Kojo maneuvered the Black Hole, an over sixty-year-old flight one UNN Phantom class escort which began life as the UNN Banshee. After a thirty-five-year career in the UNN the vessel spent another 10 years as a training vessel before being de-militarized (torpedo tubes, PDC and other military hardware/software removed) and was then sold off to become a small cargo ship. At some point the vessel became a smuggler, and then a combination of smuggler and pirate ship.

Once the docking clamps had engaged the crewmen and women of the Black Hole gathered down in the galley. Here the Captain and commander of the Black Hole, Kamon Bunnag passed on some information.

Kamon is an olive skinned 6 foot 5 inch tall Belter with an abnormally long neck, arms and legs addressed his crew. His beat up jump suit is half zipped down with the arms tied about his waist. His yellow stained tank top showed that like most of the crew he was in need of a shower, and with the ship in port the crew didn't have to worry about water rationing.

Kamon spoke in broken English with more then a bit of Belter Creole mixed in.

“Listen toda. We goin' onie be here for a maybe week, maybe mo. New employers be payin' all our docking fee. Keep tu hand terminal on for watch rotation and if we need dust off early.”

“Kojo, make rotation, I wan' two on ship all time to keep. Twelve-hour shifts. Pich, Sancho, uzgun but tu get to be first watch.” There was no mention of how or why these two crewmen were currently on the Captain's shit list.

“Dalila, Igor, Carley, Tama....” Kamon called out his heavy hitters, those who were the first to board a ship or provide security when cargo was being transferred. "...I need tu stay here with me until buyers of cargo arrive and take possession. Wear full combat kit in case they try something. Kojo need you tu.”

With a wave of his hand, Kamon dismisses the rest of the crew. “The rest of you go get some pussi, arsehole, cock, or whatever it is you do fo' fun.”

Kojo stands in a relaxed posture while the Captain speaks.  He nods each time his name is mentioned.  As the Captain finished his speech, but, before the others could leave, he spoke, "Eyes on your terminals, peeps.  I will have the rotation out to you as ASAP."  He met each of their gazes as he spoke and, when he finished, they began to disperse.

"Captain," he approached the man, "what do you need from me," he asked?

Kamon heads down to deck five with Kojo in tow, and goes into his quarters to gear up, as does Kojo.

Ten minutes later, the CO and XO of the Black Hole then head down to the main cargo hold where the cargo handed off to them in the middle of vacuum was located. The cargo itself was four rolling containers, each of which was 2 meters high, and 3 meters in length/width. Both men knew that inside the containers were rifles and riot gear stolen from Star Helix on Ceres Station. The buyers were Eros Station’s own CPM security, which was often referred to as Carne Por la Machina.

Dalila, Igor, Carley, and Tama were already present, each wearing body armor, and carrying a firearm. Dalila is carrying a P-90, a PDW/SMG originally designed almost 350 years ago  that has a fifty round magazine. Carley, and Tama are both carrying beat up MCRN assault rifles (which also have integral under barrel shotguns). Igor is carrying a sawed off double barreled shotgun, and has stockless PP-19 Bizon (another SMG design that is hundreds of years old) hanging on his chest from a 3 point sling.

As they wait for the buyers, a few other members of the Black Hole's crew make their way on to Eros Station in search of food, drink, gambling, and whores.

Within twenty minutes about a dozen men and women arrive, all armed with holstered pistols. After a quick greeting and identification, the two parties go about their business in a cordial manner. No one makes any aggressive moves and money is exchanged for the containers.

OOC: Just stopping here in case your character has any thoughts or wants to check out the buyers more thoroughly.
This message was last updated by the GM at 23:44, Thu 29 July 2021.

Kojo watched the buyers as they went about completing the purchase.  He switched between thermal optics and normal vision during his scan.  He didn't want to appear aggressive or nosy, but wanted to be sure none of their crew were getting itchy fingers.  Nerves could make a person do crazy things...

OOC: Sorry so short, trying to get back in to the swing of things.  Kojo is trying to ascertain if there are any hidden weapons or if any of these guys look nervous enough to possibly cause issues after the sale. Using the thermal on the ocular just to see what can be seen.

Kojo carefully watches as the exchange of goods for money is conducted. The buyers do not seem to be nervous and do nothing is done that would cause a gunfight to breakout.

[Private to Kojo Botha: The only interesting thing you find out with the thermals is that one of the more attractive women among the buyers is apparently a biological male who has not yet completed their transition to becoming fully female.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:11, Fri 10 Sept 2021.

Kojo could not help but chuckle briefly at the presumably attractive woman.
He did not mind other people's sexual tendencies but he sure was not the experimenting type himself. He preferred women. Actually, it was not just a preference but a pretty rule that never haf any need to be spoken out loud.
Anyway, his mirth was solely based on a funny story Sanna had shared once that other night after they had exhausted themselves beneath the sheets. Similar situation except that the attractive Belter had found herself with a supposedly handsome man only to learn too late that said man had not been properly equipped for her own tastes.
Kojo was quick to dismiss his mirth though. Too much was at stake here to mess it up.
Kojo wondered why the captain had insisted on full gear, it sure looked all pretty peaceful.
He leaned over to the captain and muttered.
"You know something you did not share? Looks pretty peaceful to me, but you sure expect trouble. Care to share?"
Kojo did not like not being completely informed. It was a matter that had come a few times before with Kamon. Kojo's curiosity was hard to keep in check.

Kamon held up his hand using the Belter sign for wait. Only after had the buyers left the ship did the captain speak while motioning for Kojo to follow him. "We han' off stolen gear from Star Helix on Ceres and give to new security outfit CPM der on Eros?"" As Kamon climbs up the Black Hole's access ladder and continues to speak.  Reaching the officer quarters deck he leads Kojo into his quarters. The bed is unmade and a set of bra and panties from one of the ships female crewmembers is on the deck.

Walking over to his storage locker Kamon removes his body armor and pulls out a credit chip. "So deem CPM coyos tell me dey say der employers wanna us for a short job inna few days."

"But Pur’n Kleen Water Company wanna hire us out as privateer to guard water hauler. Dey know we got's shady reputation. So Black Hole need a new name if we do legit job."

Kamon hands over the credit chip. "We gonna needs a new transponder code or two if we gonna go legit. You go gets us two or three new codes from local black market."

"I es gonna go find out how much each job gonna pay and if we can do da short job before we do job for Pur’n Kleen."

<Red>OOC: We can keep posting in this thread but once the other player characters get to a point where it will be easy for me to add you to their group, we can wrap up this 'prologue thread'</Red>

Kojo still did not fully understand the captain's caution about the transaction. Or to be more precise: except for common sense regarding the nature of the goods.
Kojo had tried to fish for specifics, something the captain may have known about CPM which may have helped him in the task now laid on the table. But either Kamon did not know more or he prefered to keep that to himself.
Kojo also had no idea whether Kamon or any crew members had been involved in the theft on Ceres.
Sometimes Kojo hoped he had a better relationship with the captain, but then again, it was not as if he himself was the trusting type either. He had his own secrets and agendas and he would not like to share those with Kamon either.

Kojo listened to the outline of the two proposals on the horizon.
"It's always wise to have more irons in fire.", he commented the prospect of going legit.

Kojo nodded, tipped the side of his head with two fingers like he always did when indicating his understanding and acceptance of the job to be done, and left the Black Hole.

First things first, though. If they ran another task for CPM he wanted to learn more about them. Rifles and riot gear sniffed like they planned something and ge had a feeling that knowing those plans would give them an advantage in the negotiations ahead.

So Kojo strolled to that place that every station had, that place were rumours and news went amok, ready for the grabbing. He would start with the bars near the docks for that's where you learned most about recent traffic.

---

Sure, no need from my side to prolong the intro at this stage. Clearly activity of the original player was below expectation.
So, yes, by all means, joining up with the others asap fits with my notions