Those Who Stare In The Black, Game 20: The Start of Something New

Game Date: 26 Jan 2014
Present: Tabby, Chris, Sara, Paul, and Maer

Saturday, 11 Nov 2519
Mid-Bulk Transport, Space Otter
Spaceport, Hera
Georgia (Huang Long) system
1200hrs, local time

So we go through the hassle of getting inspected before being allowed to land. Verity pretty much despises the entire process, as she HATES having Feds on her baby. We keep our opinions behind our teeth, smille, and let the Feds do their job.

We pass inspection.

Verity lands us right quick, smooth as you please. As the dust settles, we're informed that we have stevedores waiting on the pad to offload our cargo and look! our on-going cargo is right there on the pad alongside, waiting for loading.

How convenient. Could things be going right for us, for a change?

Stone checks the Cortex for any important news he should be aware of on the ground or at our next destination. Nope. Nothing new. Might be things are going smooth. The lack of trouble on the ground and nothing going hot where we'll be flying later is a good sign.

We get word that it will take the better part of the day to swap cargo in our cargo bay. Some of our oncoming cargo is labeled Fragile and has warning icons: No Open Flame, Geiger Counter, Confirm Seals, Contents Reactive. There's a little bit of everything, actually.

The Port assigns us a departure window. It's three days hence.

Oksana: I don't know, Captain. That's just enough time for us to get into trouble.
Stone: (soft laugh) I was just thinking that.

We have some time to kill.

Xiu spends it working on a targeting array for the Gat. She and Verity will have to integrate the Gat's controls with the ship's systems but oh, Xiu's got plans for this baby. Verity helps her with it. Even so, it will take about a month, a month and a half before the work is complete enough to test it.

Stone works out the cargo space on reloading. Once everything's aboard, we'll only have about 30T of space left. Maybe he can find a way to fill that empty.

Oksana takes the mule to a nearby clinic to offer her help as a doctor. Xiu tells her that the tool kit is under the front seat.

While she's gone, Stone takes care of his network of contacts, maintaining relationships and ties, looking for jobs. He runs into attitude. People who never questioned his loyalties and neutrality are now asking questions about them. Some aren't questioning. Some are outright scoffing. Either there's a smear campaign aimed at Stone or some of his contacts don't like the fact he's working for Scrooge. Why?

There is no telling at the moment. There isn't time to dig to the bottom of the matter, not when we have cargo space we need to fill.

Stone concentrates working on his Alliance contacts instead, going through his covert channels. He finds a couple of Alliance agents looking for passage on the downlow. One is an agent and one is a representative. Stone lets them know that we have secure cabins should they choose to fly with us.

They respond back that they will be taking 10 Tons with them. They will need secure storage for that cargo, some way to keep it from prying eyes. Stone assures them we have 10 Ton storage lockers that are secure enough for their needs.

Tuesday, 14 Nov 2519

It's Departure Day.

Oksana and Stone lower the lift and wait to greet our passengers. Despite being Alliance, they've booked Standard Passage.

Mr. Smith is 5'-8", bald, thin, Caucasian. He wears a close-fitting jacket that is a cross between a cassock and a trench coat, and carries aboard an old-fashioned doctor's bag. Smith declines special lock up for his case.

Mr. Murphy is 6'-3", is likewise Caucasion but unlike his fellow passenger, he's built like a tank and covered in muscle, with a full head of ginger/copper hair and muttonchops. He's dressed in the streamlined Core fashions as his partner, but has opted for something more suitable for business wear. He carries a professional briefcase.

Stone and Oksana greet them and invite them aboard. Oksana introduces herself as the ships steward and tells them that she will be happy to assist them during their flight. Please step this way. She will show them to their quarters. Smith is assigned Starboard 1, and Murphy is assigned Starboard 2. Starboard 3 is Oksana's quarters and Medbay takes up what would have been Starboard 4. She points out the the galley and the lounge on the way and tells them of the dining schedule and amenities offered by both.

She shows them to their quarters and once she's made sure they have everything they need, she leaves them to unpack and settle in.

Murphy, imposing though he is, is the corporate representative while Smith is the agent. Which makes sense, actually. Of the two, all eyes would immediately track Murphy thanks to his intimidating size. It would make it easier for Smith to slip away unnoticed, something a covert agent would need.

So says Oksana to Stone, once she's out of earshot of the passengers. She and Stone both agree to keep an eye on things for the duration of the trip.

Meanwhile, Xiu and Verity are going through their preflight checks. Xiu finds a tweak to make our fuel consumption more efficient. Verity finds everything running the way she likes it.

Stone stays in the cargo bay, supervising the loading the passenger's cargo. Smith goes down and insists on helping. Stone doesn't argue but accepts the assistance.

We take off. Damn, but Verity's hand is so sure on the yoke we can't even tell we're moving. Xiu has the engines spinning like a top and their song barely changes pitch as we burn atmo out of there. We file our flight plan and cargo manifest with the Feds on the ground and with the Alliance cruiser in orbit. Thanks to Xiu's tweaks and Verity's flying, we're sipping fuel and a journey that would normally take 2.5 weeks will only take 2.

Goodbye Hera. Hello, Harvest. ETA 28 Nov 2519

Day 1:
The passengers elect to stay in their cabins for the first day. Oksana runs their meals to them and makes sure they're comfortable.

Day 2:
Smith and Murphy join us in the crew meals from the afternoon forward. Occasionally they ask to be escorted to the cargo bay to check on their cargo. Usually it's Smith doing the asking and the checking.

Meanwhile, Xiu becomes inordinately interested in learning medicine and Oksana is happy to teach her. It's a big improvement over Xiu's initial loathing of the medbay when they first met. Back then, it was hard to get the woman to step foot inside at all. Now, Oksana is busy rigging a dummy for CPR and first aid.

First aid isn't the only skill Xiu works on during the voyage. She teaches herself the art of tying cherry stems into knots with her tongue. She goes through nearly an entire two quart jar of maraschinos before she gets the hang of it. Oksana sighs over the nearly empty jar but consoles herself with the fact that she still has two quarts of juice. It's bound to come in handy in her cooking.

Xiu moves from the med bay to the maraschinos to her other projects in turn, working on her mechanical otter and sweeping the ship for bugs. The first amuses the passengers when she demonstrates it at dinner. The second she wisely keeps under wraps, lest the passengers find out.

They're Feds, after all.

Verity keeps to herself as much as possible on the bridge. Were it not for the fact that a ladder goes directly from the bridge to her quarters, she'd have rigged up a hammock to sleep near the controls. As it is, Oksana regularly runs meals up to the pilot and fills her in on the goings-on she's missed while holed up on the bridge. Neither women discuss the possibility of Verity mixing with the passengers. They both know she hates the Feds.

The hours and days and the stars fly by. Life settles into a routine. Oksana and Stone are the public face of the ship while tending the passengers. Xiu bounces from one project to another when she's not maintaining or working in the engine room. Verity plays hermit.

Day 11:
Smith and Murphy walk in for dinner and Smith smells of solder. He's wearing blue gloves and he's stripping them off as he walks in.

Too late. Xiu sees. She freaks.

Stone: (to Xiu) Relax. Relax, mei mei. Relax ….

Stone takes her in hand in a flash. Oksana is a second behind him. Painfully aware of our Fed passengers, Oksana leans in and whispers the trigger phrase to put her asleep, while she fakes slapping a trank patch on the woman. Xiu goes limp.

Oksana: Captain, if you will take her to her room, I will see she's made comfortable. (to the passengers) Please excuse me.

Stone picks her up. Oksana follows him out as he carries Xiu to her quarters. Murphy ignores the ruckus and sits down to his dinner. Smith watches everything and sits down after Oksana and Stone leave with Xiu.

Stone puts Xiu to bed and he and Oksana strap her lightly in—not tight enough that she can't leave if she needs to, but enough to keep her in bed if she starts to toss.

Oksana: Captain. I think is should stay here. With my gun. Everything is ready in galley. All you need do is serve.

Stone nods and adjusts the controls on the media console in Xiu's room. Click, clack, click, and a picture of the galley flickers onto the screen. It changes to a view of the lounge, then changes back.

Stone: You've got a live feed on the galley and the lounge.
Oksana: Thank you. Everything's ready for you. Just serve.
Stone: I'll get right on it.

Stone serves dinner. Because we have passengers that need feeding … to say nothing of deflecting from Xiu. Stone makes the usual sort of dinner conversation with them. Verity makes a rare appearance to dinner and he verifies with Verity that we've still three day's flying before we reach Harvest. Talk turns to what Smith was doing in his quarters.

Smith: I'm working on an electronic project.
Stone: Soldering small electronics is fine, as long as it's not damaging anything in the cabin or on the ship.

Oksana is able to listen on the entire conversation. Paranoia is practically a Russian genetic trait, being an engrained facet of their cultural history, and Oksana naturally follows suit. Electronics project? Soldering? In the cabin? Whatever for? Why was he doing it on the downlow? Was Smith trying to access and override our ship's systems?

Verity is thinking the very same thing.

Verity: So what were you working on today?
Smith: Work on a couple of circuit boards for a project we've stored in the hold.
Verity: Hmm. (cuts a glance at Stone)
Smith: So what happened to your engineer?
Verity: She's not having a good day.

Oksana's glad she's not at the table but with Xiu in her cabin … and has her gun. What if the Feds are here for Xiu? She quickly texts Stone a message on his private wrist comm. Stone glances at it and cribs his response from it. Thanks, Doctor.

Stone: She has seizures sometimes and sometimes we have to trank her.
Smith: Is it safe for her to be your engineer?
Verity: It hasn't bothered her work or her upkeep of the ship. It's just a matter of overworking her mind.
Smith: Oh, all right. Pass the seasonings please?

We pass the salt, pepper, and whatnot in their little caddy. Smith immediately gives it to Murphy, who hasn't spoken a single word during the entire time. Odd. The man hasn't spoken that we can recall, not for the entire trip so far, and yet he is obviously keenly observing everything.

It's kinda creepy, actually.

Watching the feed on Xiu's console, Oksana wonders if Murphy has an eidetic memory. It would explain why the man doesn’t talk, as it would distract him from memorizing everything he sees, hears, smells, touches, and tastes. As such, he could be a walking video camera, recording everything. It would be a useful thing for a covert agent to have.

As for passing the seasonings unasked to Murphy? Perhaps Smith is a Reader and read Murphy's intent without needing speech?

Again, paranoid much?

Dinner continues. Smith and Murphy don't linger after they've finished eating but go back to their cabins. Once they leave, Stone scans for bugs. Verity is right there with him. Everything seems fine. Verity looks up from the results in Stone's cabin, the screens on his security suite lighting her face with an eerie glow.

Verity: I don't like this, Captain. Electronics project? Soldering? What the hell are they doing on our ship? To our ship?
Stone: It's okay. The cabin circuitry does not connect to the command pathways.
Verity: Yet.
Stone: At all. It's designed that way. Crew quarters it does, but not theirs.
Verity: I'm still uncomfortable. With our luck? I don't like this.
Stone: It sometimes happens that people will be working on their trips. This could be perfectly innocent.
Verity: (pointedly) Soldering in their rooms.
Stone: This could be perfectly innocent.
Verity: It's the Alliance. There is no way it could be innocent.

She goes back to the bridge, her expression dark, and scans everything she's got up there.

Stone fixes up a plate of dinner for Xiu and Oksana and delivers it to Xiu's quarters. Xiu wakes after two hours to find Oksana standing guard. Oksana checks her vitals and apologizes.

More to come. I just need to type it up from the notes and session recording. Stay tuned.--Maer

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