(3) [Traveller] Voyages of the R.e.d. Dusk

Game Master mdt

I saw that coming.

Moyasmedsev sighs. "Don't have. I'll be back with them tomorrow."

He leaves and goes looking around the docks for trade opportunities.

"Life story to check for any deterioration in memory, alright," Elrick says as the pain begins to fade. "Well I was born and raised on Villana and had a fairly standard life for a noble child so there's not really much of their worth saying, but you need the details right? I was the only child to my family, we were marquis nobility, and I certainly don't remember anything about extended family so that's about it. My parents names were Carlos and Jennas Moynehan."

Elrick doesn't say anything for a moment as he tries to think of any other details that may be important. "That's it? Yeah that's it. Let's move on past a boring tedious stuff then. When I was old enough to be considered a legal adult I immediately set out as a free trader. Determined to strike it out on my own becoming famous, powerful, and wealthy as only a truly successful whole entrepreneur can be! My father laughed as I came home like a whimpering dog with its tail between its legs.

"Then I got put in the stasis pod and woke up two centuries later by the people who were on the ship that I was on that had apparently crashed into a planet that they had just salvaged enough supplies to escape from. The end." Elrick finishes as if he's ending a story for children. "So what do you think? I know it's only a plot outline but I'm sure once I get everything written out it'll make a great children's story."

Warren nods to the man and says in his lecture voice, "I was born and raised on Capital. My father was James Connery and my mother Siân Bond. I spent much of my time in my younger years with my maternal grandfather Roger Bond. He was a retired professor of Imperial History. He taught me some Vilani so I could read records in their original form. I accompanied him on a dig on Likhamii before going on to the final more rigorous years of my education.

We were sucked into some sort of wormhole created by two black holes orbiting each other. It broke the ship up and sent it into a gas giant. We escaped in a pinnace to a nearby planet. We found the Terran Confederation Heavy Cruiser Vladivostock. I’ve copies of the log it left as well as the structures built by them and their descendants. They built their own civilization there. The cemetery on the hill had between 10 and 30 thousand burials. It was fascinating. We headed into space and boarded an unknown alien capital ship, possibly a carrier as it had a landing bay with fighters. It had apparently been in a fight and been boarded. We found two unknown species on board that had been fighting. Some exploring was done and an X-boat with two crew in cold sleep was found along with some secret cargo. We also found elsewhere on the planet the remains of an Imperial fighter wing, Pegasus Resplendent I think. Dev’s got the dog tags. We waited for the black holes to align and then jumped out and end up in Ruler of Five territory a few hundred years later. We lost two of us in that jump. It wasn’t fun and our reception wasn’t either. They fixed the ship up and sent us on our way. Questions?" He then stops and waits for questions.

Moyas' droyne contact nods and lets him out of her office, obviously annoyed he showed up without the proper paperwork. When he returns to the pinnace to wait for the group, however, he's unable to reboard as there are Imperial Marines guarding it, and will not allow him to board without permission from someone named Minister-Counsellor Elthane. Note, Moyas is about 1.5 hours ahead of the rest of the group for now.

-------------------------------------------------------

Everyone else is sent to a different waiting room by their Imperial Interrogators, except for Eryckah, whom they are told has been placed in 'custodial placement', basically because she's a minor she's being set up in a safe environment, and given access to pyschologists to help her with her transition.

The small conference room the other crew members have been sent to is comfortable, and has a coffee dispenser. It's not really coffee, but it's a semi-reasonable facsimile.

About 30 minutes after they are sent to the meeting room, a man in a grey suit with a red tie enters, holding a datapad. "Good afternoon, my name is Salvarge Elthane, I am one of the Enclaves Minister-Counsellors, and it is my duty to re-integrate you back into the Imperial Society. To make things easier all around, you may refer to me as Ser Elthane, or Minister Elthane, as you prefer. There will be psychologists made available to you, I suggest you take advantage of their insight, they have much experience with temporally displaced citizens." He takes a look at his pad. "My understanding is that there will be several hundred other people, of various entities politic arriving via transport within the next 2 months. We are holding the ISS Novacore in orbit for two months, while we await the rest of our lost citizens, and then all will be sent back to the Imperial space aboard her. My understanding from the Admiralty aboard the Novacore is that after looking over your reports, they wish to claim your ship in it's entirety. Therefore, your ship will be transported to the Novacore, and all of you will be given free passage back to the Empire aboard her, along with the other refugees." He holds up a hand. "Before you ask, you will be compensated for your ship and it's contents. I am unaware of exactly how much the recompense will be, that will need to be determined by Duchess Alsatia upon your return to Imperial space. Fortunately for you, the Novacore has the latest hyperdrives, and the trip back will take less than six months. You will be allowed to remove your personal belongings from the ship, of course, with an escort. We will also be providing retraining assistance, to bring your skills up to modern standards. Much of this training will be performed in route, but some can begin here in the Enclave. Since we're taking your ship, we'll pay your docking fees outstanding, and provide living accommodations within the Enclave. Now, I'm sure you have many questions."

Warren gasps at the news that they are taking the ship and when the minister finishes he says, "First, I don't know where several hundred others are coming from. We are the only survivors of the Verdant Dawn I am aware of and 83 people survived from the cold sleep pods we brought back with us. Second, I don't know why the Admiralty would be interested in our ship, it's not all that special and has been repaired by the Vagr. I can see why they might be interested in some of our cargo, but that is not the ship itself and the dogs had first pick over that already. Thrid, is it even legal for you to confiscate our ship as we are not in Imperial space currently? I'm no lawyer. We've been acting as traders on the way back and have been planning on selling off our salvage but at a fair price. I'm not sure we got one from the dogs and hope we do better from the Impirium. Fourth, were we declared dead and our previous assets disappear or do we still have credits in the bank and retirement pay? I must say I don't mind a quicker ride back on the Novacore though. Hopefully it's at least as nice as the Verdant Dawn."

The man raises an eyebrow. "Only 83?" He taps on the datapad, and then nods. "Ah, I see, an issue with base 8 vs base 10, someone didn't transcribe it into base 10. In which case, that just makes our logistics easier. As to why the Admiralty is interested in your ship, I was not told why. Given the ship survived a wormhole translation twice, I suspect the engineering wonks want to go over it with a fine tooth comb, slice and dice it, and study it. But that's nothing more than a guess on my part, although an educated guess. Please don't refer to the Vargr as 'dogs', they are our allies, at least for now, and at least in this place. It does make our job more difficult when you throw around racial slurs." He gives Warren a stare, then continues. "Third, yes, it is legal. The Vargr have already agreed to it being impounded, as part of our treaty. Indeed, they were very eager for us to take it and the other survivors off their hands and reimburse them for the fees they paid you for survivor bonuses. As to a fair price from the Imperium, I assure you, the Imperium has no interest in short changing you. I am sure you'll receive a dozen offers to go on the holonet and give interviews. It would not be good public relations to cheat you out of your salvage rights."

He pauses for a moment, to let that sink in, and then continues. "In addition to the free passage that will save you half a year in transit, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with a military ship as a home for the six months you'll take getting back. Given some of you are ex military, it may be easier for some than others."

Another pause, and then he checks his datapad. "Retirement benefits earned from a military career will begin accruing again immediately, of course. I believe your TAS memberships were reactivated as well, but you'll need to check with them to be sure. Your bank credits, unfortunately, were either paid out to surviving relatives or absorbed by the banks as 'lost funds'. I would be willing to wager money that your interview fees when you return will be worth more than what you lost however, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it."

Jenni is not surprised by the Imperials wanting to go over the ship. It was to be expected, and so long as they were being fairly compensated, she really didn't mind. They would probably receive more than what the ship is worth in its current condition anyway. After all, she thinks, they could have just taken it from us and given us nothing in return.

She did wonder, though, if they were also planning to take Moyas' vessel and how he would react to such. She smirked at the thought of the mounds of paperwork that he would heap upon them.

"Interviews," Elrick Chuckles. "The news is going to be frolicking through the field for a little bit with this. I can already imagine some of the headlines, "Spectacular crew survives spatial anomaly."

Elrick straightens his back and looks forward at nothing. "In our top story a ship that has recently docked in Ansana Spaceport has been missing for over two hundred years. The ship, the Verdant Dawn, disappear without a trace with no explanation. As it turns out the ship had been sucked through a wormhole and marooned on an uncharted planet and has only recently managed to escape. we have the crew of the Verdant Dawn with us here now to share this exhilarating tale. Thank you for joining us. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" He gives everyone the biggest fakest smile he can.

Dev is a little shocked by the turn of events. He had planned to travel with "his" ship back to the Imperium, but now was being told that it was being taken away from them.

"I take it all of our goods were sold after we were pronounced dead? I have a scout ship and Pinnace in my name...are they too now gone? Will I be given some sort of repayment for those rather significant items?? A few visits on some show is not going to pay for a new spaceship! Other than that, I suppose we have no choice but to comply with this edict."

The man raises an eyebrow. "The scout ship, Mr. Vorn, was not yours to begin with. It was an Imperial scout ship which was on loan to you, and which could be retrieved by Imperial Command at any time. It was a courtesy for your service, not a right." Scout Ships are not given, just loaned, similar to Moyas' ship which is on loan, not given out "It may be that the Imperium has a surplus scout ship sitting around it may make available to you, it may not. That is for the Scout Service to decide when you return, not myself I'm afraid. As to your pinnace, I'll make a note of it and see if I can request a surplus Pinnace if you like. I'm not your enemy, Mr. Vorn, I'm someone with a job to do. My job is to make the best of the situation for you, I am not, however, a Duke or Duchess, which unfortunately is who you'll need to talk about regarding recompense for your ship, your time, and your pinnace. My understanding is, everything you brought back is, by rights, your salvage. Therefore, the Imperium, in taking it, will be giving you it's worth. If I might suggest, when you discuss this value with the Duchess Alsatia, that a light tongue and polite bearing are more likely to get you what it is worth as a whole, based on it's history, and with generosity than is yelling or being upset? I would hate for you to get only the intrinsic salvage value of a 400 year old vessel, and a 200 year old pinnace. A bit like getting the face value of a second Imperium 5 credit coin, rather than the historical value, if you take my meaning?"

Looking a little abashed, Dev nods in agreement with the Minister.

"My apologies Minister Elthane. The last year or so, of our time, has been very difficult, and all you see here is all we have left in the universe. It is hard to see what you have worked so hard on being taken from you and your plans, even if they were not the greatest of plans, set aside and new orders taking their place. I mean no disrespect to you or the Imperium...heck this is what I have been striving to achieve ever since we came out of the warp all those months ago. I thank you for your assistance and will try to better conduct myself in the future."

The man nods. "Not at all, Mr. Vorn. As I said before, this is not a common situation, but it's certainly something that happens often enough that I fully understand your emotions. This is one reason why I'm the first person you talk to, and not someone with, shall we say, more power and pride, who might have to take official offense to something you say. I'm a lowly diplomat, far from the Imperial Border, in Vargr space. I routinely ignore insults." There's the barest hint of humor around the corners of his mouth.

Warren sighs and addresses the Minister "I'm sorry Minister. We're not too happy about our treatment at the hands of the Vagr. It has more to do with being threatened with death every other sentence than feeling robbed in in what they took from us. Oh and being robbed by a pirate in one of their systems didn't help either.

We have picked up cargo on our way here and have been buying and selling. Is the Imperium taking that as well or is that "personal". I don't expect to haul that along with us but I figure we're going to have to sell it here whether we make or lose money. Some of it was dedicate freight due to specific companies here."

"Really? No one's going to acknowledge me? You're all no fun." Elric huffs as he crosses his arms and pouts in a way that would be sad if it wasn't obviously fake.

"If I'd acknowledged it, you wouldn't have had an opportunity to pout." The Imperial points out equitably to Elrick. Turning to Warren, he continues. "I'll let the admiralty know about your cargo. They'll inspect it and release any Vargr origin cargo to it's recipients within a couple of days. Your own speculative cargo I'll arrange for the Enclave to buy at the current market rate +10% as a gesture of good will. That much at least I can authorize."

"Alright so let's move on to how unemployed we now are. You mentioned that will receive skill retraining to bring us up to date but that doesn't change the fact that you're essentially leaving us stranded in the employment world. And I know you have a better answer than work fast because of the fifteen minutes of fame we're going to have, and that some of us can just go back to the navy. After all it would be perfectly reasonable for someone in our position to want to quit."

We'll go with one week on Annassa and one on the big ship

"I can certainly have your Navy term ended with no issues, Mr. Moynehan. As well as any others of course. I'm fairly certain you won't have any issues with pay, once your pay is caught up."

Ok, we'll leave people who want to do things on the planet able to do them until 6/19/2018. If nobody posts anything for 3 days I'll move us forward early.

Is there anything anyone would like to do on the planet? Spend money, do research on anything, etc?

So to be clear, there's no point in Moyasmedsev working out a detailed cargo buy.

Moyasmedsev gets the affidavits from the crew and gets everything properly stamped by the Imperial enclave.

What is to happen to the Kektys?

Correct, but you can work up the sale of the current cargo and deliveries, add 10% to the market price at Annassa for speculative cargo sales

With affidavits that Moyas has from the crew (either as employer or 3 as recommendation for visa), Moyas gets his approval.

Moyas would have to leave it in the RoF domain, he can fly it himself to Imperial space, or he can leave it at Annassa for now and request one next time he's in RoF space. In Imperial space, Vorn has use of a scout ship. Given there's good relations between the RoF and the Empire, you could see if they'll work out a reciprocating deal so the group can keep a scout ship on reserve if they want, basically one scout ship between Vorn and Moyas with probably the Empire supplying it from surplus.

Still in a bit of a daze over all that has happened, Dev goes back to their ship and removes all his personal items (such as they are) and heads to the hotel they are to be staying at for the next few weeks.

He starts his retraining the next day, hoping that the basics skills he has have not been too outdated, and is pleasantly surprised to note that most of his skills need little upgrading. He even starts learning a new skill. Having been so badly injured in 0-G, Dev decides to learn how to function better in the lack of gravity. His study of the Vagr language also is completed as he waits for their trip back to the Imperium.

Dev started learning Vagr once they had arrived in the RoF. Also if possible he will train in 0-G if possible

The two months of retraining forestall any skill learning, but he can pick it up on the ship once they transfer to it.

The hotel the group is put up in is a very nice affair inside the enclave. Not luxury by any stretch, but far better than shipboard life, with all their rooms within walking distance. When informed Moyas is their hired help, he is given a room on the same floor as well (although the group will have to pay for his room and board, but at cost, so only 30 credits per day).

Dev finds his skills are mostly ok, especially things like Mechanics, however, Electronics, Computer, and other skills are woefully out of date.

After moving all of his things to the hotel, Warren starts his retraining as well. In his spare time he spends his time reading medical journals and history/archeology journals.

What about Moyasmedsev? Can he train?

Moyasmedsev goes over Kektys with an obsessive and loving care. The little scout ship is his pride and joy and he turns it over to the Scout Service only with reluctance. He lingers on the promenade, watching his ship for almost an hour, boarding the liner only at the last possible moment, and keeps to himself for the rest of the day.

Yep, Moyas can train.

Moyasmedsev's skills are all over the place, a random grab-bag of stuff, absolutely none of it useful in a fight. I think I'm going to continue to run with that. What I'd like to do is get ranks in Deception, Stealth and Investigate. But first, I'm learning Galanglic so I can stop using the translator. Never learned to talk to Vargrs, but maybe this weird human language will be easier.

Learnin' Linguistics (Target 6+): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1) + 2 = 8

Adding that to my character sheet now.

"The umbrella of my aunt is in the closet," says Moyasmedsev as he passes Dev in the hall.

He meets Glitch and says "The train is arriving in the afternoon!"

Bursting in on Warren and Elrick having coffee in the galley he confides "My red shoes are the finest in town!"

Moyas, was 8 weeks enough to learn the language?

And moving right along to the ship, not waiting till Wednesday given the minimal posting

The two months fly by, and near the middle of the second month, the rest of the people that the crew rescued show up on a crowded transport ship. They are all relieved to get into real civilization again. The entire lot taking up a whole hotel in the Enclave. Free beers (and offers of companionship!) are given to the crew (except for Moyas, since he didn't do anything for them, by their recconing) regularly. The last two weeks go by quickly, and then everyone is loaded onto a transport and taken up to the ISS Novacore.

The Novacore is massive, for all intents and purposes, you might as well be landing on a colony instead of a ship. Even more, it's all bright and shiny and clean. It even has that slightly actinic new ship smell, indicating all the paint and polish is factory fresh.

As they exit the transport, there are a few dozen naval enlisted personnel in uniforms, unloading baggage from the cargo area of the transport. Nearby, is a Naval Officer in a clean neat ship's uniform. "Greetings to you all, I am Lieutenant Kale Astutus. I work in the ship's Burser's Office. Until we reach Imperial space and disembark you, I'll be your primary contact and liaison. If you wouldn't mind, those of you who are experienced ship's crew, please line up on my left, and those of you who are civilian's, please line up on my right. For those on the left, if you don't have an up to date Crew License, please move to the right." Everyone begins shuffling into their respective group, with some grumbling as several have to move from left to right. The crew is all up to date thanks to their 2 months of retraining

"Thank you. Everyone on the Left, you'll find a copy of the Shipboard Procedures in your new quarters. They aren't spacious, but we did manage to free up enough pilot quarters to put you all in individual quarters. There are 3 flights bunking in communal quarters who are not happy with you, so don't play poker with any pilots unless you know where they are bunking. I expect you all to memorize the procedures, failure to do so will result in me revoking your Crew License, or sending a request for revocation to your sponsoring government. For everyone on the right, there will be mandatory ship training for the first month of our trip. On the bright side, you'll all have fresh shiny new Crew Licenses at the end of it, whether you use them or not." She smiles, and there's a mixture of groans and pleasant surprise from the right hand group.

"Now, any questions before we get you settled in? I'll be bunking in the same section, so I'll be available at all times."

8 weeks is enough to raise his skill to Language 0. That means he can use a few phrases of various common languages but is not fluent. Thus the ridiculous practice phrases.

How much of our time could we devote to training other than the mandatory updates?

The entire trip back to the Imperial space

Well then that is when Dev would like to train in 0-G, if possible, as well as any other duties he needs to complete for the crew.

It's a six month trip on this ship right? So that comes out to twenty-four weeks. Just want to make sure I got my math right.

I also thought I commented on Moyas english lessons but for some reason the post didn't go through.

When Moyas burst in on Warren and Elrick's discussion on the pressures of fame and fortune Elrick gives him a friendly smile and a wave. "Don't tap them together three times and beware of falling houses."

Ref: Should we knock out 6 months worth of training, or might there be unexpected encounters prior to the Imperial border?

Feel free to knock out 24 weeks of training. I don't plan on throwing anything at you guys that would give a superdreadnaught carrier more than a brief pause to do target practice. Believe me, no pirate in his right mind is going to attack a ship with that much firepower at it's disposal.

MOYASMEDSEV TRAINING

SESSION 1 - Weeks 1-8: Linguistics 0.
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SESSION 2 - Weeks 9-16: Lingustics 1.

Learnin' Linguistics, Session 2 (Target 6+): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 6) + 2 = 9

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods…”

Moyasmedsev's Anglic has gone much better and he practices it every chance he gets.

_____________________________________________________
SESSION 3 - Weeks 17-24: Deception 1

Learning Deception (Target 6+): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 4) + 2 = 12

"Well, I don't like to talk about my royal status. It's not considered polite among the droyne, you see, but this trip is very important to the Dispersed Droyne Kingdom..."

Previously had 11 weeks worth of training, plus 24 is 35 weeks. She was training in Engineer (Electronics), so 11 weeks gives her Engineer (Electronics) 2 and leaves her with 24 weeks. She spends the next 11 weeks getting her skill in Gun Combat (Laser Pistol) to 1 and then spends 12 weeks getting Zero-G to 1. She begins training in Computer with her remaining week (and will require 13 more weeks of training to reach Computer 2).

She'll need 12 weeks, since she went up to 2 in Electronics. Remember, you need weeks equal to your current total in skills

Okay, so she has used all of her training time and will learn Computer at the next opportunity.

Do we all get a total of 35 weeks?

Total Transit time is 11 jumps x 2 weeks (22 weeks) + 1 week between jumps to refuel (10 jumps) = 32 weeks. Moyas got 40 weeks, due to not needing to catch up. Moyas will need to spend enough cash for 8 weeks of hotel and food.

How much did we make selling our final cargo? And where did our accounts end up? I'll do the math if you like. Just link me to the trade data.

40 weeks means everyone's favorite bird/lizard/alien has two more Training Sessions to go.

SESSION 4 - Weeks 25-32: Stealth 0

Learning Stealth (Target 6+): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (6, 2) + 2 = 10

Blissfully unaware of how creepy it is, Moyas begins stalking humans through the halls until the crew orders him to stop. He doesn't stop, but he does get better at avoiding the crew.

________________________________________________________________

SESSION 5 - Weeks 33-40: Investigate 0

Learning Investigate (Target 6+): 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 6) + 2 = 11

This is actually a lot of reading, computer work and making friends with the same security personnel who previously had to warn him off stalking. They consider him a sort of mascot but he actually learns a lot about procedure.

* 18 tons of Personal computers @ 7,150 * 18 = 128,700

* 13 tons of Pre-packaged Food and Drink @ 6,050 * 13 = 78,650

* 14 tons of Basic Machine Parts: Engine Components @ 11,000 * 14 = 154,000

* 25 tons of Basic Machine Parts: Engine Components @ 11,000 * 25 = 275,000

* 5 tons of Beryllium @ 24,750 * 5 = 123,750

* 12 tons of Tracked Repair Components @ 9,350 * 12 = 112,200

* 10 tons of Wheeled Components @ 4,950 * 10 = 49,500

* 2 tons of VR Computer and Sensor Packages @ 99,000 * 2 = 198,000

Sale Total : 1,119,800

Group Funds : 551,450

Total : 1,671,250

More to come

During the trip, experts on the ship go over the ISS Phoenix with a fine tooth comb, and generate valuations of it and the things you pulled out. Apparently they even sent along from the Enclave several Xenobiologists (to work on the alien bodies and animal samples), several Xenobotonanists (to work on the alien plants and seeds), and co-opted the ship's engineers to work on the ship itself, the alien tech samples, and the alien's cybernetics.

After the 11 week travel, which is mostly boring, although there are several hundred years worth of entertainment holos to catch up on, the ship finally arrives at Adawi, the Sector Capital of the Lishun Sector. This planet is heavily industrialized, and a very old Vlanii colony. In fact, it's less than 30 sectors from Vland itself, the old capital world of the Empire.

Adawi itself is one of the most advanced systems in the Empire, and the tech level here is generally 1 higher than the rest of the empire (TL 14) with spikes into the next highest level (TL 15). Adawi is home to 3 separate Imperial Nobility (A subsector Duke, a Knight of the Realm, and an Imperial Count), resulting in a much more tightly controlled environment. Thus the Amber rating, as crossing the local nobility can be dangerous

Upon docking with the massive military base in the system (actually, one massive military base with 3 adjutant smaller military bases!), the survivors are offered shuttles to the Civilian Station in orbit over Adawi.

Lieutenant Kale Astutus pulls Dev, Glitch, and Connery into a private briefing room. They are allowed to ask for other crew/hirelings to be in attendance, such as Elrick and/or Moyas

"Well, I hope you've enjoyed your trip. The Admiralty has finalized the compensation for seizing your ship and for the things you brought back. Here's an itemized list." She brings it up on the board.

ISS Phoenix : Salvaged Starship, new value 684.2 Megacredits. Salvage Value, 287.4 Megacredits. Historical Value, 412 Megacredits. Scientific Value, 418 Megacredits. Final Compensation : 473 Megacredits.

82nd Flight Wing Command Fighter : Salvaged Imperial Lance Class Heavy Fighter, new value 97.6 Megacredits. Salvage Value, 8 Megacredits. Historical Value, 387 Megacredits. Scientific Value, Nil. Final Compensation : 387 Megacredits.

82nd Flight Wing Dog Tags : No Value, reward of 500,000 Credits for return.

Alien Fighter : Unknown alien fighter, Functional. Scientific Value, 300 Megacredits. Final Compensation : 300 Megacredits.

Alien Artifacts : Unknown alien technology artifacts, mixed non and functional. Scientific Value, 10 Megacredits. Final Compensation : 10 Megacredits.

Alien Lifeforms : Unknown Alien corpses, two species, 12 samples. Scientific Value, 12 Megacredits. Final Compensation : 12 Megacredits.

Alien biosamples : Unknown plant and animal samples, multiple species. Scientific Value, 2 Megacredits. Final Compensation : 2 Megacredits.

Imperial Pinnace : Salvaged Imperial Pinnace, New Value 89.4 Megacredits. Salvage Value, 58 Megacredits. Historical Value, Nil. Scientific Value, Nil. Final Compensation : 58 Megacredits.

2nd Imperium Parts & Salvage : Salvaged repair parts and data from 2nd Imperium. Salvage Value, 12 Megacredits. Historical Value, 14 Megacredits. Scientific Value, 10 Megacredits. Final Compensation, 14 Megacredits.

Imperial Sealed Datapack : <Redacted> Final Compensation, 50 Megacredits.

Total Compensation : 1,306.5 Megacredits

Warren gasps as he sees the final value of everything. "I hope we've been of some help to the Imperium. All we were doing was to try and survive and get home and help those we could. What now?"

Jenni is pleasantly surprised by the total. She hadn't expected near that much. She also hadn't expected to be compensated for the dog tags; she was just making sure they would be remembered. "I'm up for some adventure," she says in response to Warren.

"Well I was looking for something to keep me busy in my retirement...and this might just be it! Count me in!"

The group discusses continuing to work together, and hammers out employment contracts for Elrick and Moyas.

When looking for a new ship, they finally settle on the Antares Class ships built by Interstellar Technodyne. The company has an office in this system, and a shipyard, making it an easy pick.

When talking to a senior sales agent (the junior sales agent, upon learning they intend to pay cash, bumps them up to a senior agent) listens to their ideas, and then lays out some optional configurations.

"So, we have those four optional builds. If you pick any of those optional builds, we can keep your costs down. If you still want further customizations, we can do those as a retrofit or build them into the hull on one of our in-process builds. We currently have 10 of them in the pipeline, and 8 in inventory. That's about normal, numbers fluctuate, but we normally sell about 2 a month and produce about 2 a month, out of this facility."

He pulls up the four optional builds, and rattles off the differences. Once someone brings up a question about building a landing bay into one, he nods. "Yes, we can do that as either an in-hull customization or retrofit. Advantages of doing it as an in-hull customization is that the maintenance of the landing bay will be easier. Downside is that it's fairly early in the build phase that we have to do it, so it'll take about 6 months to finish the ship up. We can also do it as a retrofit on a ship that's already built, which will take about 6 weeks. However, as a retrofit, it will be more difficult to maintenance." Increases level by 1 for difficulty of any repairs to the bay itself, not to ships in the bay

"We do have a new toy that R&D came up with." The screen pops up with a swept forward shuttle. "This is our new Runabout class shuttle. It's not designed to haul cargo, just passengers, but it can carry 8 passengers and one pilot, with the pilot cockpit either connected or walled off from the passenger compartment, depending on preference at time of purchase. It is attachable to the Antares in place of the dorsal turret, with the passenger and pilot ingress points placed in the airlock between the forward hull and the engineering section." He brings up a picture of it on the Antares, sitting atop where the dorsal turret would be, it's wings sweeping forward over the two forward 'pincer' hull sections. "It's a 15 ton shuttle, with 2 tons of cargo capacity for onboard luggage. It has a single forward firing pulse laser, which can be fired from the Antares while it's docked, as a fixed mount weapons mount. It also acts as a backup battery to the Antares while mounted. The shuttle itself doesn't have a reactor core, it's strictly battery operated, so it's not for long haul. It has an operational duration of 14 hours in standby mode, which just keeps life support going. That can be increased to 30 hours if the cockpit is the only life support needed. In flight mode, it has a duration of a little over 4 and a half hours, more than sufficient for moving around the inner system of most habitable systems, or doing some light exploring. Just beware that each shot from the Pulse Laser takes about 6 minutes off it's operational duration in either mode. The shuttle itself is 7.4 Megacredits, suggested retail. Since you'd be part of our Beta test, we'd throw in the shuttle for free and only charge you for the docking bay mods. Not sure if that would work for your desire on the parasite craft side, but thought I'd mention it as an option. It's small enough most planets allow it's use as a large commercial flight vehicle, meaning you can use it on the planet's surface as well, as long as you recharge it while it's parked. Recharging ports are standard Imperial connections, so you should have no issues recharging."

"The Runabout sounds like an excellent addition. It would save us cargo space and still act as a forward-firing weapon." He turns back to the salesman. "What's the price?"

Turning back to his companions, he adds "Do we even need a landing bay if we have the Runabout? That is six months we don't need to wait."

Still takes up cargo space, but it takes up 16.5 tons, not 80 tons. But again, it's a docking bay. You're really just saving cash for a shuttle is all

"Remember, 6 months is the built into the hull version. If time is important, the retrofit only takes 6 weeks."

"No, I would prefer a landing bay. That way we can work with different vessels up to the bays tonnage and I am not really sold on a powerpack shuttle that might run out of power when we need it most. Just my preference when looking at a multi-mission ship."

"Alright," says Moyasmedsev, happy enough with the current configuration. "Are we agreed on the specifics, then?" He looks around at the gathered Hairless Beach Apes.