"Non? Zhen we must teach you."

Cyrus looked thoughtful.

"What zubject are you an academic of Professor Zouth? Zhe Zhodani you say?"

  Teach him to be a pirate? As long as it didn't involve mandatory eyepatches or peg-legs...

  "Not directly. The Imperium, well, you know how they and the Consulate like to wrangle now and then? And how the last wrangle just happened, with everyone poking holes in everyone else's ships? The trouble with that is that the Zhodani are famous for their spooky mind tricks, and the Imperium, not so much."

  Zhouth leaned against the walkway that ran down the middle of the bridge and folded his arms. "Heard about Vanejen? Naval research base, specializes in life sciences. They get a bunch of people together to work on ways to counter the Zhodani stuff - I'm talking a long time before the latest wrangle, mind you - since the Navy is one of the ones that really has to worry when the wrangle starts. Teleporting marines popping in next to your battleship's power plant, well..." He made a hand-parting, finger-wiggling motion in imitation of a large bang, accompanied by a theatrical grin.

  He shrugged again. "And they think I'd be great for that as a paper-pusher and poker-at-brains with all their caliper this and trepan that, which is why I noticed the spooky mind trick stuff going on back there." He hooked a thumb in the general direction of Asim. "Though this time it was a Vespexer instead of a Zhodani, and I only had to talk to him, not put little wires into his head and hope that mine wouldn't get melted in the meantime."

  "I think I like that better on both counts, but if we end up facing any more spooky mind trick stuff, I suppose I might get to be useful again. Take some advice though? Don't try pirating Zhodani nobles. I know exactly what they can do to our brains, and I'd rather not be dealing with that outside of a secure lab with lots of shielded soldier types around."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:23, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

"I get more respect for you everyday Zhouth, you never spoke much about it before. So Cyrus, you captain and me first officer, or vice versa? Ingrid Engineer."

@ Zhouth

"Ah, all becomes clear. I promise, zhough I have..."dealt with" psions before, I will always consider your advice on zhe subject. T'would be foolish to do ozherwise, non?"

A flashing light on the console indicated Zouth's message had been received.

"Your zhings should catch us up at our next stop Professor."

He switched his console back to the ship handling controls.

Standing he offered a hand to Zouth.

"Still, you will help me wizh my fencing yes? A pirate should be able to handle zhe Epee...zhe sword, non? Even if he is a psionic pirate."

@ Theodore

"It would seem natural zhat I would be zhe Capitaine."

"Unless I miss my guess young Ingrid is zhe only qualified Engineer on board. Zhe curmudgeon Varca speaks zhe truzh when he says he is not so good but he knows enough to assist her, to give her confidence."

"It would also be natural for me to be captain, I captained a cruiser in the Imperial Navy. But, for peace, I will be First Officer. I doubt your ego would allow such."

"I zhink zhis is true mes ami. Cest la Vie!"

"Once zhe course is set, could you, as your first act as Executive Officer would you be zo kind as to find quarters for everyone, including myself? Also check on our provisions...oh and find out if anyone can cook."

"Zhis operation could have done with a bit more planning, non?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:39, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

"Oui, . . . Aye, aye sir."

OOC- Drawing of the ship?

  "My kind of research work isn't the greatest conversation starter, really, and people can get twitchy just hearing about it. That, and it would be awkward in the wrong company," Zhouth replied to Theodore, putting on a look of exaggerated horror that transitioned to equally overwrought apology. "Oh, that was your aunt whose skull I was drilling into last week? So sorry about that! Won't happen again, I promise!"

  The ever-so-slightly nervous look that came over him at the mention of sword-fighting appeared to be more genuine. Still, he was game enough to return the handshake. "I suppose I can try to learn it, although I've never been very good with 'at the enemy' activities. And, uhh, psionic pirates? Is that why you've got the bits woven into your suit?" The potential implication dawned on him all of a sudden, and he exclaimed, "Are they common here? Maybe all that counter-research will be useful again sooner than I thought!"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:29, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

The Harrier has eight staterooms: four officer ones (single person but big and splendid) and four standard ones (smaller but still pretty much luxury accommodation) each with a two-person bunk. So twelve spots but only eleven formal crew positions:

Captain, pilot, astrogator, engineer, maintenance, medic, gunner x2, marine x3. Whether we use that exact same set of crew positions is another matter! Unless there are more crew coming in then we'll probably need to hire people for some things.

In the circumstances, Cyrus, myself, and Ingrid would presumably get three of the officer quarters. Who gets the fourth in the long term is an open question, although until we get to Drinax it's probably safe to suppose that the princess will be using it.

Crew-quarter-wise, it'd seem natural to put Varca and Rejji together in one room. That leaves Aaron (if he's still with us), Viridian, and Zhouth to split between the three others until we work out who else will be brought on board. Could put two of the three together right now and keep one room empty in preparation for that instead?

Ingrid nods. "The Zhodani are best left alone... very dangerous. And not always the most reliable allies."

Ingrid puts her hands on her hips indignantly. "I can cook, of course!" she says, slightly offended that her ability in this area has been questioned. "I know I'm good with ship systems" she says, embarrassed. "But I'm still a Svaerdbo girl. Just, um, tell me when you'd like to have dinner."

"C'est wonderful Ingrid! But you zee it is unwise to assume such things of women on pirate ships, non? Zhis is how a man gets scars."

"You may rise, Varca," Cheshire/Princess Rao responds to Varca. "I accept your fealty. It is also much appreciated."

In reply to Cheshire (msg # 472):

     "Thank you, Princess." Varca says, rising to his feet, "But it is not given lightly.  You know that our people--Vespexers and Palacers--though both are Drinaxi, we have a difficult relationship.  Each of us wants assistance from the other, but each is reluctant to give up our limited resources to the other.  Despite this, I have always thought that the only way life down on Drinax could get better was through working together, and only the Floating Palace had the means to accomplish cleaning up Drinax."

     "That's why I joined the Star Guard.  And in sixteen years of service, I found most of the Palace citizens to be vapid, self-absorbed dolts.  But!  In that same time, I also came to realize that, for different reasons, we Vespexers were little different."

     "With one exception." Varca pauses a moment, tipping his head towards Rao, "You, Princess.  You were the only person of influence who worked actively for the betterment of all Drinaxi--but you were just one voice in a storm howl of indifference.  The People of the Palace are too focused on glories of the past, while the Vespexers on Drinax are too focused on the suffering of our past.  Everyone is too focused on the past."

     "But this plan of yours...in this plan I see the potential to bring prosperity to the entire region, not just our own world of Drinax." Varca suddenly grins a rather dangerous-looking grin, "And it screws the Aslan.  I really like that part."

     "So, Princess, I understand your recruitment choices--all of us have deniability by the King.  The Letters of Marque allow us to offer help to people in the name of Drinax, while we--in disguise--act as pirates and raiders to disrupt the activities of the Aslan, the Imperium, and anyone else, so that Drinax can shine as the place to go to for assistance."

     "But have you thought of how we will coordinate with you?  Do you have any requirements or restrictions you want us to observe in our actions?  Any thoughts or requirements for our onboard organization?"

  Zhouth's ears swiveled at Ingrid's assertion that the Zhodani were unreliable allies. "You're talking about the Sword Worlds, and getting drawn into that last wrangle? No surprise there!" He held up two fingers on one hand and swirled it slowly from one side to the other, a well-known dramatic signal whose origins had been lost to time, as he all but laughed out an otherwise menacing-sounding, "Join us, and together we will rule the Imperium as allies. It is your destiny!"

  Still smiling, he shrugged again. "And everyone believes them when they say this. Can't imagine why!"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:30, Mon 02 Sept 2019.

The new crew of the Harrier-class commerce raider has a week to decide how they are going to run the ship, and plan what they are going to do.

At the end of the week, the ship drops out of J-space. The ship is about 600 kilometers outside the asteroid belt of the Drinax system.

Within two minutes, the Harrier picks up a low-energy transponder code which claims to be from a system shuttle.

  "Do you mind if I ride along?" Zhouth asked Rao as the shuttle came into signal-range, holding out one hand in the rough direction of the planet as he spoke. "We don't need Voha wondering where I am, although I suppose I'll have to give some excuse for not staying long. Is it okay to say that we're working on a special project for the palace, or is that too much to tell people? Actually, what do you want us to tell people?" He pulled his hand back and tapped the side of his head just in front of his ear in what was presumably meant to be some sort of conspiratorial signal. "And who is in on what we're really doing here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:50, Wed 04 Sept 2019.

"Of course, you can ride on the shuttle to Drinax," Princess Rao replies to Zhouth.

"The King, my brother and I are the only ones that know about this venture. Deniability. Secrets are hard to keep."

"The Harrier has never been on Drinax. When it was found out in the Oort Cloud, it had taken quite a beating... so much so that it had been abandoned. It couldn't fly under its own power any more... as it was. But it was still largely intact. We brought an engineering team out to the ship... at first, to decide if it could be repaired, then to how to get it back to Drinax... and then to repair it out there."

"In the time it took to get it functional again, the King and I came up with our plan. We decided that it made more sense if the ship was never seen on Drinax... at least, not while it was being repaired."

"The Floating Palace still has a significant shipyard, but we've lost the knowledge and ability to fully repair the Harrier. It's barely flyable. It still needs a lot of work, but it can't be done on Drinax."

"If we can not land on Drinax, where do we call home? We'll need a good star port with high technology to repair the ship."

((OOC: It seemed as if this thread had stalled, so I was moving the scene forward. If players still want to deal with that week in J-Space, you can continue posting here. Otherwise, I'll continue to move the scene along in a new thread.))


Because of the jump coordinates set into the astrogation computer, the arrival of the Harrier in the Drinax system would have gone undetected by Drinax. There's nothing else in the system to detect any ship activity.

"How could we call Drinax home and still be pirates?" Viridian asks.

"If we were operating out of Drinax, then the Imperium or the Aslan could strike back at us there, or even attack Drinax again."

  "So we need to find somewhere else to start calling in favors and get this thing patched together properly. And we'd be better off doing that before everyone thinks 'pirates' when they see it!" Zhouth concluded; calling in the favors that he was owed would certainly be easier that way...

  "I know there's Oleb, but maybe some of us should also talk to Harrick while we're visiting?" Zhouth held his arms out to his sides as if making a theatrical presentation. "Behold, the pirates, who are not in fact a collection of ragged maniacs, but reasonable scholars, professionals, and diplomats who make a good impression!" He pulled his hands back and put on a lopsided grin. "Best if only a few who can act the part be in on that little house call."

Cyrus swept back into the room.

"Never fear Professor we will make a Proper Savage of you before it's over!"

"I zhink zhat plan is a good one. Who would you choose to accompany you?"

He described a shallow bow to Cheshire.

"Altesse, I would like to accompany you to meet zhe King as well."

"So. Cyrus is to be our captain, officially and unofficially?" Viridian adds.

"And that's because he's been captain of a ship before, plus he's been a pirate already. Have I got that right?"

"And Teddy, who was also a ship's captain, is the XO."

"I don't really have a problem with that, since no one else is stepping forward wanting the role. I'm just a tad annoyed at the unilateral approach. Mainly because most of us don't know each other... certainly not well."

"Anyway, we're going to need a name for the ship. I'm guessing it had one originally, but I'm not keen on going with that one, whatever it was. It'd be kind of like an albatross around our necks. Nothing to live up to... and a lot to live down to."

"Two things that we need to do during the next week: inventory the ship for what needs to be stocked and repaired, and figure out what our plan of action is."

"Don't about contacting Harrick. If the Princess wants him to know, she'll tell him. It might be better to wait until we've actually done something. As I understand it, we'd be putting ourselves in the middle of a political powder keg."

"I'd rather know a little bit more about the fire before I jump into it."

  "You, Theodore, Ingrid, and Aaron would all be good for impression-making," Zhouth responded to Cyrus, counting off the names on his fingers. "Though maybe not all at once! Just two or three should be enough. One to talk, one or two to look good supporting, and not enough to make it seem like a threat. But I'm okay with skipping Harrick if she thinks it's a bad idea," Zhouth looked sidelong at Rao when Viridian voiced his concern over the idea; barring a request from Oleb, or perhaps a roundabout introduction through someone else, she was ultimately the one with the say-so.

  As for who was in charge... well, someone had to be, and that someone wasn't going to be him for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which was that he didn't think that his bluffing skills would be anywhere near sufficient to pull off a surprise act of tactical genius when they got the ship into its first real fight, nevermind doing so time and again!

"Oui, you are correct Messieur Starfire. I am simply zhe most experienced for zhe job."

"Theadore is well qualified, he even survived battle wizh my vessel once, an unusual achievement, but he is no pirate, while I, even in zhe Navy of Strend was a raider. It iz my nature."

"We will come to know one another in time. I am certain you will be satisfied with my skills of command, when zhey are necessary."

He put a comradely hand on Zouths sloped shoulder. The grip was strong.

"As for he Professor's plan..."

"...Zhe goal is not to tell Prince Harrick zhe plan. Zhis is clearly foolish. Zhe plan is to zee if he is zhe kind of man who is going to try to kill us because he does not like his sister's machinations."

"Zhis requires only zhe social status to gain his presence and zhe skills of observation, non?"

"Zhe Professor is wise and he knows that gathering intelligence is how to stay alive."

"Still, if it is felt to be too dangerous..."