Ghent, as instructed, meets Redthane at the airlock and welcomes him aboard.  Then, after a simple "This way, please," Ghent leads Redthane over to a nearby lift and up to the Upper deck.

     Ghent then leads Redthane out of the lift car and into an area that is lavishly laid out with an eye towards luxury.  Good carpeting covers the deck, the walls are paneled in--is that real wood?!--the lighting is tastefully subdued, plants grow from pots and wall sconces, and the air is clean and scented with something herbal-but-invigorating.  The light sound of water tinkling over rocks can be heard in the background.

     Redthane is led aft, through a wide companionway lined with stateroom doors--the whole scene looking, to Redthane's eye--as if he were walking through some high-class hotel.  After several steps, the central companionway opens up to a larger space, laid out as a high-end luxury lounge.  The huge, curved aft wall must be a holographic display screen--because currently it was showing a view of deep space with a massive image of some kind of stylized bird, it's wings spread wide, superimposed over the space scene.

     In the center of the chamber is a large--maybe three-meters wide--circular table.  Three people are sitting across the table from an empty chair that Redthane is led to--and his eyes are immediately drawn to a damaged and fire-scorched cybernetc arm laying on the middle of the table...

     Miria's arm.

     "That will be all, Mr. Ghent.  Thank you..." Captain McFarlane says.

     Redthane catches that the speaker has a definite Imperial sound to his voice, but mixed with something else...

     Redthane brings his gaze up to look over the three people across the table.

     The one who'd just spoken was a human male--he still had his right hand raised, making "shoo'ing" motions at Ghent.  That one was half-dressed in what must have been some kind of ship uniform--it looked like he was wearing a finely tailored, cream-colored silk shirt and a military jacket of some grey-green material with lots of gold braid--but bearing no awards or identifiers.  The Jacket was simply draped across his shoulder and worn open at the front.  A peaked officer's cap, in the same color and material, was cocked at a jaunty angle, atop his immaculately groomed brown hair.  The only symbol on the cap was a replica of the bird icon, displayed on the back wall.

     To either side of the man Redthane now recognized as the Captain he'd been comm'ing with, a short while ago--sat a person wearing armor.

     To the captain's left sat someone wearing what Redthane recognized as a hardened space suit--which was decorated as if an entire paint store had exploded around it, depositing an eye-rending number of colors upon its surface.  Though this person was seated, from the shape of the helmet Redthane was able to discern that the wearer was a Vargr--which went a long way to explaining the armor's paint scheme.  Unfortunately, the visor on the helmet was darkened, at the moment, so Redthane wasn't sure if it was a male or female Vargr.

     To the captain's right sat someone in what looked like some kind of body suit, including helmet, made of a rugged synthetic material.  The body suit was entirely black--bits of it being either glossy black or matte black, depending upon their construction.  Judging from the way that one was sitting, and adding in the flat chestplate on the armor, Redthane guessed it was likely a male, probably Human...but he allowed that it could still be a woman...

    "Captain Ferrick Redthane," the Captain seated in the middle said, in that condescending slow drawl of Aristocrats everywhere, "Once again, I am Captain Theodore McFarlane.  I welcome you aboard my Vultan.  Please, be seated..." Captain McFarlane gestures across the table, towards the empty chair Redthane is standing next to.

     As Redthane takes the seat, Captain McFarlane continues, "You are correct when to accuse us of being here to collect the Bounty on your head--although we are not Bounty Hunters.  I believe you made a claim that you possessed something that would be worth, I think you said 'ten times more'--or, was it one hundred?  No matter.  I've decided to hear whatever it is you're trying to say, Captain Redthane..."

     "Please, enlighten us..."

     The black armored Human crosses his arms, his helmet's dark faceplate never wavering from pointing straight at Redthane. The colorfully armored Vargr is similarly impassive, save that his hands are folded together on the table.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Sun 26 Mar 2023.

All the while Redthane was being escorted to the briefing room, he didn't give any indications of a 'hang-dog' attitude, but neither was it resentful or belligerent. It seemed to be more of a 'you caught me fair and square' one.

"Impressive ship, Captain," he said as he took the indicated seat. "Never seen a ship like this before. Never even heard of one, for that matter."

At the Captain's request, Ferrik continued: "Yes, I suppose I wouldn't be here if you weren't interested in what I have to say. I'll be the first to admit that acquiring the value I mentioned may require some... effort. It's not like there's a starship's hold full of iridium to just grab... though that would be nice, wouldn't it?"

"Gentlemen, what if I was to tell you that Admiral Darokyn was a... double agent?"

He let that sink it for a bit.

Redthane's statement was left hanging in the air for a few moments before the brightly-armored vargr spoke. It was not quite Zhouth's voice, coming out flatter, slower, and generally sounding as though it was resonating through a rebreather before making it to the suit's internal mic for pickup. On top of that, there was none of Zhouth's customary flailing presentation. He remained stock-still, enough so that one might well wonder whether the suit's joints had all somehow jammed.

"Do you have evidence of this claim for Captain McFarlane?"

Perhaps Zhouth's suit was making it hard to look and sound like his usual self. Perhaps he'd taken something to slow him down a little for this interview. Maybe he was just putting on a herculean effort to restrain his usual habits. Maybe he was just really into acting the part. At least he wasn't hamming it up the way he had when they'd been negotiating with the Stregor.

Except for the apparent voice filter, that is. Unless he really had managed to knock the suit's mic down one of its life support tubes somehow.

"Of course," Redthane answers the Vargr. "If you mean beyond the fact that Darokyn wants me dead, then the answer is 'no' but I know where it can be had. Darokyn knows it, too."

The colorful vargr remained impassive. Once again, silence hung in the air for a moment before he spoke again. "Go on."

"The Admiral and I weren't always enemies, though I'm not foolish enough to think that he ever fully trusted me," Redthane answers. "I tend to snoop a bit too much. And I'm suspicious."

"The Admiral did a sweep of the outer system... maneuvers, he called them. It also included maintenance on a marker buoy... that never got done."

"A little off-course drift and I was able to intercept a communique between Darokyn and what I can only guess is Imperial Intelligence via that buoy. They seem to be supporting and funding his pirate activities."

"The recordings are still on that buoy."

Teddy looks back and forth between Varca and Zhouth. Then he looked 'through' Redthane and let Varca ask about where the buoy was if he cared. It didn't sound like that big of a bargaing chip to him, though a pirate on Theev might care. He'd get a better idea if they knew more maybe.

"Go on, . . . . tell us more. Convince us please."

In reply to Zhouth (msg # 5):

     The black-clad Human to McFarlane's left turns his helmeted head to look over at McFarlane for a moment, then back towards Redthane,

     "Darokyn.  Admiral Darokyn.  The Pirate Admiral and Imperial Navy Traitor." a male voice growls from the suit vocoder,

     "You're actually telling us that Admiral Jaimie Darokyn is a double agent--that he's not only a Pirate Lord of Theev, but that he also works for...who?  The Third Imperium of Mankind?  The Aslan Hierate?  Maybe the Florian League?  No, I know!  Admiral Darokyn is secretly working with the Sindalian Empire in an effort to restore their lost glory!"

     The black-clad Human lazily raises his gloved right hand and makes a gesture as if he were waving away an insect,

     "And...exactly what is it you would have us do with this...information...which you admit you don't actually have proof of but know where to find such."

     The raised hand suddenly snaps out to point a finger at Redthane,

     "You, we get hard cash for, if we bring you to the Clarkies and Torpolites.  Immediate Money.  Tell me, Captain Redthane, how does what you offer get that for us?"

     He settles back, again crossing both arms over his chest.

     "His Lordship, Captain-the-Baron McFarlane..." he nods towards McFarlane, "Is likely holding to some fantasy that, since you are a Pirate, you have some fantastic treasure hidden away which you will, no doubt, offer us in lieu of taking you in for the Bounty."

     "Instead, we get...a story!...that the Dread Pirate Admiral, Jaimie Darokyn, is also an agent for one of the interstellar superpowers.  A story you, sadly, do not actually have proof of, but the existence of which you swear exists.  Oh, and let me guess--The Admiral is working with--who?--Imperium Naval Intelligence?  The Aslan IRS?"

     The black-clad Human turns his helmeted head towards McFarlane.

     "As I told you, Your Lordship, he has nothing!  He's nothing but a poor, third-rate Pirate.  He has no wealth other than what he carries upon himself.  I doubt that his ship is even worth enough, as salvage, to draw our attention.  And what do we care, even if this fairy tale about Admiral Darokyn is true?  So what?"

     "Please, Your Lordship, end this farce!  This...failure of a Pirate...has nothing of any real value to offer us.  The Clarkies will pay a bonus if we give him to them alive!  Let's just grab him and go!"

Teddy wonders if Zhouth will be able to get the location of the buoy, getting the ship, the bounty, AND the info is what he wanted.

He looked from Varca to Zhouth and waited for him to speak next.

OOC: Dammit!  Obviously Redthane got in a response to Zhouth while I was composing that Treatise on Interstellar Economics (i.e., my big-assed, wordy, pompous Post) up there.  Let's just pretend that Varca doesn't sound like he's running 10 seconds behind everyone else, shall we?

"You don't fool me!" Ferrik snaps back but makes no overt move. "You know perfectly well what that information is worth!"

"If you want an in with the pirate organization of Theev, this is it! You want a trade advantage, this is it! If you want to upset the entire applecart, this will do it. Who knows what you could dig out from the wreckage?"

"Just keep in mind that you are in the same position I was in when I got the intel... albeit with a better ship... and then I lost Misery's Company. Miria was working on that."

"I was tempted at first to ask 'Did you have to kill her?' but given it was Miria, there would have been no other way. She wasn't right in the head, of course, but I liked her."

"Anyway, I was working on my Grand Scheme when you caught up to me. Part of that was an ally... well, working partner might be a more appropriate term."

"If Clarke be my fate, so be it."

"Now, as for the hoard of treasure the Captain-Baron thinks I have, really? Would I still be doing this if I had that much money? Though I've speculated on occasion how much that would take. Haven't come up with a number yet."

"However, I do have two words for you: Treasure Ship."

"To return to the original topic," the brightly-armored vargr stated, still sounding rather flat and disinterested, and stock-still besides, "Why wouldn't the Admiral arrange to delete the recordings, or destroy the buoy, if he knows that you're aware of his messages there? He has had plenty of time to do it."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Mon 27 Mar 2023.

     Varca keeps his face turned towards Theo while Redthane espouses the value of the Darokyn data--feigning indifference--but then...


     Varca makes a dismissing gesture towards the cyber-arm,

     "We tried to recruit her away from you, of course." Varca sneers, "She foolishly chose to remain loyal to you.  She and I then played a short game of handball--with a live grenade.  I won..."

     Varca continues to appear to be ignoring Redthane--until the pirate says those two little words...


     Varca's helmeted head turns to look directly at Redthane so fast, his whole body seems to jerk in his seat.

     So, while Zhouth is asking about Darokyn erasing the message buoy, Varca is simultaneously asking,

      "What's that about a Treasure Ship?!"