Elite roleplay: Off station

OFF STATION

Your ship, deep space, anything that is not happening inside the Citi Gateway or Ingaba...

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19 Dec 2024, 9:43pm
Some loud ass woman made Hugh pause for a moment, so he waited to see if she was going to create problems that would involve security. The wide load trundled off happy to have been loud, so he pull a chair around from the next table, and sat.

"Ok, so here.." said Hugh taking a pad out his jacket "..is a system transcript of the communications including the orders we had to to maroon Goodness" He pushed the pad over to Vasil.

"If you know what your looking at, you'll see its not been tampered with. So, now you can see my data pack is the real deal, I'll take half the reward now, so I can see if Three-E-Plural-Six is a currency accepted galaxy wide"

He tried to look relaxed in the chair and linked his fingers over his lap.

"Once I got half the creds in my account, I'll fetch the data pack. You can open it or what ever, and I'll get the rest of my creds, right?"


Last edit: 19 Dec 2024, 10:52pm
20 Dec 2024, 12:17am
Vasil did not bother to look at Hugh’s pad, instead sighing and looking across the pool. This was karma, he thought, for all the times he had made things more complicated than they needed to be. “I am sure there is nothing on that pad we do not already know. What we don’t know is the planet and the coordinates where the cargo was left. That is what we are paying for, and what I thought you were bringing to the table.”

Vasil looked across the table to Hugh, his expression neutral, business-like. “Normally, no money would change hands until the location was verified and the cargo recovered. However this is not exactly a normal situation, so I understand the desire for caution. Trust but verify, I believe is the phrase, but that applies to both sides. I’m willing to transfer ten percent so that you can verify the credits are clean and untraceable.”

Vasil tapped his pad, showing that it was connected to the Onoarea and the nav comp was waiting to receive the information. “It should only take a few seconds to verify the location. The remaining balance will be released once the information is received and verified. Agreed?”
20 Dec 2024, 1:01pm
How did the guys do this all the time with no complications? Ransoms, underworld bounties, and illegal sales, all handled with no one delivering duff goods or under paying the delivery driver. And most of all, no one getting killed that shouldn't be killed.

"Er yeah, ok good. That'll do I guess. So I'll go get the.. If the payment" He had the words in his head, but they wouldn't come out right. So much for looking like a pro info-broker "So yeah I'll go wait for the payment then come back with the data pack if everything is good, I mean. Ok"

Getting up and turning away helped Hugh hide his fluster, and he quickly walked to the locker bank where he'd left the data pack. It was still there, and still worth a sweet two mill. Smiling, he shut the locker and found a face he had recognized waiting where the open door had been. Waz was smiling now, and that grin chased the smile off Hughs face.

"Fancy meeting you here Hugh. Small galaxy, isn't it?" asked Waz taking the data pack from Hugh's unprotesting hand. "Oh dear dear. What's this? Trying to make a little on the side without giving a cut to the crew?"

"No, really. I was going to.."

Waz held up a silencing finger.

"Why don't you go to your room and wait till I come get you? There's a good boy"

He didn't wait to see if Hugh was going to do as he was told, because it really didn't matter. Hugh came home to the carrier and took his licks, or went on the run over what was essentially, nothing. Popping the data pack into his pocket, Waz whistled as he wondered over to Vasil. It felt strange to be in civi clothes, but it was also quite nice to be somewhere with gravity that didn't require a side arm. Waz thought that he may even buy some trunks and take a dip in the pool if everything went well.

He sat down across from Vasil and offered a big friendly smile as if meeting an old friend.

"Hi, so Hugh tried to sell something that wasn't his" he explained with a hand gesture that suggested 'the situation is what it is now' "The Captain has sent me here with a message"

"The coordinates you want are selling for ten million. The price has been lowered for Hugh inconveniencing you. No threats, no bargaining. We both know ten million is a small sum to men such as us"

Waz waited a second so it was clear that was the whole message.

"Ok, there you have it. I leave with Hugh and ten mill, or I leave with Hugh and the data. Orders are orders. Sorry"
20 Dec 2024, 4:56pm
Vasil looked to Waz. The trader instinct in him screamed ‘negotiate’ but he also knew, as did Waz, that Waz held all of the bargaining power in this deal and could dictate the terms. Giving in to pride and attempting to bargain now would mean losing the data.

“Hmph. I was hoping to save some money by not getting upper management involved, but like you said, it is what it is.”

Vasil placed the credit token on his slate and initiated a funds transfer to it. He had already transferred 300K to Hugh just before Waz came to the table and considered that lost as the price of doing business. “I assume an unregistered credit token will be acceptable,” said Vasil. The displayed value on the token rapidly ticked upward to 10E+6.

Vasil slid the token off his slate and to within Waz’s reach, essentially pushing ten million in cash across the table. “Ten mil. Decent profit for a corpse, or for what is left of one.”
20 Dec 2024, 6:17pm
That was a relief. Their was little chance of it going sour in a place like this, but there were ships on stand by if shit went south. Maybe all exchanges should be carried out at a resort from now on. But that sort of client would make a place lose stars fast. That was that, now to pick up Hugh and get back to work.. .. after giving the credits to his wingman and relaxing in the pool for a while.

"Yeah, but even a dead Counts son is worth some credits, and merits for the right person. I mean I dopped him on a fucking lush planet, but I chose the sandiest shit hole I could find. Shame. His folks are power players. We would have ransomed that sucker for ten jackpots if it wasn't for orders"

He was about to get up, but remembered he owed something for the deal. "Oh, here's ya data. If it turns out to be bullshit let me know, but I don't think Hugh is that dumb. Have a great day Vas"
20 Dec 2024, 8:13pm
Vasil began transferring the data through his slate so Maul and Willow could see it, and to the Onoarea so it could verify the nav data and coordinates. “Try the whiskey sour here,” he said to Waz. “it is very good.”

Vasil waited until Waz was out of earshot before saying anything to Willow and Maul. “Okay, if our friend is telling the truth, Lord Pompadour was dropped in a sand box like a cat turd. I doubt the system and planet has been registered, so only a trip to the target system will tell us for certain.”
20 Dec 2024, 10:13pm
When it was clear Willow went to sit with Vasil and looked over the data.

"So like can I?" asked Willow pointing at his drink.

"Yeah, so its like a real long way out, you know?" she said scrolling down the planetary report. "We better go get some supplies for a long flight, or see if any one has a carrier that'll like, take out there"

The pilot hadn't planted any probes, so the the data on the planet was basic. Fortunately, they had spent a bit of time flying around, looking for a fun spot to abandon Goodness no doubt, so that helped.

"So its breathable, like way breathable you know? Bit more O2 than we need. If there's animal life, we got a good chance of mega-fawner"

"High atmospheric pressure and like, high oxygen means any animals down there are going to be full of energy. Like, real full of beans"

"Oh, that explains the high pressure" said Willow tapping the pad "Like high gravity too. I hate high gravity, but whatever. High gravity means any animal life will be small and light, big bulky and slow"

Huffing, Willow tried to picture the place they would have to look for Goodness. There wasn't enough info to build a good image of the planet in her mind, but the bit of extra did give her something to work with.

"Beach or desert for sandy holes, I guess. In one way they are both easy to search, but like impossible to find anything. With a beach you got the sea carrying people away, and if a desert is the shifting kind, a body will be buried over night and like, lost forever. Least I know what to start calibrating for, I guess"
20 Dec 2024, 11:12pm
Vasil motioned to his drink. “Sure, have a taste. Order one if you like.”

Looking over the data, Willow was spot-on with her assessments. It was a livable but far from hospitable world. “Looks like they dropped him in the northern hemisphere judging by the footfall coordinates. No other indicators of landings, so he’s probably somewhere near there. That blue star, though, is one of the hotter ones. Without shelter or a protective suit, midday is probably unbearable at best and unsurvivable at worst.”

Vasil paused, unsure if unsurvivable was even a word.

“Anyway, the trip there is two days at the most, assuming FSD overcharging and no sight-seeing along the way.” He cleared the Onoarea’s nav calculations and reset the parameters for a higher jump range and jet cone boosting. The Onoarea had calculated routes and times using its own drives and default luxury settings rather than the more aggressive jump profile for the Always Lost.

“I can have cargo outfitted for crew quarters,” he said, thinking aloud. “Should be enough room to squeeze in another SRV. Probes and survey gear are in good order. Stock the AFM and some supplies and it should be good to go.”
20 Dec 2024, 11:49pm
"Yeah, thats alright Vee" the drink wasn't something she would go for. Willow liked sweet drinks, but the thing was okay. "I'll have this one coz like, there's not much left. You order another"

"So yeah, thats a good offer, but I'm going to need the Bramble Barb over there. And I don't do jet cones, they like, scare the shit out of me. My ship's sensors are better than a science vessel, and with out it we may as well like, poke in the sand with sticks, you know?"

"You and Em can have a boys night in. I'll be on the Barb calibrating sensors and refining the scanning profile for heat. The search all depends on what that guy means by sandy shithole now"
21 Dec 2024, 3:42am
Vasil tapped the order pad on the table to get another drink. “I think that is the first time I’ve ever seen you drink something that does not cause diabetes or taste like rabbit food,” he said to Willow. “Don’t worry, though, the old saying about it putting hair on your chest is false. Mostly.”

Vasil continued scrolling through the nav map. “I can understand avoiding jet cones. Neutrons are not so bad, it is the white dwarfs that are a pain in the ass. Less boost but more danger because of their deep gravity well. Their cone will toss you around like hungry dogs fighting over meat, and if the well pulls you out of supercruise there is no getting out of its jaws. Even the fastest spinning neutron cones are like puppy kisses compared to white dwarfs.”

“Anyway, Maul, it’s your choice how to get there. With me, Willow, or on your own. I’ll be leaving with the Always Lost sometime in the next 48 hours.” While speaking, Vasil sent a pre-staged message to Mackenzie Relay to finish prepping the old explorer. “Since I’ll get there ahead of you, Willow, I’ll be sure to have detailed surface scans ready for you. I’ll also do full scans of the system and, time permitting, nearby systems in case we have to get more raw materials for the synthesizers.”
22 Dec 2024, 12:09am
Maul had been listening in on Hugh's room which he had bugged earlier. Most of what could be heard now was incoherent angry mumbling from the man. No doubt in relation to what had just transpired. Though now that Vasil had spoke directly to him, he pulled his earpiece out to better focus his attention.

"I reckon I'll just tag along with you if that's alright. I've got an expo fitted ASP somewhere here in the bubble that I could take out there but she ain't been touched in a molten minute. With my luck the internal temp regulators would blow during the first fuel scoop and turn me into a puddle of 'ganic goo with a pair of optics floating on top."

"Willow, you mentioned this planet has a slight chance of some mega fauna, right? I can pull some modded firearms from the rack of my Courier and bring them along for us to use in case we run into anything with human sized teeth...or claws...or like if we see an abomination that has 12 eyes or something. Definitely bringing a couple L-6's for sure." He finished by making a hushed explosion sound with an accompanying hand gesture to reference said explosion.
22 Dec 2024, 1:00am
"Yeah, so thats the human race for you. Traveling to unknown stars, charting unseen planets and wiping out undiscovered life. From crib to urn, we let the galaxy burn I guess"

Willow shrugged, Maul did have a good point. If the planet was an Earth-Like as the data suggested, there could be predators down there that saw humans as a light snack.

"Yeah, some personal defence is a good call. But like, remember its almost 3Gs down there, so you don't want anything like, heavy. So yeah, while you get that, I'll go find some supplies, you know? The flight out there is one thing, but we could be looking for a long time, right? Better stack that kitchen guys"
22 Dec 2024, 4:22am
“Sure, Maul, you are welcome to ride along. It’ll be the first time in a long while that the extra crew stateroom was used for anything other than storage. The auto provender on the Always Lost is good for six months when it is just me, so it will last a while even with two or three people on board. Even so, I can always make a quick resupply trip if needed.”

Vasil assumed it was understood the auto provender was stocked with the usual exploration-grade nutrient pastes, flavored and sometimes textured by the provender to be more palatable. It was marginally better than the prison-grade paste developed by Torval Mining for their slave labor, and certainly was not as flavorful as the unmeatables and vega juice he assumed would fill the hold of the Bramble.

“As for the planet’s gravity, The Always Lost has a few suits with high-g compensation in case neither of you have one.” Thinking back through the years, the suit Rachael wore would fit Willow, though not as snugly. There’d be a little extra room at the hips and shoulders, but nothing the suit’s artificial muscle weave could not compensate for. “Heck, one should even fit you, Willow.”

Vasil’s drink had arrived while they were discussing the next steps. “Here’s to the unknown black and to those who carry light into its farthest reaches,” he said and took a swallow of the whiskey sour. “Now, let’s get to finding whatever is left of our little lord pompadour.”
22 Dec 2024, 1:15pm
At last! His target had been bouncing around all over the damn place. He was on Mars before the Goids came to give Earth the bad news. The targets ship had been stolen from a system where good people didn't go, and then he'd been in Summerland when terrorists had attacked a holiday resort the target had visited. Now, he'd tracked the man that always seemed to leave a shit-wake to another holiday resort just begging for a bomb to brake the tranquillity.

The jobs Kuo took tended to be expensive. Not only because Kuo was one of the best, but because his targets were also amongst the best in the field. Now, judging buy how hard it had been to track Ghoul-Three-E, he understood why the Imperial had heired him. A man that covered his tracks so well tended to be good at doing things that required him to cover his tracks. If it wasn't for the people he was flying with, Kuo wouldn't have found Ghoul-Three-E.

The target looked to be in a casual situation, and the setting wasn't one where a person could pull a weapon with out drawing attention. What ever the case, Kuo had a job to do, and children playing the a pool, or waiters binging refreshing drinks to relaxing vacationers wasn't going to stop him doing what he was paid to do.

After watching the situation for a while, Kuo decided what ever business they had with the pirate was over, so he was going to execute his duties now, before another bomb went off, or the pirates came back to beat him to it.

Stepping up to the table where Ghoul-Three-E was chatting with his two companions, Kuo acted fast.

"Ghoul-Three-E? <I have come for you>" he said in his native Japanese, the auto-translator making his words English.

Before anyone could react, he quickly pulled out his pad, and the festively decorated envelope he had been employed to deliver.

"<Please place you thumb here to accept delivery the resort is folding for you>" he said eager to get away from this place before something else dangerous happened.

This year, along with the latest high end portable computers, and unhealthy treats Lamb always gave Maul, she'd included a nice green stick-on Mohican hair piece.
22 Dec 2024, 3:40pm
Vasil VasilescuVasil’s drink had arrived while they were discussing the next steps. “Here’s to the unknown black and to those who carry light into its farthest reaches,” he said and took a swallow of the whiskey sour. “Now, let’s get to finding whatever is left of our little lord pompadour.”


"Yeah" said Willow getting ready to stand up. "So I've got an MA-Exo-Suit coz like, I need it for work, but thanks Vee. Anyway, I'm bringing Odie with me to drag the cart when we have to get out and like, do an on foot search. I can chill out in that if it gets too heavy for me, you know?"

Just as Willow was out her seat, the stranger arrived at their table.

Kuo "<Please place you thumb here to accept delivery the resort is folding for you>" he said eager to get away from this place before something else dangerous happened.

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