Classic Traveller: Round up a Posse (IC)

[Were-Sandwich]

You have just disembarked from the Subsidised Liner Phantasmagoria into the orbital starport Franklin's Folly in Mjolnir orbit. The arrival lounge is full of bustling people disembarking and heading towards the foyer. There is a small bar in the nearest corner sellings beverages at extortionate prices; it has attracted a small crowd of naive recent arrivals. By the bar a tall man in a sharp suit waves a plaquard with your names on it with his left hand, nursing a drink with his right. Two marines flank the exit door, and check each person passing through with a scanning arch.

[Voshkod]

Doctor Seong's hoverchair silently glides over to the bar. "Good afternoon," he said to the man with the placard. "I think you're waiting for me. Among others, of course." With a bit of maneuvering, he got the chair close enough to the bar to pass a few credits over. "Something local and strong, please."

[Lycar]

Orwn enters the starport area, wearing his imperial style buisiness suit for the occasion. Maybe this was a bit less formal then a real buisiness meeting but it is always better to be overdressed then the other way around.

Humans are so much more depending on visual clues to form their first impression of someone after all.

With the smell of literally dozens of other beings (human and otherwise) hanging in the air, it is nearly impossible to pick out individual scents.

Oh well, it had been a pretty spontaneous decision to join the TAS ship lottery with this bunch of humans but sometimes, the most spontaneous ideas are the best. But hey, humans are an interesting species and the ability to spend some time with a bunch of them, not only working together but also sharing the same living space would be a new experience.

Orwn spots the plaquard-waving man and nudges his fellow teammate.

"Over there. Our greeting commitee."

He start walking over to the man, tail held high in excitement and anticipation.

Lycar

[happyturtle]

Becky walks quickly to the group, catches her foot on the edge of the carpet, stumbles, and drops one of her suitcases, spilling out some of her tools. She curses fluently under her breath as she gathers everything up, then joins her party. "Sorry, guys. What'd I miss?"

[Were-Sandwich]

The blonde, muscled barman spends an inordinate amount of time mixing up an infernal ale-based concoction. It has a plume of steam frothing off it.

"One Thor's Hammer. It'll put hair on your chest, eh? Or maybe you light it on fire and take out a small air/raft." He says with a carousing smile. "1Cr, sar."


The man holding the placard is wearing a shabby suit, and a TAS lapel pin. He sways slightly as he gets up to shake your hand. "Muzz J-ckson, d'cr See-ung." He does a double-take at Orwn, then clears his throat "Grrrhhrrraarrgghh-Gdfgggrhhhrrr. *hick*"

The drink has done little for his already shoddy Vargr, and Orwn can only guess at the meaning of his greeting.

"Gr'tings from th' TAS. Mah name is Johann King. I h'v been assigned to 'scort you to y'r ship. Pls 'scuse mah drunk-ness. Th' said your liner was d-layed so ah didn't think you'd be makin' it t'night. We'll wait for Mr..." He looks at a scrap of paper. "Macout, to arr've, then we'll get moving. I h'v b'n 'nstructed to ansser an' qweshuns you might have."

[Jolly Steve]

Here I am!

Tuesday runs up, dragging his suitcases.

[Lycar]

Orwn shots a glance at Becky, waiting for her to give him a signal if he should proceed with the talking, or if she wants to take over this one.

Lycar

[happyturtle]

Becky nods at Orwn to proceed. She's still a bit flustered and trying to count her tools inside her suitcase to make sure they are all there.

[Lycar]

TThe man holding the placard is wearing a shabby suit, and a TAS lapel pin. He sways slightly as he gets up to shake your hand. "Muzz J-ckson, d'cr See-ung." He does a double-take at Orwn, then clears his throat "Grrrhhrrraarrgghh-Gdfgggrhhhrrr. *hick*"

The drink has done little for his already shoddy Vargr, and Orwn can only guess at the meaning of his greeting.

"Gr'tings from th' TAS. Mah name is Johann King. I h'v been assigned to 'scort you to y'r ship. Pls 'scuse mah drunk-ness. Th' said your liner was d-layed so ah didn't think you'd be makin' it t'night. We'll wait for Mr..." He looks at a scrap of paper. "Macout, to arr've, then we'll get moving. I h'v b'n 'nstructed to ansser an' qweshuns you might have."

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Wasn't it a sharp suit in the first post?

Orwn decides to ingore the inebriated state of their contact for the sake of diplomacy.

"Ah, our little crew is complete now, Mr. King. Allow me to introdruce ourselves: This is Captain Becky Jackson, our captain and..."

Orwn hesistates for a moment and remembers that, according to human customs, he is supposed to introduce himself last instead of going in the order of rank/charisma.

"... this is Mr. Tuesday Macout, our Pilot. And this man here is Doctor Archibald Seong, our engineer."

"And last but not least, i am Orwn Ewon, former Assistant Manager of the Knol Dourrg trading company (human resources branch) and now Captain Jackson's aide and liason."

Orwn nods and places a hand on his chest, just below his medaillion, to draw Mr. King's attention to it.

"Mr. Macout and Doctor Seong will have a few technical questions for you, no doubt."

With a short nod, Orwn passes the conversation on to the technical staff.

Lycar

[Jolly Steve]

Yes...um, in regard to the specs of the ship...which is the button that makes it go?

Tuesday giggles explosively at his own joke, stopping only when he realises that no one else is laughing.

[Voshkod]

Seong smiles a bit at Tuesday. "We'll need full copies of all her papers, of course, and her tech books and logs. I'll need to know if there have been any major modifications, and the last time she had an overhaul. But really, right now, I want to see our ship." Excitement burns in his eyes. Or perhaps that's the alcohol he just tossed back in one gulp.

[Were-Sandwich]

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No flies on you, Voshkod. It looked sharp from a distance, but up close you can see it has seen better days.

"Regr'ttableh, I cannot take you to the ship at this exact moment, as Customs ar' passin' bricks over 't fr sum reason, but it shud b' ready f' t'mmorrow mornin'. Until then, the TAS wud like to off' iss hosptal'ty. The papers are 't the TAS h'stel. 'm not a spacer m'self, so I can't tell ya much 'bout the ship. Look's prett' new though."

He gestures towards the exit hatch.

"'fter you."

[[Forgot to ask earlier, what are your characters carrying on them? I'll assume everything else is in their luggage.]]

[Lycar]

Orwn waits for Becky to take the lead and files in behind her.

His luggage is being taken care of.

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I will just go ahead and assume a service exits to have your luggage brought to your hotel room or whereever for a small (or not-so-small) fee. He'll use his PDA to re-route his stuff to their quarters.

"Certainly. Now if you would tell us the adress of our quarters, i'll arrange for our luggage to be sent there."

Lycar

[Were-Sandwich]

"Jus' t'll 'em t' send it to th' TAS, th'll know where t' t'k it."

[Jolly Steve]

[[Forgot to ask earlier, what are your characters carrying on them? I'll assume everything else is in their luggage.]]

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Are we meant to buy weapons/equipment before starting?

[happyturtle]

"Listen, sweetie, are you for real?" Becky sniffs to see if the guy smells drunk or if he's faking it. He's coming across as seriously over the top.

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Becky has two bags, one with her tools, and the other with her clothes and personal items. If it's legal for her to carry her weapons, she's got them too. Otherwise, they are in the checked luggage. She'll also have the tech level equivalent of a cell phone and laptop, though neither are state of the art. She doesn't use them often.

[Voshkod]

"Great," mumbled Seong. "I have a bad feeling about this." His fingers flicked a few controls on the hoverchair and he began to follow the drunk.

[Were-Sandwich]

[[Mjolnir is law level 8, so no guns]]

Johann smells like he took a trip to a brewery and decided to go swimming.

The two marines at the door seem non-plussed by his inebriated state, but run him through the scanner, then nod him through. Orwn's appearance gives them a start, but they clear the rest of you fine. He leads you down several wide corridors, well-lit and fairly clean, before reaching the shuttle bay down to the planets surface. There is a shuttle waiting; the information board tells you it is due to leave in 5 minutes, and has space for 10 people left. [[Orwn's computer tells him your luggage is aboard]].

There is no scanner here, but two more marines flank the shuttle's entry door. They eye you warily as you approach.

"Our chario' 'waits."

[Lycar]

Upon approaching the shuttle, Orwn quickly checks the status of their luggage on his wrist terminal. Satisfied with the result he reports to Becky.

"Captain? Our luggage is already loaded, we can embark."

Naturally, he waits for her to go first, so he can follow directly behind her.

Lycar

[happyturtle]

Becky puts an arm around Mr King to keep him from falling over, and helps him into the shuttle.

[Were-Sandwich]

The shuttle appears to be a standard 95 dton shuttle, fitted with 120 couches in two decks, plus cargo space. The gangway is level with the second deck. Inside there are 60 seats, set in four columns of 15, two on each side of the aisle. Only a few are remaining. A stewardess in a red uniform ushers you to the four seats at the back, with Johann being scooted off somewhere near the front.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to launch. DFG Starlines wishes you a pleasant trip."

You feel a distinct jolt as the docking clamps are released, and hear the rapid hiss as the docking bay is exposed to the vacuum. A gentle acceleration tells you the shuttle is being rolled outwards along a rail. As you clear the bay, you can see the starport out of the portholes. The other passengers begin to chatter.

[Jolly Steve]

Tuesday talks amongst himself.

[Lycar]

Orwn is content to wait out the flight, eager to get to their prize ship.

Except that the seats are a bit umcomfortable.

Except that he could do with a light snack and some refreshments.

Oh well, maybe the on-board service makes up for it?


Lycar

[Jolly Steve]

So...what are we gonna call it?

[happyturtle]

"Jack Daniels," Becky says. It's not quite clear if she's offering a suggestion or asking the stewardess for a drink.

[Voshkod]

Seong is running over plans for the ship model, getting familiar with what it's supposed to look like. That way, when he finally sees it, he can see what's wrong.

"A name?" He looks up from his computer. "Yes, that's a critical question. We need to get just the right name. We're going to need all the help we can get, I suspect."

[Jolly Steve]

My little sister died a few years ago. And I...I made a promise, that one day I would own a ship, and I'd name it in her honour.

So I suggest The Sadde Fairy Who Wore Black and Nobody Understood Her But Really She Was A Super-Powerful Witch.

(sniff) She was very creative.

[happyturtle]

"Did you now?" Becky says, patting his hand. "Well that can be what we call your cabin then."

[Jolly Steve]

Oh, I've always called my bedroom that.

[Voshkod]

"Perhaps we should look at her first," Seong said, "so we know if she should be named the 'Festering Dungheap.' I really have a bad feeling about this. Let's say, for example, you wanted to get rid of a ship, a real crate. I mean, something so bad that a scrapper doesn't want her. Maybe's she's radioactive, or rusted out so badly she can't make orbit. It'll cost a pretty penny to get rid off. Or, you could raffle it off to a bunch of morons. We haven't signed the title papers yet, right?"