Ship's Log

097-1105 - Regina/Regina (1910)

Each person is approached in turn with a job by a rather large man identifying himself as Jellico Jones. Some need more encouragement to join than the Cr25,000 he offers. All meet at his hotel room that evening.

The job is finding details on the Kinunir class of battle cruiser, commonly deployed in a trade route security and counter-insurgency roles in the sector. Specifically, Jones says his employers want to know the exact location of the defensive screens and the physical capacity (not book-listed capacity) of the fuel tanks. He envisions three ways of getting this data: bribing someone for it, stealing it from a datastore or physically measuring an example of this class. Luckily, he says, there is a Kinunir class ship that was scrapped before it was completed in the yards at General Shipyards. Jones believes the tricks to successfully completing the job are confirming the data from at least two sources and avoiding any 'legal complications.'

Brigid served a year on one of these ships, the Allamu, as an Imperial Marine. She relays some of her knowledge of the class. The consensus is that the Imperial Navy is better off without the Kinunir-class ships made at General Shipyards. They were 'accident-prone' and faulty manufacture caused several deaths.

Jones also makes another offer. If the job goes well, the team can sign on as crew on his freighter, the Caliban, for either shares of any profit made or for standard crew wages plus ten percent. No one commits at this time.

The Marquis Chevalier inspects the Caliban, a forty year old 200-ton Type A FreeTrader, and offers to foot the bill for the drive coil replacement and repairs required to make it spaceworthy in return for replayment and profit-sharing. Jones agrees.

Pandora and Emillana start asking around and soon discover a minor executive and contract clerk, Araak Marsellin, who 'retired' from General yesterday not long after some 'accounting irregularities' were found in his work. They figure that since he's now out of work, he may need something to supplement the loss of his income.

Dom and Brigid front up at the main gate to the General Yards asking about work. There's none to be had, they're told. Dom suggests that the ship graveyard he can see over the guard's shoulder could yield some income in scrap metal. Enough for all three of them, he says. The guard agrees and suggests they return tomorrow night.

Pandora and Emillana bargain with Marselling above the racket of screaming kids and a harried housewife. They agree to Cr10,000 in exchange for remote access authentication and internal administrator access to the General Shipyards datastore. The comm the information to the Marquis who is waiting at a public terminal. After he (eventually) finds the data and copies it for safe keeping, the girls leave Marsellin to his domestic bliss.

Dom and Brigid return to the General Yards the next day after sun down with Pandora, whose engineering experience they believe invaluable. As they approach, the guard suddenly remembers paperwork that needs completing. Head down, he doesn't see them duck under the boom gate and start clambering over the scrap pile. While Dom and Brigid make a show of stripping half completed shuttles of cabling, Pandora makes her way into the rusting 1200-ton hulk and begins measuring. A security patrol happens by and they freeze, waiting for the patrol to pass. After little more than an hour, the three pack and leave the yards returning to Jones' hotel.

When the Caliban is repaired, Jones turns over the information to his employers and the team signs on as crew for standard crew rates plus ten percent. The Marquis has his own arrangement with Jones finally hammered out. The guard on the main gate at General is still waiting for his cut.

With forty ton of machine parts in the hold destined for Jenghe (1810), the Caliban lifts at midnight 104-1105 with its new crew, bound for the stars and adventure.

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Starting credit:   55,000 Cr
Other Income:     200,000    [Consulting fees]
Loan Amount:      100,000    [Personal loan A]
Cargo Carried:     10,000    [25% Deposit: 40 tons, haulage]
Outlays:         -145,000    [Ship Repairs]
Other Expenses:  -115,000    [Crew expenses]
Loan Repayment:  - 40,000    [Personal loan A]
Passengers:             0
Closing Credit:    65,000
Credit Owing:      30,000    [Balance of haulage fees]