Ship's Log

119-1105 - Dinom/Lanth (1811)

The crew prepare to carry Arlent Streen, a haughty businessman on tour, his sone and secretary to the corporate mining colony on Dinom. Emilana loads on all the best provisions to cater for Streen's preferrences. While in jump-space, Brigid bonks Zheng Streen after they spot each other lifting weights.

They land and their cargo of seafood, water and passengers is unloaded. The Marquis Chevalier is indignant that half the crew take on body guard duties for Arlent Streen while he tours the production facilities. He starts looking for replacement crewmembers. All miners he talks to about the position are hesitant to discuss their future at all. The Marquis, Dom, Jellico and Emmilana have beer and curry while the others bounce around a bunch of ore-processing plants.

North of Marianne, Arlent Streen is shot in the head. Brigid drags him towards the maintenance shed, Pandora jumps towards the secretary, Ed Mosley returns fire. Brigid sees the rifleman line up a second shot and fire. She pushes Zheng out of the way and takes the bullet for him, knocking her unconscious.

At the startown, the four crew have another night on the town. Things are tense. Something is going to happen.

Zheng, Mosley and Pandora drag everyone into the pressurised maintenance shed. Mosley and Pandora clamber through the machinery to take positions on the group of advancing miners. Zheng, inside the shed, treats Brigid. When she wakes, she radios for help. The only response she gets is a recorded message telling her that the satellite relay system is currently unavailable.

At the startown, miners are openly walking the corridors with weapins drawn, muttering about taking the air-conditioning plant and the admin offices. The crew decide to return to the ship before the 'real' trouble starts. None of the Marquis' charms can get them through the barrier into the locked-down starport. Once they find out that it was Dom who brought the whiskey on-planet, they let the group through.

At the ore-processing plant, the crew know that they cannot stay forever in a maintenance shed. On a private channel they arrange for a distraction and a break-out so that they can make it to the ATVs parked nearby before the miner gang can get to them. Pandora stays on over-watch while Ed Mosley doubles back to the maintenance shed. After signalling to those inside to prepare themselves, he shoots out the window. The escaping air creates a mist and blows up a huge dust cloud from the mine site obscuring all. They all run to the ATVs and pile into. Brigid starts it up and drives away in time to collect Ed who has shot up the other two ATVs with the aim of disabling them.

On the Caliban, they plan their next move. They need to find the rest of the crw and get away. But, they think, they cannot leave empty-handed. Other people -- executives, they think -- will want to leasve before the revolting miners hunt them down. They pass the word within middle management circles: Cr 30,000 for passage off-world. Four people take up their offer and bring cash.

Ed, Pandora, Brigid, Zheng and an executive drive into the foothills and break an axle on the rocky ground. They ambush the pursuit. Ed kills three miners and the crew leave two stranded too far to reach help with their remaining aim, virtually condemning them to a slow death.

Putting together the little that they know, they discover that the miners were after Streen's 30,000 voting certificates and the decryption device which allows them to use them at the upcoming board meeting. The secretary, left behind somehow at the ore-processing plant, has the certificates. The decryption device is conceled as a ring that Streen always wore.

The Caliban breaks the starport blockade and lifts into a low orbit to attempt to communicate with the rest of the crew who have now arrived at the ore-processing plant and are searching for the voting certificates and the decryption ring.

Once reunited, they discuss their next move. All want to jump as soon as possible except Zheng Streen. He wants to remain and sort out the miners' grievances.He understands that the miners have discovered that Alrent Streen aand the board had ordered regular medical reports into the levels of heavy metal poisoning of the workers to be falsified as well as skimping on safety equipment aand parts for machinery maintenance in order to maximise their profits.

Dom, the Marquis and Jellico discuss with Streen the possibility of setting up a regular route between Jenghe and Dinom. They plan to have the same discussion with Conrad Nakaam on Jenghe. Hopefully, they think, they can convince these two men to finance a second ship and crew to service the route. They lift for Jenghe.

The deal they work out with Streen and Nakaam is as follows: Streen and Nakaam finance the purchase of a Type A Free Trader, much like the Caliban and all profits are shared equally between the three parties. In return for flying under the company name of Jellico Factors, LIC, the crew agrees to foot the bill for any shortfall in revenue.

After a month of negotiation to confirm the deal, it's time to move on. They lift bound for Dinomn, a world nothing like the Dinom they leave behind.

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# This is a summary of four jumps: Jenghe =>Dinom, 
# Dinom =>Jenghe, Jenghe =>Dinom, and finally the 
# jump to Dinomn
#
Starting Credit: 78,500 Cr
Cargo Carried:   46,000 [46 tons, haulage]
                 73,000 [73 tons, haulage]
Passenger Fees: 120,000 [Charter: 4 Extra-High passage] 
Other Income:    28,800 [16 tons, Seafood, on spec]
Outlays:        -52,000 [Fuel and Life Support]
                   -660 [2 tons, CO2 absorbant seed, on spec]
                      0 [20 tons, scrap metal]
                      0 [16 tons, amnesity firearms]
Loan Repayment: -60,000 [Personal Loan A]
                -74,160 [Ship Repayment - 120-1105]
                -74,160 [Ship Repayment - 148-1105]
Closing Credit:  85,320 Cr
Credit Owing:         0