The Ganoltir Project Forum

Creed, after taking some time to come to his senses after the other VI was stopped in its tracks, eventually walks out to the others. He pushes a hand through his hair which now hangs messy over his face and off the sides of his head and he blinks a bit as he looks at the pyramid. "That's a star map..." He looks in awe for a moment as he approaches but shakes his head, looking between them. "That, may not be their actual name. Kind of something that myself and a few buddies back home used to call 'em. Always heard there was vast treasure if you could follow them to the end. Thomas said he found one once, but we didn't believe him... dude ran off several years ago when we said he was bullshitting us. We never saw him again." He shrugged. "I've always wanted to see where one of these would lead me."

Mechanics

Int(Pilot): [3d6c1+2]=5+2=7

"Hey, take a look at this," Tess says, interrupting the conversation to motion for the others to come look at the man's cracked compad. What could he have been doing there? Seems like a dangerous place for such well-known pirates. "They spent some time on Aldis awhile back, but not long enough for it to have been a celebration or a big haul sale. They might have been there on business with how short a stay it was," she says, pulling up the messages to show the time frame they were on the navy planet.

"Alldis?" Cass repeats, a feeling of both excitement and dread punching his belly. "You think they were working with the League?"

He frowns at the thought. What's a crew like Hartjen doing there if not to party and fuck around? Either League, or something worse.

"Too bad their tub's a fragged husk at this point. All that data on these pirates..."

Hikaru shrugs at Cass's suggestion of the pirates working with the League. "Can't say that for sure. Plenty of rich, eccentric private citizens out there too... The kind who will throw creds away on the weirdest whim." He grimaces, remembering the strange requests management had received from many of the planet's elite. And those requests management had granted. May I never have to play grav-croquet while half-naked with an old modded creep ever again... Six eyes and they were all glued on me. So demeaning...

 

"Or rich, eccentric, League officers throwing creds on private matters," Cass adds, referencing the pedophilia ring who have made his life hell. "Who knows."

He nods back toward the front of the outpost where the Makkuro is. "Wanna go upload the star map and call in our success?"

"Sounds like a plan," Tess responds, eager to be off the station full of corpses. "Mind helping me with the rest of this stuff?" she asks, motioning towards the items the decease pirate is carrying. "Some flares and a rope could definitely come in handy down the line," she continues, looking mostly towards Hikaru and Cass.

"On it," the engineer responds, making for the bodies of the pirates and collecting whatever supplies and gear remains. Once packed up, he begins to make for the boarding tube again. "I'm just glad nobody got shot this time."

Loot

Cass takes:

1 Type A Power Cell
3 Thermal Flare
Rope (40 meters)

You contact the Makkuro and have them reextend the boarding tube, before you make your way back on board. After stowing away your new acquisitions you reconvene in the ops room and through the combined efforts of Cass and Creed, you are able to connect the star chart to the Makkuro and get some level of interfacing going between the two.

This allows you to take a deeper more detailed look at what systems it contains and which are the ones highlighted in green. In total the chart includes four stars currently not in the Makkuro's nav computer. Interestingly you do notice that the chart is missing some key systems in the cluster, such as Meliano - the system home to Strocho, and Aethyia - the star of the Escrosian Diktat's two key homeworlds. Both of those systems were important Mandate holdings pre-scream.

Of the four new systems you notice two of them are highlighted in green, although without further information on the systems the Makkuro is unable to pin point anything more than the system itself. The other highlighted systems though are able to be examined further and narrowed down to coordinates on specific planetary bodies. Tul Ruprima in the Mu iran system, Antheus in the Mardis system, Aldis and Berez in the Mona system, all have coordinates marked on them.

There are two outliers though; the asteroid you are currently docked to, not being a planet, and Suchhan Mallina in the Antakis system, being highlighted itself rather than just a set of coordinates like the others.

OOC

OOC Map updated

Hikaru eyes the star chart curiously as it begins to align with their own. He raises an eyebrow, noting the peculiar choice of missing systems. "Can't be just a normal star chart if Meliano is missing. And look at the coords. They've gotta lead somewhere, yeah?" His mind races, thoughts of an intergalactic treasure hunt swirling inside his imagination. Damn, first pirates and now maybe treasure? They should make a movie about this someday...

He points to Alldis on the map, noting that it's been highlighted too. "Maybe following this chart is why they were in Alldis. Why else would some backwater pirates go deep into League systems?"
 

"Well it looks like they found whatever they were looking for to be dangerous to get to," Tess responds, thinking back to the injuries the pirates had after coming up the elevator, and the damage to their Vis. "Perhaps the others would be the same. We don't really know which, if any, they have traveled to before. I think we'd be fools to head to any of those places as we are now."

Taking the nearest seat she can find, and kicking her feet up on whatever she can move to support them, Tess leans back and finally relaxes for the first time since they set foot on the mining station. "We should head back and get paid, and see if we can find any information on Asteria. The pirates used to dock there, right? Maybe they got this thing from someone on the station." And maybe we can actually spend some time on solid ground, and not in this ship. 

"Yeah, that's weird shit," Cass says in agreement to Hikaru's reasoning.

He leans back in his crash chair, nodding at Tess. "Yeah, we're in no place to go out finding trouble. We got enough as-is with a stolen ship, a hacked transponder, and a skeleton crew. Let's get paid, get Holland to patch the Makkuro, and figure out the next steps." The engineer stares at Max, giving him a peculiar stare. "Speaking of, what's your next step, hot-shot? Gotta admit, I didn't expect you to be so fast on your feet. You chopped the shit out of that VI."

"Yeah," Hikaru says plainly, letting out a sigh of relief as it sets in that they succeeded in their job. "Hell, maybe Holland can shed some light on this too, or Lagunov. They probably owe us a bit more for getting rid of Hartjen for good." He plummets into his seat, closing his eyes for a moment of peace. "That's for later though. We've all earned a rest for now." As soon as our course is set, I'm feeling a hot date with my bed...
 

Creed looks at the map intently, thinking it over. "Hmmm..." He says, tilting his head.

Mechanics

I'm going to attempt an int/Pilot check to see if I notice anything further: [3d6+2]=7+2=9

"Based on my estimations... it would be difficult, but we could make it to the new star cluster at 0303." He points at it, glancing between it and the other one. "However, the one at 0103 is well beyond our capabilities. Even still, we'd be flying a little blind, we'd have to plot our own course to 0303, I think." He leans back and puts his hands in his pockets tentatively before looking around. "It could be worth a shot. There might be something to find there."

Hikaru offers Creed a shrug, not particularly eager to start a new adventure so soon. "We can talk more on it when we're someplace more comfortable, yeah? Let's get our ship into shape before we start going across the galaxy." Last thing we need is to be caught unprepared, far from any safe haven.

 

Cass smirks as the pilot's mind seems to wander. He's more adventurous than you'd think.

"Agreed. Gotta see how much cred's left, too, after all this shit is sorted out. If this dock strike holds, Holland's going to have to run scabs — and pass those fees onto us when they fix us up."

"I'm sure she will ask us to help sort out that mess too," Tess says with a sigh, as the dockworkers are mentioned. "Unless they've somehow solved that in our absence." She pauses, thinking back to the strife they encountered, and how it seems so much like the things she remembers from back on Berez. Didn't father join a strike once? That seems like something that happened when I was little.

"We won't get much repaired if all the workers are striking, so might be worth trying to find a resolution for anyway, as much as I'd love not to get involved in that." Hopefully there will be plenty of time to relax after. 

ratwizard wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 2:41 pm"Speaking of, what's your next step, hot-shot? Gotta admit, I didn't expect you to be so fast on your feet. You chopped the shit out of that VI."

"Well now with my debt to Miss Holland repaid the station is now my proverbial oyster so to speak," the Anthean noble answers boldly, your adventure together seemingly having lifted him out of the depression you found him in somewhat. "After that, who knows? I have some scores I'd like to settle back home eventually."

With your business here wrapped up here, Creed makes the preparations and lays in a course for Asteria Station. It's now around 3am and you spend most of the return trip asleep, before arriving back at the station shortly after sharing breakfast together. You see the same ship, the Frontier, still on patrol around the station but your second arrival goes much smoother than your first and you are granted docking rights immediately. This time you are send to Bay 4, several bays away from your previous docking bay and closer to the large freighter Alhamdulillah which remains docked in Bay 1. The docking apparatus is identical to your last bay and the docking goes without a hitch, the airlock lights going green to show a hard seal.

Hikaru stretches and rises from his station as they finish docking, eager to be back on fairly solid ground. He looks towards the rest of his crew and shrugs. "I guess our first order of business should be paying Holland a visit, yeah? The sooner they can start fixing up our ship, the better." Not that I'd mind having to stay a bit longer. It's no Strocho, but it's better than Idarete.

Cass eases up significantly the closer they get to Asteria Station, shedding most of his remaining anxiety upon their smooth docking. Much better than last time, fuck.

"Yeah, Holland first. How do we want to handle this starmap data? Just give her the pyramid and let her make her own inferences? Not like we need it anymore with the data pulled to the Makkuro."

"Holland, and then we should see what this station has to offer," Tess responds, stretching as well and rolling her neck, feeling soreness from their lackluster accommodations on the Makkuro. "If we're going to be here awhile during repairs, the last thing I want to do is spend all of my time on the ship. I'm sure I can find some work to pass the time too," she says with a smirk, eager to finally have some semblance of normalcy back in her life. I am sure the workers on this can will happily pay to spend some time with a first class courtesan from Strocho. If they only knew what they were funding.

Creed hears the others step away from the idea, even if only temporarily or partially. He nods in agreement as he eases his excitement back down the meter to a more manageable level, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, let's get back to the station. Once that's settled we'll take some time, rest, and recoup." He takes one last longing look at the map's data before quickly spinning on his heel and heading to the pilot's chair, focusing on just docking their ship safely. Once the ship is parked, he stands up again, gathers himself and puts away his weapons, and then walks back over to the others. "To Holland, then."

You make your way to the airlock and disembark. Docked in a different part of the station's docks, you find the area quieter than your previous berth although there are still a couple of groups of idle dockworkers scattered around - the strike unsurprisingly still in effect. Before you are able to start making your way to the Asteria offices, you spot the station security chief making his way towards you.

"Good to see you all made it back alive. How did it go?" Lagunov asks as he reaches you, an eagerness to his voice.

Cass shrugs, finding no apparent answer to his question. Guess I'm overthinking it, he considers.

As Lagunov approaches, the engineer's posture straightens; years out from the Navy and the effects of superior leadership still affect him in subconscious ways. "As well as it could," he answers. "Your pirates are dead or gone. Is Holland in?"

Hikaru smirks as he detects the eagerness in Lagunov's voice, not expecting it from the head of security. Guess he's excited. Bet he'll be celebrating tonight. The pop star looks at Cass and nods before turning back towards the chief. "Yep, Hartjen is dead, and we came to an arrangement with Captain Malik. Either way, Asteria can reclaim its station." He hesitates for a moment, unsure how to bring up the tragedy that befell the station's workers. Looking towards his engineer again, he adds, "Yeah, I'd imagine Miss Holland wishes to hear everything in full detail too, so we shouldn't keep her waiting for too long."

"The pirates are dead, but so are all of the station personnel," Tess responds somberly, surprised that the others forgot to mention this important detail. "But yes, let's go over everything with Holland as well. No need to tell the same story twice." Not to mention whatever plagued the pirates in the mines. Might be worth it to just abandon that place all-together at this point. It has to be haunted by now.

"That's a shame about our crew, but I did suspect that'd be the case when I heard Hartjen was involved. I'm certainly glad to be rid of him for good. I owe you all a drink for that," Lagunov replies, his emotions on his face visibly changing as he talks, from his previous eagerness to solemn regret and back to a positive glow. "Anyway, I'll take you to Holland. This way," he adds after a brief pause, before setting off, gesturing for the five of you to follow.

He leads you away from the main area of the docks, towards what appears to be the harbour master's office, outside which a moderate crowd of strikers have gathered and are yelling at two of Lagunov's men posted outside who stand there stony faced at attention. The security chief gently pushes through the crowd towards front, drawing the ire of many of its members as they realise who he is. He ignores them and waits by his men for all of you to emerge from the crowd, before scanning his ID and letting you all inside the building.

You find yourselves in a small and utilitarian office where several people are at work on terminals, looking over cargo manifests, flight plans and other reports. Lagunov greets a couple of them in passing but makes straight for an elevator towards the back of the room. Stepping inside you see its only possible destination from the options are the Asteria offices., which Lagunov selects after scanning his ID once more.

The journey is quick and you soon step out into the clean and corporately sterile environment of the megacorp's offices, in a section you don't recognise - away from the main entrance you encountered on your last visit here. The security chief continues to lead you, taking you a short way through the corridors of the corporate offices and labs, before you find yourselves once again at the office of the company's CEO - Nereida Holland. Lagunov opens the door, knocking on it with his free hand as he does. Stepping inside, you see Miss Holland stood at her desk taking a call on her compad. She is dressed in another form fitting black dress, although this one is more businesslike than the elegant evening gown she wore to your last meeting. Spotting you, her lips curl into a slight smile and she gestures towards the boardroom table intending for you to take a seat. As you do you hear the CEO finish up her call in a rather blunt manner, leaving little room for argument from the other party before she hangs up and makes her way over to join you at the table.

"It's good to see you my Darlings," she says as she takes a seat at the head of the table. "All in one piece too," she adds, looking over all of you individually. "I trust that means things went well?" She asks expectantly, talking mostly to Hikaru but also glancing at the rest of you.

As the crew disembarks, Eridas slips the star chart into his pocket. Cass brought up a good point, maybe she will know something. He thinks to himself as they walk, contemplating it further. He meant to bring up the question again but never really had a good time to. Things seemed to move rather quickly as the periods of time where they were alone faded, and Lagunov lead them into Holland's office once more.
He sits down at the table, giving miss Holland a polite smile. He couldn't help but notice how pretty she was, now that he was no longer afraid for his life and worried about what might happen to them. He tried to dismiss these thoughts, however, as work came first. "Things could have gone better, I think, but the job's been dealt with." He smiles, perhaps getting a bit ahead of himself. He rests his arms on the table in front of him.

Cass stays quiet as they are led through the shortcut and into Holland's office. Too cold here, both temperature and temperament. I think I liked the shitty, striking dock environment better.

He admires Holland and her outfit for a brief moment before the fear of her power is reminded to him. At her question, he finds himself looking Hikaru's way, waiting for their apparent leader to tell their tale. He's no star captain yet, but I'm sure Glitter's talked to dozens of CEOs more connected than this one. The life of a crudtune popstar and all.

More relief washes over Hikaru as Holland greets them, glad to be welcomed back someplace after such unfriendly times on Idarete. He sits up in his seat, turning to the executive, and offers a slight smile. "Your station is yours again. Hartjen and his crew are dead, and Captain Malik agreed to stand down." He looks away for a moment, a solemn look taking over. "Unfortunately, Hartjen massacred your personnel before we arrived. We didn't find any survivors." He grimaces, thinking back to the grizzly scene they came across.

"Can you tell us about the station, though? We learned he was hunting something in the mines. And something down there was hunting him too," he says, hoping the CEO can help shed some light on whatever mysterious force might dwell below.

 

"That is good to hear but... unfortunate, in regards to our people. Their families will be compensated as per their employment contracts," Holland replies smiling slightly at the news of your success. She pauses briefly midsentence to choose her words to acknowledge the deaths of her employees, although the slight smile doesn't fade from her face.

She raises an eyebrow as Hikaru mentions whatever the pirates encountered in the mines of the asteroid. "You don't need to concern yourselves with that," she says dismissively before turning to Lagunov. "Assign a security team to the new mining crew."

"Everyone is tied up at the moment dealing with the strike," the security chief protests. He goes to add something but Holland cuts him off.

"Just make it happen," she says in a tone that ends Lagunov's protests immediately, before she turns back to you. "I'll have your credits transferred to your accounts shortly and you'll receive instructions to move your ship to our shipyard for the repairs and new transponder. As for you, you can consider yourself free of any obligations towards me or the company," she says, directing the last part at Max. The nobleman replies with a courteous nod.

"If there's nothing else?," Holland then says, beginning to stand up from her chair.

"Is the strike the only issue you have on this station at the moment?" Tess asks, not eager to simply take their money and leave if there is more opportunity to be had. If we're going to be on this place for awhile, we might as well make the best of it, maybe even get more money to waste away at a bar.

"I'm sure the repairs will take some time, so if there's something else you needed, we might be able to look into it," she continues, giving the woman a smile and - as with their last visit - a wink. Maybe there's something she desires too. I am always good at helping people with those.

"Seems like your security team is stretched pretty thin. You, uh, sure you don't need help with whatever problem's at the outpost?" Cass asks, scratching his chin. "I know an ace team who just finished up a contract."

Gonna need more credit to get ahead of the League or the Diktat. What's the worst she can say? No? He considers that possibility. Then we sit on this station and drink, fuck, or sleep until the Makkuro's patched and we can bomb out.

Hikaru raises a brow at Holland seeming to dance around his question, not having seen a sidestep quite that smooth since his choreography three singles ago. She knows something's there... But what? He nods along to Tess and Cass, subtly smiling as he admires a crew with its own initiative. Damn, this captaining is easy. "Yeah, if there's anything at all we can do to help. I'm sure we can do whatever needs done, and with utmost discretion," he says, hoping to get her to trust him with whatever secrets she might be harboring.

 

Eridas looks around a bit at the others before clearing his throat, "I also think we could still be of use to you, however, we also found this while we were down there." He says, pulling the little star chart device out of his pocket. "We wanted to see if this could be of a-a-any use to you." He says, his voice wavering slightly at the end as he put all of his focus into putting it onto the table carefully.

As you suggest assisting the mining team, Holland sits back down and looks to Lagunov, who offers up a shrug. "It's not the worst idea."

Holland pauses to think for a moment, gentling tapping a finger against her lips as she does. "It will be a few days before we send the new team by shuttle. Your ship will be under repairs then so you'll travel with the team on the shuttle which will then bring you back once the outpost is deemed safe by the new Head of Ops. As we won't need use of your ship I think ten thousand credits would be more than fair," she says after a moment, presenting you with an offer.

As Creed pulls out the pyramidal device, both Holland and Lagunov lean forwards in their seats. "Now that is interesting," Holland says as she pulls out her compad. "Dr. Chal'eh to my office now," she says into the device before placing it back on the table and returning her attention to the pyramid. A few moments pass before there is a knock on the door.

"Come."

The door opens, a slender four fingered hand on its handle. Into the room steps Dr. Chal'eh, standing nearly two and a half metres tall they have to duck to enter the room. They stand there for a moment, their four eyed gaze sweeping across all of you before they step forward towards the table. You immediately recognise them as an Aascein - the only other known intelligent alien race in the sector and natives to the League world Suchhan Mallina. They wear a long white lab coat over a strange and alien suit which hugs their slender form - the result of millions of years of evolution on the world with lower gravity than Earth, the now lost cradle humanity.

"What do you make of this?" Holland asks, gesturing to the pyramid.

"May I?" They ask reaching for the pyramid. They don't wait for an answer before picking it up with one hand, turning it over in their four long fingers as they examine the device. After a few moments of looking at the device they begin to manipulate it, causing it to reveal the star chart inside. They continue to manipulate it, navigating around the map with a certain familiarity.

"It is similar other devices found on Suchhan Mallina. This appears to contain star systems currently unknown to us though," they say to Holland. They speak slowly and with a strange cadence, the sounds of the mandate language clearly hard for them to make. They closing the device and placing it gently back on the table. Holland mulls this information over for a moment.

"Where did you say you found this again?" She asks, looking back to the four of you once more, a spark in her eye.

Aascein Appearance

"It fell off Hartjen's lifeless body," Tess responds, eyeing their host with a little more suspicion now that she has invited an apparent specialist on the technology. "Based on the color scheme, we assume he was there for a reason. What reason, though, we don't really have any idea. We thought you might have an idea?" Is she playing coy? She must know more than she is letting on.

"Yeah," Hikaru says plainly, nodding with Tess's brief explanation. "He made it sound like he was looking for something specific, but no idea what. I don't think him targeting your station was just out of convenience. He picked it for a reason." He looks at Holland expectantly, assuming a woman with her power knows more than she's letting on. The fuck is on that station?

 

Another ten large to join a foot patrol? Sounds like easy cred, Cass considers. I'll just stand behind whoever Lagunov has picked.

His eyes widen as the doctor enters. He had only seen a few aasceins during his time with the League, and only in passing. If they haven't seen these star charts either then this is clearly something big. No wonder Holland's not saying shit about it. He stays quiet, wondering if the CEO would give into his companions' line of questioning.

Creed's thoughts raced at the thought of getting that many credits. He had scarcely seen that many at one time, let alone had any to spend.
As Holland's specialist enters the room, he takes note of their appearance, which was entirely foreign to him. As of yet, he had never met an Aascein, but this one's familiarity with the star map drew his attention, and some respect, as their interests at least somewhat overlapped.

Chal'eh looks to Holland for permission before answering your questions after she gives them a small nod. "Like humanity, much of our history was lost in the Scream. From what remains we know we were once enslaved by an ancient alien race that ruled this sector long before the first humans of the Mandate arrived," they say as they pull out one of the chairs around the table and take a seat.

"This device shows a map of their empire at a point in time. The Asteria outpost 3138 T-1 appears to sit in the same location as something belonging to this empire once did," they continue.

"So Hartjen acquired it somewhere and came looking for valuable alien pretech. The miners did report finding something shortly before we lost contact with them, but their reports were unclear," Holland says piecing some of the puzzle together aloud. She pauses for a moment before turning back to you. "I'll give you another five thousand for the device," she proposes. "The uncharted star systems are valuable but not too useful without a rutter to go with the coordinates."

Eridas clears his throat as he looks towards Holland and Dr. Chal'eh, trying to keep himself calm, not showing his excitement. "If my calculations were correct, based on what our ship is capable of, I think I'd be able to fly us towards the closer of the points of interest - 0303, I believe." Eridas chewed on his lip slightly as he looked at the map again. "After this job with securing the station, perhaps we could go on a bit of an exploratory journey for you as well? I'm positive it could be valuable, and well worth the cost." He says, hoping to keep their attention.

Tess is about to speak when Eridas does, and she leans back and narrows her eyes towards the man as he offers yet more work for the company. "I think it best if we keep it, at least for now. It might prove useful down the line," she adds, reaching to the table to retrieve the small pyramid. The last thing we need is Holland selling this chart to every pirate and mercenary crew that docks in this station. If there are truly items of interest at these locations, best we have the only source of their coordinates. 

"Before we go promising exploration, we should see what exactly is lurking in the depths of that mining station," Tess continues, now more towards Creed and the rest of her own crew. "Hartjen and his Vi's seemed to have had a difficult time subduing whatever was there, and if we are to have as much of an issue, I don't see the value in pursuing this more. Better safe and alive than dead to some unknown creatures in these unknown places where no one will find us. We should head with her crew to clear it out. Extra coin, and more knowledge, can't hurt."

Turning back to Holland, she continues, "if it is days until the venture, that gives us some time to relax in your station, then. Have any suggestions? Someplace we can have a little fun while we wait?" she continues, leaning forward with her head on her hands and giving the woman another wink as before.

 

Hikaru listens with a mix of interest and utter confusion as Chal'eh explains the device they found. Damn, a map to alien tech? How'd a pirate get his hands on this? He weighs Holland's proposal, about to speak up before Tess takes over. He smiles plainly and nods along with her, wondering if the device could be worth more than the CEO has promised too. "Yeah, maybe it's more than just a map. For all we know, it might be a key too. To accessing whatever's hidden on your station." He shrugs, just spitballing ideas as an excuse to keep the device in their hands. "But we're not likely to find out unless we try first."

"While that sounds like a lovely venture, we'll have to put a pin in that for now," Holland says in reply to Eridas, clearly not willing to waste time discussing future work yet. "By all means. My offer stands if you change your minds," she says gesturing to the device as Tess reaches for it, letting the assassin take it from the table. Chal'eh looks to Holland, their face noticeably changing in response to this decision, but their expression is completely alien and unreadable to you.

"I don't see much of the station if I'm honest," Holland then says in reply to Tess. "But if I think of anywhere, I'll let you know," she adds, returning the woman's wink. She looks down and checks her compad before speaking again. "I have a meeting I have to get to, but we'll be in touch in a few days once the new mining crew is ready to depart. Please show yourselves out," she says, before standing up and making her way for the door. Chal'eh stands too as does Lagunov and the seven of you make your way out of Holland's office. The aascein and the station security chief part ways with Lagunov escorting you back to the lobby.

There you say your goodbyes to him and Max before making your way back to the Makkuro. Holland is true to her word and you soon see that 10,000 credits are deposited into each of your accounts, which is shortly followed by the instructions from the station's harbourmaster to move the ship to one of the two shipyard berths. Creed moves the ship without issue and you meet with the shipyard supervisor who inspects the damage. She lets you know it should take 15 days to complete the necessary work - slightly longer that normal due to some of the shipyard techs joining the striking dockworkers.

The work soon begins with robotic construction drones beginning to cut away and peel back the damaged sections of the Makkuro's outer hull and workers prepping for EVAs to handle the more delicate work. For lunch you finish off the last of the food on board, before finding yourselves with 4 or 5 days to kill before you will be joining the Asteria mining crew as their security detail and returning to the mining outpost.

Mechanics and OOC

Level up to Level 3! You each gain 10,000 credits.

You have 4/5 days to kill on the station. This will consist of 1 or 2 scenes each, together or individually, depending on what you want to do. This can be following up on any leads you have, looking for more work, hiring more crew, buying new gear, selling loot etc.

There is some admin to do which I'm happy not to RP out as long as you all can agree on the decisions OOC. For example you need to stock the Makkuro with life support (food, CO2 scrubbers, medicine etc.). Currently you require 4,200 credits of life support per month and the Makkuro can stock a maximum of 24,000 credits worth. FYI The amount consumed per month will go up if you hire more crew.

Also bear in mind you do have to pay your crew wages. Currently at 9,000 per month although these aren't due until day 30 currently.

All this is on the Makkuro page of the OOC.

Level Up

Level 3!

Re-roll HP: Level 3 HP: [3d6]=8

Saving Throws: Lower by 1

Skill Points: Gain 3 +1 (Expert). 3 used raise Fix-1 to Fix-2, 1 used to raise Connect-X to Connect-0.

OOC

Downtime Goals:

• Sell ~5 boxes of whiskey to start Makkuro expense fund
  
• Buy necessary supplies for Makkuro
  
• Buy Woven Body Armor
  
• Work any free days as Fix-2 Technician for 100cr/day
  

After the swift departure from Holland's office and the subsequent lunch aboard the ship, Cass sighs proudly and leans back in a chair in their mess hall. "Ten kilo for that job. Each," he says, carefully dabbing his stubble with a sleeve of his jumpsuit. "I crunched the numbers. That's more than a year's salary for when I was working for the League. Guess it makes sense when you realize how much of that we have to sink into this beautiful bastard of a tub." He taps a magboot against the floor gently, appreciating their good fortune so far with the ship.

"So, I was thinking on that. We need an expense fund, for the Makkuro. Make it fair, yeah? To us, and to the crew we're hiring. And shit, we can even start it by injecting some of that bougie Alldis whiskey those Diktat jarheads left in our hold straight into the local economy. With the strike on, I doubt a lot of luxury sundry ships are landing in this shithole."

Level Up!

Level Up! Level 2 > Level 3
New Health Total: 15
Lower each Saving Throw by 1.
Shoot 1 > Shoot 2 (Level up Skill Points). Expert Skill Point banked for future use.

OOC

Gain 10,000 Cr!
Spend = 600 Cr, gain SPIKE THROWER.
Investing! Putting 2,000 Cr towards the "Makkuro Expenses Fund" to be used as the crew sees fit.

Eridas frowned slightly as his idea was shot down, and slunk back a bit in his chair. As they were dismissed he took a deep breath, checking his account balance and grinning a little bit. Well, at least this little excursion was worth something. He thought to himself and walked back with them towards the ship. He moved the ship quickly, and safely into its new bay and gave it a gentle pat. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Those mechanics won't hurt you, they'll make you all better. I promise." He says softly, before joining the others for lunch. 
"An expense fund, for the Makkuro? Makes sense to me. I'll give it a decent start and throw some of my pay from the last job into it- She's my baby. She deserves the best." He says, knowing he can't really put much... but damn is it nice to actually have his own money. "What do we want to do for a few days then? Can any of us really enjoy a day off?" He asks, knowing that they might be able to but he would just feel antsy as if he had things to do but couldn't figure out what it was.