a few tools specific to jump drives, that they did not have.
Everyone is fascinated with the Imperials, and with the offworlders. There are gifts offered "to take home with you", and the folk from Execute are overawed by the technology around them.
Privately, though, Melina has some reservations. "I don't know that we're ready for all of this back home. This is great, but I liked my life before. " She smiles at Malcolm. "Don't misunderstand, I'm not advocating to move back home, but it will take me some time to adjust. My point is, many of the people at home take the lessons of the past to heart, and I've heard talk about not wanting to embrace that again." She takes Malcolm's hand. "I am committed to you, and I really don't care where we live, as long as we're together."
"That's doubly true for Radshir's people," Kevin says. "Emii and I have talked to them, and their people are still angry about the raiders from two hundred years ago. That was Keipes, but I think the distinction is lost on them."
The meeting with the government officials takes three hours. The high points are:
Joxe, Naimh, and Melina tell their stories about how they arrived here at Egg. They are met with appropriate sentiments, especially for Joxe, who garners an explicit promise that no official or officer from Egg will ever touch her ship except for needed customs inspections. Of course, Wanderer and her company are welcome to make themselves available for government service in any capacity they wish, but it won't be demanded of them. One acute need they could fill would be to instruct pilots, engineers, and navigators in jump space operations. Joxe offers to provide some of their advanced learning equipment to aid in that effort, which is gratefully accepted.
OOG: I'll leave it to you to mention the runabout, or not.
Brent, Malcolm, and Veronica are welcomed home, and they tell their story about how they came to be aboard the then-Concordia. There are a few poorly-hidden smiles in reaction, but there will be no repercussions from their former employers.
The four companions remaining behind will, with their acceptance, be inducted into the newly formed Egg Scout Service. Between them, they have skill enough to fly and navigate the scout ship to known and plotted destinations. They will return to Egg with the first repaired scout ship, there to negotiate with the people of Execute for more lanthanum, in exchange for whatever tech they'd like to have.
The government desires to open diplomatic relations with Execute. They will consult with the five villagers, and they ask that Wanderer transport a diplomatic mission, personnel, equipment, light grav vehicles, and temporary housing, on their return trip to Execute.
The government is concerned about Keipes and other possible hostile polities. Their position is that they will ramp up their efforts to fortify the system using SDBs and defenses focused on likely jump arrival points. They are loathe to immediately offer military aid to other star systems, at least until they have an idea of what they may be facing. To that end, they are interested in obtaining intelligence, though the military recommends that Wanderer not approach Keipes, given their history, and that they were conducting raids, indicating that they probably survived the Devastation. Intelligence gathering will be assigned to the new scout service, as their ships come online.
The government is interested in discovering and salvaging high tech items, and they are willing to supply whatever any outside ships might require in payment. Tala Station will be the clearinghouse for these trades, as the project is also assigned to the scout service.
OOG: Did I miss anything?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:20, Thu 13 Aug 2020.