Atherton was standing behind the bar when Ledo walked in.  He glanced up from the glass he was polishing and met Ledo's eye.  Then, quite quickly, Atherton's eyes flicked to a couple of guys at the end of the bar.

It was the second time this week a couple of cops took up space at the counter of The Lucky Lizzy.

There weren't any hanging around outside anyone's apartment.  Just every so showing up at Lizzy.  Silver knew the cops would sometimes do that: show up and hang around someone they thought might be involved in something.  Just to see if a little pressure might make them do something stupid.

It looked like the cops were doing it to several others present at the Auction.  So they were casting a wide net.

Atherton wasn't overly happy about it.  But he hadn't given anyone the boot.  Yet.

It might be time to blow.

You may assume the Tia has been purchased.  The loot has been fenced.  And you've had time to do a little shopping (though I'll need to know what you bought.  Other than the ship or course).

Like the narrative says:  it looks like the cops are fishing all over the pond.  They aren't angling for you specifically.  Yet.  But it might be time to consider seeing one of the other lovely worlds in Five Sisters...

I'll be posting some descriptions of neighboring worlds tonight.  Consider where you might like to visit next.  Thanks.

Ledo and the others were in the back room trying their best to act casual but all of them (except for Silver who didn't have a phone anymore now that Rig had taken his back) were checking the news about the heist. It had, of course, made a big splash and despite the complication of the rebel faction it seemed like that had drawn all the focus of the investigation. Sure without obvious leads the police were keeping an eye on everyone but it seems like even their prep work to frame Molly wasn't going to be enough to make the police focus on anything other than rebel faction internal betrayal.

It had taken some time to get buyers set up. Thankfully due to all the attention the heist had wealthy buyers came out of the woodwork to subtly lay down hints they were really disappointed that certain items were no longer available. Tepha spent the following week putting out feelers and eventually found a fence they could use. A deal was negotiated and the credits exchanged hands without a hitch.

Now that they were incredibly wealthy it was time to decide what to do with it. Ledo had a plan though. While Silver had been wandering, Tepha making contacts and Rig obsessively monitoring the news, Ledo had been reaching out to some old contacts and wandering around the shipyards.

When the Empire confiscated ships there was a whole complicated internal mechanism to move good around for eventual auction. Thanks to his contacts Ledo was able to pull a few strings and make sure that a certain ship made it to Karin for auction: The Tiamat's Flight.

Ledo had chased down the ship while in the navy shortly before departing and it was actually the Tiamat's Flight that had prompted his retirement. It wasn't the prettiest ship, or the fastest, or the most powerful but it just had something special that had called out to him the moment he had stepped foot on it to impound it. It had a little bit of piracy to it, a little bit of smuggling, a little bit of legitimacy. It had potential, he felt. It represented freedom from the Empire and its orders and byzantine bureaucracy, the ability to go where they wanted, work the jobs they wanted, live a life of excitement.

While with the Navy he had visited hundreds of star systems the truth was h e didn't feel like he had traveled at all. One naval base looked the same as the next and while there were a few moments of R&R here and there most of his memories were of captain's quarters and command bridges.

Something had called to him when he first encountered the Tiamat's Flight and now it seemed fate was working in his favor. Years of legal proceedings and trials had finally resolved. The smugglers and skip jumpers were in jail and the paperwork had cleared the ship for auction. One last favor here and there and the ship was arriving to the starbase this very day. He didn't know the exact time so he wandered the dockyards checking logs and news feeds about the upcoming auction just waiting for his chance.

---

"So that's it then? You can just cancel the auction completely?"

The chubby beurocrat Wilson Minix gave a nod sending his jowls waggling.

"Oh yeah. Nobody cares how a ship is sold. Usually auctioning it off is recommended but there are allowances for direct sales. Especially to such, <ahem>, esteemed buyers."

He rubbed his fingers together, the universal sign of credits. Because it was an impound sale he had hoped to buy it at a considerable discount but Ledo's personal investigations had identified several interested buyers among criminal elements looking for a new smuggler ship had made him concerned. They could barely afford the ship in its current state let alone in a bidding war between drug cartels.

"Alright then, what kind of service fee are we looking at?"

Wilson grinned, his fat folds creating ripples across his mouth.

"Typically a service fee for a direct say is half a percent."

Ledo nearly choked. He had known corruption was rife, he had been counting on it, but he hadn't expected it to be so expensive.

"That's...that's like three-and-a-half million credits." Ledo was stammering, barely believing the mental math himself. Wilson just grinned wider

"Well you are more than welcome to take it to auction. Starting bid will probably be around fifty million credits so I hope you can afford to take the chance..."

Ledo still couldn't speak but he shook his head. He coughed to clear the shock from his throat.

"Fine. One million cash here and now, the rest once the ship has been processed and certified."

Wilson grinned again. Ledo had peeled off a million from the heist cash and it had been weighing heavily in his pocket the whole time. He had sizable finances but suddenly dumping in an extra 1.5 million was going to raise some eyebrows so he had been looking for ways to spend it off the records. Apparently it was all going to go into bribing a government agent and then some.

"Oh and captain. I don't know if you know this but during our inspection we found some smuggling compartments built into the fuel storage system. It appears you missed it completely when you impounded the ship. Now, this information hasn't been logged anywhere so I'll give you another favor. I think that report will be conveniently lost in spirit of your...generosity... but all in return you don't ever ask what happened to the items found inside. Deal?"

Ledo gave a nod but when Wilson extended a hand to shake on it Ledo just slapped the million credit chip into it. Dealing with scummy government officials was part of the job but that didn't mean Ledo enjoyed it. Now he just needed to break the news to everyone that he had just spent all their hard won cash on an old impounded pirate ship.

"Absolutely fucking ridiculous."

Rig had half the access panels off the wall of the Tiamat's Flight engineering deck and was just staring at the rats nest of wiring.

"Fucking. Ridiculous. Do you know what they did, Captain? Whoever was chief engineer before decided to stop recording the updated wiring work. Nothing is written down anywhere, nothing is properly labeled. Do you see this? This right here?"

He grabbed a loose wire showing the free end to Ledo.

"This wire is hooked directly into the main reactor and doesn't go anywhere. Nowhere. It's just a live cable with a fusion reactor on the back end just floating free. The only reason it didn't electrify the decking and fry everyone onboard is because there are hundreds more just like it stuffed into every electrical conduit. One good shake and this ship becomes a death trap a hundred times over."

Ledo recoiled from the exposed end of the wire but Rig rolled his eyes and let it drop. Ledo flinched when the exposed metal touched the metal decking but then looked at Rig in confusion when nothing happened.

"I cut the power to it. I'm not stupid Captain. I'm actually really good at my job. Hence why you brought me on board in the first place, remember?"

Ledo gave a sigh of relief and rubbed his temples. The Tia as everyone had started calling it was his but it came with a hefty mortgage and apparently quite a bit of complication.

"Alright, so is it flyable?"

Rig gave a sigh and nodded his head.

"Oh it will fly. Just a question of if anyone will be alive when we get to our destination."

Bitterness dripped from Rig's voice as he spoke. Breaking the news that he had bought a ship with their money had not gone over very well. Tepha had come around, Silver had just wandered off and Ledo wasn't sure if she was ever coming back but Rig had taken it the hardest. He had chewed Ledo out for an hour and then after getting drunk on Ledo's dime came back and chewed him out for a second hour. Ledo had only gotten him calmed down because he swore up and down that the ship was a steal for the nearly 60 million it had cost them. Now hearing Rig's assessment Ledo was worried he might have made a horrible mistake.

"So what does that mean for us?"

"It means you fucked up. Big time. Electrical needs to be completely overhauled. Top to bottom. That is going to cost millions and until then we are going to burn through spare parts like crazy while I fix all the stupid shit I've seen with this jury rigged piece of shit. And don't get me started on the outer hull. This ship was in a bad bad fight and the structural integrity of the ship is compromised. It'll still fly, it's not going to fall apart but it can't take another beating like it once could, that's for sure."

"Can you fix it?"

Rig just shook his head.

"Structural integrity. The way to fix it is to scrap the ship for parts and buy a new one off the lot."

"How bad?"

"Don't know precisely but probably the steel core is down 20%."

"Well...that's not bad. I mean not terrible, right? She's got plenty of armor and speed to boot. Besides we're not taking the Tia to the front lines."

Rig gave a sigh and nodded.

"Yeah I suppose. Once you get past the part where the previous engineer was trying to sabotage the ship it's' not all bad. Big jump drive and the reaction drives are fast as hell. Normally don't see those in a ship like this because they eat fuel like crazy but with the inflatable tank and some planning we could maintain that speed for awhile. Ship's computer is weird but in a good way. Draws a lot more power than it should but is loaded with software and has plenty of space for more. I've never seen those virtual crew programs before but should come in handy. Flip on that virtual co-pilot will free you up to take control of one of the turrets and the virtual engineer is proving to be really helpful in figuring out what the fuck is wrong with this ship.

Power Plant has been upgraded to a newer fusion model sometime in the past 10 years. Smaller and more efficient so the ship has plenty of power even in combat. Weapon systems are very well maintained, surprising given the state of the rest of the ship. Sensors too are military grade. Autodoc is a known model so we can get parts for it pretty easy."

"What about the garden?"

Rig gave a shrug.

"I've never served on a ship with a garden before. Luckily ship's computer has all the details and it is almost completely maintenance free. No real complicated parts. Systems are already in place for internal composting to mix water with minerals for the hydroponics. As long as it has power and at least 4-6 people living onboard it will be fine. Saves us on oxygen and waste processing so not bad. Takes up a lot of space though. We have a tiny galley and no public restrooms. Some safety systems have been carved out but they not needed."

Ledo nodded sagely. He knew some of this stuff already, the report he had been given on the ship had been thorough, included some very colorful notes by the inspection team about the internal wiring of the ship but he was hoping to try and get Rig on board.

"So, where does that leave us?"

"It's a ship. Give me a week and I can probably make sure it doesn't kill us for our first jump but don't expect peak performance for a long time and try and avoid taking any hits until I can make sure there aren't any more death traps waiting for us. Until then when you walk around I recommend insulated shoes."

Ledo waited around as Rig turned back to his work.

"What I mean is where does that leave us? I need on on this one Rig."

Rig gave a sigh and didn't bother to look back.

"You fucked us, Captain. We should have just gotten a Far Trader right off the shelf. Would have been just as functional and a lot cheaper. Don't you ever spend my money again like that. I will walk away if you ever pull shit like this again."

Without another word Rig got back to work, muttering to himself to clearly indicate to Ledo that the conversation was over.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:50, Sun 22 Mar 2020.

Ledo felt his stomach drop as he turned back to the airlock. He had hoped Rig would have fallen in love with the ship like Ledo had. Ledo had hoped Rig could see the potential and realize that it might have cost an extra 10 million but it was money well spent.

That hadn't happen. He needed Rig even more with all the electrical work that would need to be done and he had hoped to use Rig to win the others over. There was a still a path forward, he could see it, it just was going to be a longer and more difficult one.

OOC: Back at the bar

Ledo was standing in front of a holographic projection of the ship. Tepha was there with a smile on her face. She had ended up being quite easy to win back to his side. Once he pointed out the luxurious captain's quarters and the excitement of smuggling compartments and weapon turrets she had come back around. Silver had wandered back and said she would rejoin for a double share and Ledo had agreed as so Silver was back, looking a bit bored as ever. Rig hadn't left the Tia in 2 days. He was working 20 hours a day trying to get the ship up to his exacting standards before they would lift off.

"Alright so that's the layout of the ship. Now let's talk about profits. For...extracurricular activities we'll do even splits, same as always. For the ship we're going to build up three months of maintenance and mortgage payments as a rainy day fund. That comes out to about 675,000 credits. Anything we make moving cargo and passengers will be profit split the following ways: I get 65%, Rig gets 20%, Silver gets 10% and Tepha gets 5%."

Silver nearly choked with laughter as Tepha sputtered out in protest.

"What the? 5%. I'm a quarter of the crew and I only get 5%?"

Ledo gave a shrug.

"Rig and I get larger shares because we put up larger chunks of the down payment. If you have a couple million credits lying around you can buy up a larger share of the profits."

Tepha jabbed a finger at Silver.

"Then why does Silver get twice as much as me? She didn't put up millions of credits more than me."

Ledo gave a shrug.

"She negotiated a larger share to stay on board."

Silver flashed a smug smile at Tepha from across the room.

"Well fine then. I want a larger share!"

Ledo couldn't help but smile.

"Or what? You'll walk out? Leave all this behind? Go it alone out here on Karin?"

Tepha's outrage simmered down a bit when she realized she didn't have a lot of options.

"How about this. You get fewer shares but you get to share the luxury captain's suite with me. Double sized restroom, walk-in closet, leather recliner and a liquid foam matress."

The fire went out behind Tepha's eyes. She was a creature who loved her comforts and symbols of status and a high stateroom spoke to both of those.

"And you just might be on one of the few ships in the quadrant that gets fresh produce."

Both Tepha and Silver looked confused.

"Produce from our own internal garden. It's not much but we should be able to get some fresh tomatoes, carrots, peppers and lettuce from it now and then."

The anger had drained completely from Tepha's voice, replaced by curiosity.

"We have a garden?"

Ledo smiled and nodded. It looked like Silver and Tepha were on board again.

<i>bing bong boooooo<i>

The sound comes from Ledo's pocket.  Apparently his personal communicator is glad to see someone.

There's a message from Minix.

Your paperwork is all set.  Will need owner(s) to come down and retina scan the signature.  Also someone you should talk to. Client who needs some cargo hauled.  I can give you the contact when you're down here.

Ledo grinned after reading the message and waggled the comm where Silver and Tepha could see.

"Look at that. The paperwork is ready and we might have a lead on some cargo to haul to boot."

---

It had taken both Ledo and Tepha to convince Rig to put down his work for an hour to get scanned in as registered owner of 20% of the ship.

"I don't know why I would want to put my name on this piece of shit..." he grumbled over and over again.

"Maybe because Cap'n already spent all your money on it."

Silver grinned, always up for stirring the pot a bit. Rig fumed and stared daggers at Ledo but the once-again Captain had a bounce in his step that not even Rig's withering stare could diminish. Ledo felt like this was the start of the rest of his life and he couldn't wait to take her up. Rig meanwhile knew just how likely that would be Ledo's last trip of his life and continued to stew.

The paperwork was signed, retinas were scanned in. Everyone signed upon their agreed upon percentages. Even Tepha signed up with little resistance as she had to admit even 5% was more money than she had ever seen in her life. With a simple scan she had become a multi-millionaire...if you didn't count the massive debt she had just taken on.

Once the paper work was done Ledo let the others get back to their work while he stayed behind to talk to Minix.

"So, tell me about this cargo."

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 8):

"It's not me..."  Minix smiles and hands you a palm console.  There's a clearance card attached.  This will let you get on to the docks at the High Port.

"Berth 17 Beta.  The ship is called Rosemary's Favorite Child.  The captain is a man named Oleth Banks.  He's the one looking for transport."

Minix shrugs.  "He can give you the details.  When I heard about it, I thought you were uniquely qualified for it.  Like I said.  Banks has the details."

Let me know if you're going and with who.  Thanks.

Ledo took the card and tipped his head in thanks. Perhaps that wasn't millions of credits down the drain after all greasing Minix's palm.

---

A short time later Ledo and Tepha were on their way to Berth 17 Beta. Ledo hadn't even bothered asking Rig after seeing him doing his best to reroute the biosphere water away from the ion cannon main energy capaciters and Silver had wandered off to go bar hopping. Tepha of course jumped at the scent of adventure.

"Do you think it's smuggling? I bet it's smuggling. Why else would Minix send him our way? Oooh this is exciting, isn't it."

She tapped Ledo on his chest playfully as she went into the back room to plan out her outfit. A half hour later she came looking like a femme fatale from an old detective noir film. Hair up, slinky dress with a shoal for comfort and a bit of decency. She looked more like she was going to a fancy party than a back handed deal. Ledo meanwhile looked like he always did. Professional but with function over form in his new dark protec suit. He secured his blade on one side and his shiny new laser pistol on the other and joined Tepha on their way to the docking bay to meet this new contact.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 10):

If any ship screamed smuggler, it would be Rosemary's Favorite Child.  It's a long sleek, mostly black yacht.  There are a number of missile bays discreetly hidden along the undersides.  And it looks fast.  It must be fast.  A ship this cool can't be slow.

A couple of the crew look up as you come near.  One of them nods when you mention your mission.  She checks the ID you were given and tells you to hold on.  After a few minutes, she comes back to the cargo hold door, waving for the two of you to come.

If anyone screamed smuggler, it would be Banks.  He's tall and built like a Marine.  His bald head is almost polished to a shine.  Tattoos looking like ancient tribal marks star behind his left ear and probably continue down his body.  His chiseled body.  He gives Tepha a not at all subtle look up and down and then grins at Ledo.

"Welcome aboard.  Let's drink."

There's a small table set up at the back of the hold.  The three of you sit around it and Banks pours you shots of a rather nice whiskey.

"This is from Deneb sector.  There's a small moon there.  No atmo, but damn if it doesn't have some of the best distilleries in the Imperium."  It is good booze.

He leans back in his chair, kicking his feet up and planting them on the lip of the table.  "So.  The job.  I have some merchandise I was asked to bring it here.  To Karin.  I schleped it over from Glisten sector.  But when I arrived...well.  The buyer had to relocate.  They tell me I got to get it over to Jone.  You wouldn't think that too big a thing, right?  Jone is just a hop away.  Never mind the skip and the jump.

"But there's another little wrinkle."  His smile grows wider.  Almost like it's going to stretch outside the lines of his face.  "See.  The buyer isn't on Jone itself.  She's on the outer rim naval base.  And to dock means you really need to have some connections with the Navy.  I do...but not the kind that's gonna mean I can leave after I dock.  If you get what I'm saying."

He brings his leg down and sits, leaning forward, forearms on the table.  He refills your shots.  "So.  What I'm offering is straight up.  I need someone who's got naval connections and can dock at the base.  They let civies and retirees off and on all the time.  Especially in Jone system.  You take the cargo the last leg of the run.  You get a third of the take.  I brought it two thirds the way.  It seems fair."

He drains his shot and starts to pour another.  "The expected price is 300 K in credits.  How's that sound for a soy milk run?"

Ledo' eyes flickered over to Tepha to see how she was reacting but she seemed too absorbed by the wine, or at least that was the impression she was giving off.

Ledo sipped his wine to buy some time has he thought about the various smugglers he had picked off in his career and how he thought they would act. The good ones at least. He leaned back and appraised Banks as he chewed on the idea. Let it breath like the wine they were drinking.

"That's in interesting offer. And a fair one if everything is on board. The only problem is we're taking on a lot of the risk. Everyone knows the final transfer is the hardest part. Getting it through customs, getting it to the buyer, making sure the buyer pays up and in full instead of eating the barrel of a pistol.

I have the credentials and respectability you need but all that goes out the window if I get caught. It's not just a fine or jail time but my entire reputation on the line. The kind of reputation that gets me paid 300k for a soy milk run."

He let out a grin as he turned Bank's words against him. He let his words hang in the air, let the concerns and uncertainty linger to give them the gravity and respect he felt they deserved.

"That said it isn't a no. Like I said 300k isn't bad for a single hop, especially when it is where I was heading in the first place."

Tepha let one perfectly manicured eyebrow arch as she shot him an slight questioning look. He smiled back and raised the wine to his nose, breathing in the bouquet before taking another sip.

"To make a proper decision, to put my reputation on the line all I require is some additional information. Very simple, assuming this is as easy as you say it is.

First I need to know what I'm taking for you. I need to know because I need to know what kind of scans I need to protect it from. Also if you can't tell me that says a lot about how safe this run actually is.

Second I need to know the details about who we are handing it off to. How are they paying, how will I get my cut, how likely are they going to turn around and sic station security on me to avoid paying a bill.

Finally I need to know how much I'm going to be carrying. There are limits to what my reputation can get past customs."

Ledo knew he was asking a lot and there was a lot of money on the line, but he also knew he had three months cushion for their mortgage and were just starting out. The last thing he wanted was to be caught smuggling an active nuke into a Naval base on behalf of some terrorist cell or rival House.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 12):

"Very reasonable questions." Banks stands and stretches.  He grins at the two of them.  "But why tell when I can show.  Over here."

He leads you to the other side of the hold.  "I brought these out cos I thought you'd want to see them.  Also, this is legal goods on Karin.  So who cares, right?"

He stops by three large crates.  The tops are off.  "This is it."

Inside are piles of stuffed animals.  They are all the same character, though in different poses.  A red furred mammal of some kind with a large head, large buggy eyes, and a big mouth with broken, crooked teeth.  It's cute in an ugly kind of way.

Some of the dolls have the character dressed in a vacc suit.  Some of the dolls have the character dressed as a butler.  Or a maid, even though it seems sort of maculine.  There's one in Imperium Scout wear.  One as a chef with the big puffy hat.  One dressed as a tribal hunter from the ice world of Iziq. There's even one dressed up like the last Queen Empress.

"So I'm guessing you're going to ask a lot of the same questions I did when this job came up.  Lemme tell you what I know.

"First. These things are called Bugees." He pronounces it boo-geez.  "And apparently they are some hot shit kid's toy over in Glisten.

"Well.  Now the toy is super popular in Five Sisters as well.  You can find 'em all over the place here on Karin.  But.  You can't get them in Jone.  That's because they're banned.  The rumor is the company that puts them out didn't want to pay the extortion tax by the Jone Bureau of Cultural Relevance.  So they got banned."

He picks up one and frowns at it.  "There's one sure-as-shit way to make a profit on Jone: sell something banned by the Bureau of Cultural Relevance.  Counter-culture is like real big there.  All the cool kids jack up into whatever shit they're told not to.  It sounds very teenager, right?  Well.  On Jone, that's double the rule.  Each one of these things?  It'll sell between three and six hundred creds."

He tosses it back in the crate.  "They're just an ugly ass little doll to me.  But kitsch sells, right?"

He holds up his pointer finger.  "One.  No.  They aren't stuffed with drugs. You can test some at random.  Just remember each one you test is money outta the pot though if you don't sew it back up."

Another finger.  "Two.  Yeah.  This is a real deal.  I didn't buy it at first either.  But I did my research.  I can show it to you. But would you believe me?  Do your own.  But make it snappy.  The meet up is supposed to be end of week."

He holds up a third finger.  "Three.  You get the contact and meeting instructions when I know you're gonna take the job.  I'm not going to spread around names if you're going to walk."

Banks shrugs.  "This is a dream job.  If I could figure out how to get on that base myself, you never woulda heard about this caper.  But I can't. So.  Here we are.

"As far as the cut, I'm the one taking the risk.  You could drop the goods and blow.  I'd have to track you down.  Blah blah blah.

"Let's keep this easy.  It's always good to be friendly with at least one rival crew.  There's benefits to both sides.  If you're smart, you'll be able to think that through and see what I'm talking about.  If not, and you try to dick me, I'll gut you.  And then we can't be friends."

He shrugs.  "I can dump these here on Karin.  But I won't make near the profit as I could on Jone.  Yeah, that'd be a bummer.  But sometimes, you got to settle for what you can get as opposed to what you want. Whatcha gonna do?  This is the Life."

He puts his hands on his hips and smiles again.  "As for your reputation...shouldn't you have thought about that before you decided to become a smuggler?"

Ledo let out a chuckle. A few low laughs at first that built until he was clutching his sides. Even Tepha took a step back wondering if something had snapped. It was a few moments before Ledo could collect himself enough to talk.

"This...this is amazing. Three hundred a piece...for these?"

He pulled on out at random and ended up holding a teeny tiny plushy space marine complete with PGMP and power armor (minus the helmet of course).  He turned it around to stare at it, wiggling it to make the assault bugee dance to an invisible tune. He let out another laugh and extended his hand out to Banks.

"Assuming you're telling me the truth then you've got yourself a deal. Here I was worried you were going to have me moving...well never mind what I thought this might be. But this..."

He held up the doll and waggled it again.

"...this I can do."

He turned the doll around in his hands, staring at it incredulously.

"We're shipping out in two days time, end of the week. If you can arrange to get the cargo transferred to Alpha 16 Romero, we'll get the cargo where it needs to go. Here's my comm id for the details. We'll be in touch."

He went to toss the plushy soldier back into the pile and paused.

"Mind if I take one with me? The rest of my crew aren't going to believe this so having a visual aid might keep the grumblings to a minimum?"

He waggled the doll again, clearly getting a bit attached to it's springy movements.

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 14):

Banks grins, glad to have a deal.  "Done and done."  He produces a Info Disk.  "Here are the specs on the drop off.  The buyer is a guy named Algo Rahmes.  He's a supply sargeant at the military base.  The info has the details on contacting him.  When you first buzz him, tell him you're calling about the shipment of milk toast and that it'll be two and a half days late.  That'll let him know you have the goods.  He'll call you back when he can get to a secure line.

"You can drop my cut off on the Jone Star Town.  There's a bar named Greasy's.  You won't have any trouble finding it.  Just give the creds to any of the bartenders and tell them it's a tip for Banks.  Don't buzz me if anything comes up.  Instead call Greasy's.  Ask for Lee.  I'll see you when we drop off the goods.

"And yeah.  You can take as many as you like..."  He's beaming. "Just count 'em against your share."  He laughs.

Ledo chatted and finished his wine with Banks enjoying the company of another captain and ex-military man. As soon as they were back on the walkway to the Tia Ledo's smile faded and he got a more serious look on his face.

"Nothing can be this simple. We're going to take this thing back and put it under every spectrometer the ship has. Let's see if that science library is worth it."

OOC: Going to run chemical scans on it to make sure it's not secretly drugs.

---

Sometime later...

Bzzzt....vrrrrt...bzzzt


The scanners were whirring and data was scrolling across the screen. Ledo put his head in his hands and growled in frustration. Curious Tepha looked over his shoulder.

Oxygen: 65%
Carbon: 18%
Hydrogen: 10%
Nitrogen: 3%
Calcium: 2%
Phosperhous: 1%
Trace amounts of Sodium, Potassium, Sulfur, Chlorine, Magnesium...


The listing scrolled off the display. Tepha looked back at the dolls and poked Ledo>

"So? What does that mean? Are they clean?"

Ledo shook his head. Then nodded. Then shrugged.

"That's the composition of the human body. The thing is reading our fingerprints instead of the doll itself. I can't get it off of organic material search."

"So...."

Ledo pounded the table.

"So it means we just spent 40,000cr to not find out a damn thing."

Tepha frowned and rubbed her chin.

"I'm sure Rig can..."

"Rig? RIG? Our engineer has been using illegal stims to stay awake now for over 72 hours. The last time I tired to interrupt him he nearly burnt me with a welding torch."

He rotated his arm so Tepha could see the singe mark on the back of his sleeve. Tepha shifted nervously.

"Soooo...what does that mean?"

Ledo nearly snapped. He had visions of himself acting the same way to Rig just earlier that week.

"IT MEANS...."

He paused, taking a deep breath. Cool heads. Grace under fire. A good leader needed to remain calm no matter what.

"It means we could be screwed. Or rich. We don't have a clue. For all we know these things are made of pure weapons-grade explosives. But we can just stick them in the fuel tanks and hope for the best. It means that sweet deal you found us on textiles is about to fall through because we need to allocate cargo space to blow up the inflatables fuel tanks. We need to have our tank topped off so some nosy inspector doesn't peek their head in and figure out what is up. We can fill up the rest of the storage with those illegal biochems we found but that is it. If these dolls fall through this is going to be a pretty shallow run."

He went over to the scanner and grabbed up the doll and went to throw it at a random terminal but Tepha snatched it out of his hands.

"Hey! Ruin credits on your own time."

She waggled the doll in his face.

"Three hundred to six hundred credits. A piece. You want a some contigency funds and I want a new hair styler so get yourself together, get Rig off the stims and get us in the air, Captain."

She cradled the doll like it was a tiny baby and walked out of the room to let Ledo stew with his thoughts.

A casual review of the culture nodes of the news feeds confirms Banks' story. Bugees are a trend now.  Here on Karin, the trend is dying down.  But, like a virus, it seems to have been carried to the nearby worlds.  There's even a small write up of the ban of their sale in the Jone system.

Ledo makes a few calls.  It mostly confirms his recollection.

The Jone system is it's star, a couple of dry inner planets, Jone itself with it's four moons, a large asteroid belt, and a gas giant perched at the far end.

Between the belt and the giant sits Willington Hath Memorial Naval Base.  Or The Hath as it's called.

Like most bases around Five Sisters, it's main purpose is to monitor the interdicted worlds of Candory and Andor.  But The Hath also has to watch the spinward border with the Darian system.  Not that the Darians are much of a threat to the Imperium these days.

The Commander of The Hath is Lana Britz.  Not a favorite CO.  She's very by the book, so much so that it's impossible to please her.  Her immediate staff are all cronies of the highest brown nose.

But there is a silver lining.  The docks are still overseen by Captain Naria Liverston.  And Naria is about as greedy as they come. Rig served under her before he was transferred to Ledo's command.  Naria is willing to turn a blind eye as long as she gets paid up front and nothing blows up.  If it does blow up, she doesn't know you at all.

I'll detail the second run through of the doll once we get airborne.  Let me know if there's any other research, etc.  Then we can gather up your passengers and get under way.

Thanks

Tepha shuffled the low passengers to their cryoberths. She had put on a pair of fake glasses for them making her appear more scientific and trained than she was. Truth be told cryosleep was a pretty known and reliable system and the ship had plenty of power so there was nothing to really worry about but she figured it didn't hurt to put their minds at ease.

Meanwhile Ledo showed the two other passengers to their staterooms.

"You have computer access and power as you need it but I ask that you stay in your rooms throughout the flight. I don't expect there to be any problems, we're not going into any red or null space but just in case something happens it's best for you to be secure in your room.

You're free to use the cafeteria and common space. Take a stroll through hydroponics as much as you'd like but if you hear any alarms, head straight to your room, got it?"

Down in the cargo bay Rig was activating the pumps to inflate the inflatable fuel tank. He needed to drain the tanks a bit to access the secret compartments and secure the cargo.

By draining the tank and opening up a side panel the cargo crane could be extended over the fuel tank. Once the dolls and other illegals the captain had secured were in place he could put the wall back into place and refill the tank and hopefully nobody would be the wiser.

Once they were en route Ledo went back over the virtual scientist and had it scan the bugee once again.

Science (Chemistry)
16:14, Today: Ledo Typhin rolled 8 using 2d6+1.  science!!!!! round 2!!!!

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 20):

Please move to the new thread.  We'll be running the trip.  The Nice.  Smooth. Ride of a trip.

Thanks