Funeral for a Friend: Gralyn RD 1835, 247-1125

[joertexas]

Ivan looks up from the message...

"Speak of the devil. I better go change into something a bit more professional. Meet you back here in 45 minutes and we'll share a cab?"

Whichever answer he gets, Ivan will pay the tab and head over to his hotel for a fast gussy-up and be back down in time to catch a cab to 47 Gorky and the meeting.

"Certainly," Jiao says with a smile. She is waiting for Ivan when he returns to catch the cab.

[Eris]

The woman nods. "I am Nadia Zhukov, Gospodin. The hearing is in three days, and we have been instructed to appear representing both Outworld Partners and the crew of the Wanderfall per the instructions of the majority owner." She glances down at a screen, continues. "The Maritine Commission has ordered a survey of the vessel to determine its value, those usually take a week or two. The Commission has tentatively scheduled the disposition hearing for a month from now, awaiting the results of the title search and the survey." She smiles at you. "The majority owner also has ordered an engineering survey of Wanderfall to determine repair costs, and we here at Legal have filed a preliminary insurance claim for repair costs. From what I understand of the majority owner's wishes, she wishes to sell off the Wanderfall. I wasn't given the reason."

"Oh bugger!" Jimi says under his breath, "Alright, Nadia. Thanks for the info and the help. I'll talk to the Captain and if I need to get back to you I will. Bye."

"Bugger all!" Jimi says louder once he has disconnected, "She's not only gonna fire me, she's gonna ground me, too!

He spies Ramona approaching,"Ramona, have you heard that your Auntie is gonna sell off the Wanderfall? She's gotta be in bad shape if she's gonna do a fool thing like that!"

Once the shuttle lands, Jimi will chat with the Stewards as they help the passengers disembark. He'll give the stewardess his contact info, "Just in case, you want to chat over dinner some time."

Once on the ground, he'll grab a taxi, offering to share with Ramona, and take it to where the Captain said to meet her.

[Keven]

Opening the hatch to his commuter tube in Corbingbrad's "Little Carrill" section of town, Aadam Zal, adjusts his HUD glasses and surveys the street scene, resting his forehead on the upper hatch frame..

"Zeke, correlate all data and job searches for pilots, class 2 and below, next four days..."

'working'

"Display when ready..."

Aadam turned as the computer's emitter burst a green list floating in the air a few feet from him...

"Outworld Partners LTD
47 Gorsky Prospekt"

"That's here.. let's hope we can get some kind of in to this company, and get the hell off this rock. Before i get even more used to talking to you..."

Aadam pulled on his black flight jacket over his orange flight suit and then coughed a little as the door to his commuter tube slid shut. He checked his gear as he wandered off to the park, to eyeball some of the in and outgoing spacers looking for work...

'Enough with the politics.. ' he thought to himself as he walked 'keep getting caught up in it.. cuts into exploring and remapping.. pickin' up all those credits just layin' out there waitin' to be scooped up... no more wars... no more bloody politics...'

"Zeke, search local comm traffic.. Place Ad:

Pilot, Level 2 Cert available,
+Can Navigate
+Program
+Air/Raft Certified
+29 years Experience

COMM TCK-3226-FD-5543"

You don't find any takers of the 31 ships in port. But the posting is good for 2 weeks. You catch a cab to 47 Gorsky Prospekt...

As you sit and finish your zapana, your phones chime with the arrival of a text message. When you open it, it reads "Meeting today 1345 at office 47 Gorky. Please attend. Ask for Gospodin Hardlin."

"Hm," Jiao picks up her comm and taps in a text response: *I will be there.* She looks up at Ivan. "I wonder what that's about?"

Ivan looks up from the message...

"Speak of the devil. I better go change into something a bit more professional. Meet you back here in 45 minutes and we'll share a cab?"

Whichever answer he gets, Ivan will pay the tab and head over to his hotel for a fast gussy-up and be back down in time to catch a cab to 47 Gorky and the meeting.

Jiao meets you downstairs and you hail the cab. You get there in plenty of time.

The woman nods. "I am Nadia Zhukov, Gospodin. The hearing is in three days, and we have been instructed to appear representing both Outworld Partners and the crew of the Wanderfall per the instructions of the majority owner." She glances down at a screen, continues. "The Maritine Commission has ordered a survey of the vessel to determine its value, those usually take a week or two. The Commission has tentatively scheduled the disposition hearing for a month from now, awaiting the results of the title search and the survey." She smiles at you. "The majority owner also has ordered an engineering survey of Wanderfall to determine repair costs, and we here at Legal have filed a preliminary insurance claim for repair costs. From what I understand of the majority owner's wishes, she wishes to sell off the Wanderfall. I wasn't given the reason."

"Oh bugger!" Jimi says under his breath, "Alright, Nadia. Thanks for the info and the help. I'll talk to the Captain and if I need to get back to you I will. Bye."

"Bugger all!" Jimi says louder once he has disconnected, "She's not only gonna fire me, she's gonna ground me, too!

He spies Ramona approaching,"Ramona, have you heard that your Auntie is gonna sell off the Wanderfall? She's gotta be in bad shape if she's gonna do a fool thing like that!"

Once the shuttle lands, Jimi will chat with the Stewards as they help the passengers disembark. He'll give the stewardess his contact info, "Just in case, you want to chat over dinner some time."

Once on the ground, he'll grab a taxi, offering to share with Ramona, and take it to where the Captain said to meet her.

I'm assuming Ramona is good for this.

You walk down the 'jetway' into the terminal. There is a young man with a sign reading 'Woo/Quinn'. You walk over to him. It's the same young man that Jimi talked to on the comm before boarding the shuttle. "Gospodin Woo. Gospa Quinn. I am pleased to meet you in the flesh. I am Sergeye. This way, we have a car waiting." He pulls a remote from his pouch and keys it, an automated baggage cart comes to your side for you to toss your duffels on. The cart tags along behind the young man. He leads you outside to a waiting aircar, opens the back door for you, places your luggage in the trunk, then climbs in with you. He thumbs the intercom and says something in the local language. The aircar lifts away toward town...

[Ramona]

"I do not understand this desire to collect objects relating to an event," Ramina takes the napkin and signs it before handing it to Jimi, "is it that somehow possessing an object associated to an event somehow brings that event into clearer focus in the mind of the collector?"

She shakes her head, "You know, to me Topkai was vaporized along with a billion people only a day and a half ago and yet I feel nothing and have no desire to recall those events."

[Ramona]

"Oh for the love of Pete Jimi, you don't fire family. Disown, disinherit, disavow, excommunicate and brick up behind a cellar wall yes but fire? Never."

Ramona smiles at Jimi, "Although you did blow up her jumpdrive and deliver some pretty shite news about her boyfriend. A firing might be letting you off easy old son."

She looks at him seriously for a moment, "Gogo is a pretty even keeled woman Jimi, she used to babysit me, she's not going to blame you for anything."

[Eris]

I'm assuming Ramona is good for this.

You walk down the 'jetway' into the terminal. There is a young man with a sign reading 'Woo/Quinn'. You walk over to him. It's the same young man that Jimi talked to on the comm before boarding the shuttle. "Gospodin Woo. Gospa Quinn. I am pleased to meet you in the flesh. I am Sergeye. This way, we have a car waiting."

"Well, hey Sergeye!" Jimi grins, "This'll save me the cost of a taxi."

He pulls a remote from his pouch and keys it, an automated baggage cart comes to your side for you to toss your duffels on. The cart tags along behind the young man. He leads you outside to a waiting aircar, opens the back door for you, places your luggage in the trunk, then climbs in with you. He thumbs the intercom and says something in the local language. The aircar lifts away toward town...

"We'll find out what this is all about soon enough. I guess." Jimi says sitting back in the taxi's seat and watching the town's scenery go by.

[Eris]

"Oh for the love of Pete Jimi, you don't fire family. Disown, disinherit, disavow, excommunicate and brick up behind a cellar wall yes but fire? Never."

Ramona smiles at Jimi, "Although you did blow up her jumpdrive and deliver some pretty shite news about her boyfriend. A firing might be letting you off easy old son."

She looks at him seriously for a moment, "Gogo is a pretty even keeled woman Jimi, she used to babysit me, she's not going to blame you for anything."

"Yeah, you're probably right, but it looked like losing Pete put a great big hole in Gogo's even keel. We'll see what she's up to soon enough, though."

[Ramona]

Ramona sits in the limo, leans back and closes her eyes. "I would be unsurprised to find out auntie Gogo is giving the whole thing up, selling off the assets and getting out of the game. The business just seems to be doing naught but cause her distress of late from the sound of it.

"It'll be Gralyn's loss if she does," she opens her eyes and looks at the limo's roof, "that kind of experience in the void isn't easy to come by and things just keep getting uglier and more insular by the day."

[Eris]

Ramona sits in the limo, leans back and closes her eyes. "I would be unsurprised to find out auntie Gogo is giving the whole thing up, selling off the assets and getting out of the game. The business just seems to be doing naught but cause her distress of late from the sound of it.

"It'll be Gralyn's loss if she does," she opens her eyes and looks at the limo's roof, "that kind of experience in the void isn't easy to come by and things just keep getting uglier and more insular by the day."

Jimi nods then smiles slowly, "You've been sleeping beauty for the last 18 months, so you don't know the half of it."

Frowning he continues, "You're right, though, it's gotten a lot rougher out there since you started your nap. Lots of worlds are closing up...getting insular is a good word for it...damn xenophobia might be a better one, though. The Imperium's troubles, the Sollie interference, Aslan getting restless, Markhelm and Lanyard threatening to close their borders to outsiders. It's depressing, but hey! Somebody's got to try to keep the lights on, right? We can't all just pull the dirt over our heads and wait to stop breathing."

[ottarrus]

As you sit and finish your zapana, your phones chime with the arrival of a text message. When you open it, it reads "Meeting today 1345 at office 47 Gorky. Please attend. Ask for Gospodin Hardlin."

"Hm," Jiao picks up her comm and taps in a text response: *I will be there.* She looks up at Ivan. "I wonder what that's about?"

Ivan looks up from the message...

"Speak of the devil. I better go change into something a bit more professional. Meet you back here in 45 minutes and we'll share a cab?"

Whichever answer he gets, Ivan will pay the tab and head over to his hotel for a fast gussy-up and be back down in time to catch a cab to 47 Gorky and the meeting.

Jiao meets you downstairs and you hail the cab. You get there in plenty of time.

OOC: I'm assuming that 47 Gorky is a large building and that Outworld only occupies part of it. Feel free to edit as needs be. I'll also use Jiao's correct rank... that seems to be important on this world.
BIC:
Paying the cab [I assume it's automated at TL 10], Jiao and Ivan walk in to 47 Gorky Prospekt. Ivan tends to be assertive in situations like this, probably because he's used to being condescended to as some sort of large pet. He strolls up to the receptionist kiosk and politely says,

"Good afternoon. Second Officers Erwin and van Stoddart to see Godspodin Hardin, please. We're expected."

[joertexas]

Paying the cab [I assume it's automated at TL 10], Jiao and Ivan walk in to 47 Gorky Prospekt. Ivan tends to be assertive in situations like this, probably because he's used to being condescended to as some sort of large pet. He strolls up to the receptionist kiosk and politely says,

"Good afternoon. Second Officers Erwin and van Stoddart to see Godspodin Hardin, please. We're expected."

Jiao walks with Ivan and lets him do the talking.

[Keven]

Ramona sits in the limo, leans back and closes her eyes. "I would be unsurprised to find out auntie Gogo is giving the whole thing up, selling off the assets and getting out of the game. The business just seems to be doing naught but cause her distress of late from the sound of it.

"It'll be Gralyn's loss if she does," she opens her eyes and looks at the limo's roof, "that kind of experience in the void isn't easy to come by and things just keep getting uglier and more insular by the day."

Jimi nods then smiles slowly, "You've been sleeping beauty for the last 18 months, so you don't know the half of it."

Frowning he continues, "You're right, though, it's gotten a lot rougher out there since you started your nap. Lots of worlds are closing up...getting insular is a good word for it...damn xenophobia might be a better one, though. The Imperium's troubles, the Sollie interference, Aslan getting restless, Markhelm and Lanyard threatening to close their borders to outsiders. It's depressing, but hey! Somebody's got to try to keep the lights on, right? We can't all just pull the dirt over our heads and wait to stop breathing."

Your aircar lands on the roof's landing stage, and Sergeye leads you to the elevator, presses '3'. When the door opens, you're facing the receptionist. She smiles and says, "Welcome, Gospodin, Gospa. Your meeting is in Conference Room 2. Please make yourselves comfortable." Sergeye leads you to it, bows, and retreats, closing the door behind him.

Paying the cab [I assume it's automated at TL 10], Jiao and Ivan walk in to 47 Gorky Prospekt. Ivan tends to be assertive in situations like this, probably because he's used to being condescended to as some sort of large pet. He strolls up to the receptionist kiosk and politely says,

"Good afternoon. Second Officers Erwin and van Stoddart to see Godspodin Hardin, please. We're expected."

Jiao walks with Ivan and lets him do the talking.

The receptionist smiles and says "Dobre utra, Gospodin, Gospa." A young man comes down the hall. "Sergeye, more for Gospodin Hardlin's meeting, if you please?"

The young man nods, and says "Follow me please." He leads you back down the hallway, opens a door for you. "Gospodin Hardlin will be here shortly. Please make yourselves comfortable."

Five minutes later, he escorts another human male into the room. That's Aadam

ALL: You see a very nice conference room, long table with 10 seats per side, and one at the head with a comfortable chair behind it. It's panelled in some kind of wood, and there is a sidebar with various unlabeled bottles, a samovar filled with what your nose tells you is zapana, and a large plate of pastries under a clear cover. There are over a dozen cups available. A holoprojector is at the opposite end of the table, and at each chair is a comm panel with keyboard and touchscreen. Present are two human females, two human males, and a male uplifted ape, all but one of the human females dressed in upscale spacer fashion. The lone female is wearing middle class civilian clothes of a Carrillian style. That's YOU guys!

PRESENT: Jimi, Ramona, Jiao, Ivan, Aadam.

A few minutes later, after you've introduced yourselves, the door opens, and four people come in. Jimi recognises the two women, Go-Go and Gospa Zhukova, the lawyer. The two males are a middle aged man in upper middleclass business attire and a middleaged man in some kind of uniform. The businessman speaks up as he grabs himself a cup of zapana. "Dobre utra. That, by the way, is how we say 'Good morning' here on Gralyn. But you're smart enough to have figured that out." He turns and smiles. "I am Coydt Hardlin, station head here at the home office. Please be seated." You all settle into a chair, and the comm panel in front of you comes active.

JIMI, RAMONA: She looks OLD, even though she's only 8 years older than Ramona and a year YOUNGER than Jimi. To Ramona, she still has that 'dragon granny' look that stereotyped a lot of the elderly women on Topkapi. She's wearing traditional Carrillian mourning clothes. She sits in the comfy chair behind the head of the table.

The Rest of You: The elderly woman dressed in white sits in the comfy chair behind the head of the table.

ALL: The delegation sits down on the other side of you, with Hardlin taking the chair at the head. He frowns, taps the comm panel, looks up and says "I wish to thank you all for coming here today on short notice. Events are picking up, and we here at Outworld Partners are in the thick of it." He smiles. "Introductions. Behind me is the majority owner of Outworld Partners, Gospa Hiromashu. Gospodin Woo and Gospa Quinn of course know her. I present to you Gospa Zharkova, from our Legal Department, a named partner of Lorwin, Shea, Mitsumi, and Zharkova, and Major Stotts, of Gralyn Planetary Security's Second Directorate." He smiles. "A bit of background. This is all Level 1 information, you can find it anywhere, so no need to promise secrecy. Yes, Outworld Partners is sponsoring refugees from the conflict zones for citizenship here in the Union. And not just the usual techs and engineers, we're sponsoring EVERYBODY who wishes to apply. The reason is, Gralyn is trying to boost their local tech closer to the old Imperial standard level 15. No secret there. But if we only took in the techs and engineers, we'd take 20 years to boost up a level. By bringing in people who already know how to use that tech, we can achieve Tech 14 within 5 years. And, even more importantly, we help save the culture of lost Carrill. These refugees will be the teachers and foremen of the new industrial revolution here. Questions so far?"

[ottarrus]

PRESENT: Jimi, Ramona, Jiao, Ivan, Aadam.

A few minutes later, after you've introduced yourselves, the door opens, and four people come in. Jimi recognises the two women, Go-Go and Gospa Zhukova, the lawyer. The two males are a middle aged man in upper middleclass business attire and a middleaged man in some kind of uniform. The businessman speaks up as he grabs himself a cup of zapana. "Dobre utra. That, by the way, is how we say 'Good morning' here on Gralyn. But you're smart enough to have figured that out." He turns and smiles. "I am Coydt Hardlin, station head here at the home office. Please be seated." You all settle into a chair, and the comm panel in front of you comes active.

JIMI, RAMONA: She looks OLD, even though she's only 8 years older than Ramona and a year YOUNGER than Jimi. To Ramona, she still has that 'dragon granny' look that stereotyped a lot of the elderly women on Topkapi. She's wearing traditional Carrillian mourning clothes. She sits in the comfy chair behind the head of the table.

The Rest of You: The elderly woman dressed in white sits in the comfy chair behind the head of the table.

ALL: The delegation sits down on the other side of you, with Hardlin taking the chair at the head. He frowns, taps the comm panel, looks up and says "I wish to thank you all for coming here today on short notice. Events are picking up, and we here at Outworld Partners are in the thick of it." He smiles. "Introductions. Behind me is the majority owner of Outworld Partners, Gospa Hiromashu. Gospodin Woo and Gospa Quinn of course know her. I present to you Gospa Zharkova, from our Legal Department, a named partner of Lorwin, Shea, Mitsumi, and Zharkova, and Major Stotts, of Gralyn Planetary Security's Second Directorate." He smiles. "A bit of background. This is all Level 1 information, you can find it anywhere, so no need to promise secrecy. Yes, Outworld Partners is sponsoring refugees from the conflict zones for citizenship here in the Union. And not just the usual techs and engineers, we're sponsoring EVERYBODY who wishes to apply. The reason is, Gralyn is trying to boost their local tech closer to the old Imperial standard level 15. No secret there. But if we only took in the techs and engineers, we'd take 20 years to boost up a level. By bringing in people who already know how to use that tech, we can achieve Tech 14 within 5 years. And, even more importantly, we help save the culture of lost Carrill. These refugees will be the teachers and foremen of the new industrial revolution here. Questions so far?"

Ivan leans forward, interested.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Godspodiiye. Questions? Yes, I have a few, but let me make a comment. I understand that there are solid financial and technical reasons for assisting the Carrillans. It makes good sense, on a worldwide basis, even if it will not profit your business immediately. That being said, it is also a decent humanitarian thing to do. Whether the people at Deep Information Services [the local equiv. of the TNS] admit it or not, the Imperial War has begun a cascade of effects all through Charted Space. Trade conditions will continue to deteriorate for at least another 10 years as those few planet that can fill the gaps left by the destruction of Imperial and Confederation sources try and ramp up some kind of production. The megacorps that supplied much of the heavy industry in this sector have moved up to Vland or are currently blowing themselves up and if civilization and trade is going to survive someone is going to have to take up the slack.
"Gralyn is in a unique place, what with a shirtsleeve biosphere, a proper tech base, and enough of both to allow refugees in by their thousands. That she chooses to do so when every instinct and almost every analyst warns you to hunker down and retrench... to save yourselves... speaks well of you. Especially considering the Carrillan Assembly's actions these last 20 years or so.
"As to my questions, yes I do have a couple.
"Firstly, is this initiative an Outworld Partner project only or does it have Gralyn government backing?
[ooc: Just gonna list my questions here, but Ivan will politely listen to the replies as he goes]
"Secondly, my passport still lists me as a Confederation citizen. Does your offer citizenship extend to Sollies, or, for that matter, Uplifts?
"Godspa van Stoddard is a starship engineer. I'm a qualfied bridge officer and we both have current papers. I don't know the specialties of everyone here, but it appears to me that you are putting a crew together. Is that so?
Nodding respectfully at Hiromashu...
"The presence of the Corporation Chairwoman, a military intelligence officer, and a high-end attorney to interview a free trader crew they could have just easily picked up at a hiring hall with a simple announcement tells me something big is in the offing here."

[Aadam Zal]

Aadam plays it cool while watching the interactions, but has some questions for the assembled officials...

"Greetings all, Aadam Zal.. Scout.. Pilot.. Engineer.. Computer Officer...

"What incentives if any are there in place for these refugees to relocate here? Is it just overall better conditions, or any perks? breaks?"

"Am I to infer that this job is the business of moving people in a refugee capacity? How? By liner? Cargo cruiser converted to bulk staterooms?"

[Keven]

Ivan leans forward, interested.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Godspodiiye. Questions? Yes, I have a few, but let me make a comment. I understand that there are solid financial and technical reasons for assisting the Carrillans. It makes good sense, on a worldwide basis, even if it will not profit your business immediately. That being said, it is also a decent humanitarian thing to do. Whether the people at Deep Information Services [the local equiv. of the TNS] admit it or not, the Imperial War has begun a cascade of effects all through Charted Space. Trade conditions will continue to deteriorate for at least another 10 years as those few planet that can fill the gaps left by the destruction of Imperial and Confederation sources try and ramp up some kind of production. The megacorps that supplied much of the heavy industry in this sector have moved up to Vland or are currently blowing themselves up and if civilization and trade is going to survive someone is going to have to take up the slack.
"Gralyn is in a unique place, what with a shirtsleeve biosphere, a proper tech base, and enough of both to allow refugees in by their thousands. That she chooses to do so when every instinct and almost every analyst warns you to hunker down and retrench... to save yourselves... speaks well of you. Especially considering the Carrillan Assembly's actions these last 20 years or so.
"As to my questions, yes I do have a couple.

Hardlin chuckles. "Yeah, Dalrheem (ooc ex-head of state of the Carrillian Assembly) was a waste of oxygen. He pushed things too far, and the Assembly paid for it. There were a LOT of dissidents ending up in Carrillines, and a good many of them ended up with us. We're not perfect, far from it, But we want to make things better not worse."

"Firstly, is this initiative an Outworld Partner project only or does it have Gralyn government backing?
[ooc: Just gonna list my questions here, but Ivan will politely listen to the replies as he goes]

Stotts speaks up. "The original idea was OP's. But they came to us through 'back channels' with the proposal once they had their ducks in a row, about three years ago, when the Imperials and Sollies started seriously slugging it out. Our history here is a refugee culture. Gralyn was originally a Sollie colony back before the Long Night, and we got cut off. We lost our tech almost to the point of going back to steam engines, back before we colonised Gralyn from Askoapay (ooc the Droyne planet in the Gralyn system). We rebuilt it enough to be intrasolar by the time we were recontacted, and grew it up from there. And if you care to study our history when you get the chance, you'll see how we survived the Reaver Era reasonably intact." He smiles. "Yes, I'm proud of my star-nation. We've come a long way, and we'll go a long way with this initiative."

"Secondly, my passport still lists me as a Confederation citizen. Does your offer citizenship extend to Sollies, or, for that matter, Uplifts?

Stotts continues. "Yes, and yes. We have Droyne and Aslan citizens in the Union as well as humans. We're all sophonts, we all have a stake in the future."

Zharkova speaks up. "The legal precedents are clear. We can offer you a path to citizenship if you desire it. Or, if you're not willing to go that far, resident alien status. It's up to you. The Union will 'roll out the welcome mat'. For all of you."

"Godspa van Stoddard is a starship engineer. I'm a qualfied bridge officer and we both have current papers. I don't know the specialties of everyone here, but it appears to me that you are putting a crew together. Is that so?
Nodding respectfully at Hiromashu...

Hardlin says "More of a team of troubleshooters as it were. We need some things looked into, and we'll get to that in a bit."

"The presence of the Corporation Chairwoman, a military intelligence officer, and a high-end attorney to interview a free trader crew they could have just easily picked up at a hiring hall with a simple announcement tells me something big is in the offing here."

Heheheheheh

Aadam plays it cool while watching the interactions, but has some questions for the assembled officials...
"What incentives if any are there in place for these refugees to relocate here? Is it just overall better conditions, or any perks? breaks?"

"Am I to infer that this job is the business of moving people in a refugee capacity? How? By liner? Cargo cruiser converted to bulk staterooms?"

Hardlin answers, "A safe harbor, as it were. Citizenship, useful work, a stake in the future. The Union will be expanding. We don't have hard numbers on how many refugees we'll be taking in, but the door is wide open. The Assembly had over 6 BILLION people. The bulk of them were at Carrill. Nobody knows how many are left there, if any. And in the last year, no ship that went there has come back. From what we can gather so far, Lotus was the last ship out other than the Sollies. As to refugee transports, that's just part of the Plan. We're also interested in shipping supplies, tech, machinery, ratcheta ratcheta ratcheta back into Carrillian space, as well as Union space. Khtearle, Botany Bay. We want to buff them up, of course. And taking a look at various systems nearby."

Stotts chimes in. "SOME of them, a good hard look."

Hardlin chuckles. "There is that. The Union has enemies. So does OP. We'll have to deal with them at the proper time. For instance, Gospodin Irwin and Gospa van Stoddard were recently at a system that has come to our attention, and we'd love to hear anything they can tell us about it." He sips his zapana. "Any more questions before we go to Level 2?"

[joertexas]

Hardlin chuckles. "There is that. The Union has enemies. So does OP. We'll have to deal with them at the proper time. For instance, Gospodin Irwin and Gospa van Stoddard were recently at a system that has come to our attention, and we'd love to hear anything they can tell us about it." He sips his zapana. "Any more questions before we go to Level 2?"

Jiao looks at Hardlin. "Which system would that be?"

[Keven]

Hardlin chuckles. "There is that. The Union has enemies. So does OP. We'll have to deal with them at the proper time. For instance, Gospodin Irwin and Gospa van Stoddard were recently at a system that has come to our attention, and we'd love to hear anything they can tell us about it." He sips his zapana. "Any more questions before we go to Level 2?"

Jiao looks at Hardlin. "Which system would that be?"

Hardlin answers, "Kremmling. That ship you came in on? Its captain tried selling us some of our own merchandise. Stupid of him, but what can you expect?"

[joertexas]

Hardlin answers, "Kremmling. That ship you came in on? Its captain tried selling us some of our own merchandise. Stupid of him, but what can you expect?"

"From that pig?" Jiao shakes her head. "I'm surprised he remembers to breathe every two seconds."

[Eris]

Jimi has been quiet, listening to what has been said, but watching GoGo, now with a slight break in the questions and answers, he leans forward and addresses his Captain.

"Captain, how do I, how do Ramona and I, fit into this?" Jimi asks quietly adding, "Until you tell me different, I still have a job as you're First Mate aboard Wanderfall, or are you firing me?"

Jimi continues "And, is this pitch some sort of pivot from what we've been doing these last few years or just a continuation with more official backing? You know, it does sound an awful lot like what we've been unofficially doing all along."

[Ramona]

"Oh Jimi Jimi Jimi Jimi," Ramona says with a smile as she reaches over to pat his shoulder, "it's so much worse than that, Gogo's not firing you, she's promoting you."

The pale skinned, platinum blonde woman leans back in her chair and looks at the head of the table, "Sweet-pea, if you're talking about moving the number of people I think you're talking about moving you're going to need something substantially larger than anything than anything I recall in my aunt's company. I mean a dozen people here and there won't help you out to the extent you want to be helped out."