Y2156.12.08 Brulantfort Domes [Mick]

[Thumper]

At the entrance to the Brulanfort Domes Mick’s “Outdoorsman” appearance attracted significant attention. For a moment it appeared that you might be selected for more “detailed” questioning, but at the last moment, the Officer just handed back your papers and waved Mick through. While Mick’s trick might have handled the man asking questions, Mick observed AI equipped security drones were also scanning the trickle of people entering and leaving and Mick did not want to learn how an AI Drone would react to observing his gift in action.

Seeing a bit of a fuss over his outback clothing, DT just makes a comment:
”Your talkin’ to one o’ the guys who put the VET Arctic Relay station back in operation. Remember that? You probably heard me voice all over the Telly trying to warn off the jackasses shooting at each other instead of defending against the big bad wolves.

Seen anything unusual, nah…not since then! What exactly are ya looking for? Maybe I can keep an eye out for you?”

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:morning Brulantfort Domes [Mick]

Mick: “What exactly are ya looking for? Maybe I can keep an eye out for you?”

Security Guard: (softly) “A Radical Survivalist Cult. There have been reports of activity in the jungles near the city and the Government wants to locate them before they start another war.” He glanced around “I heard that last time it took actual Orbital Strikes and Marine Commandos to stop them. So they have us looking hard at anyone that looks ‘wilderness’.”

*****

Mick chose to focus on selling the Petrochemical (liquid plastics) first since they were both the higher priced and he had more of them to sell (6 tonnes). A quick perusal revealed a currently hot market at Cr 13,000 per tonne [vs Cr 10,000 FMV]. With a little well spent money and research into the buyers, Mick was able to quietly identify two potential buyers that were both ABLE to pay more, short on supply and best of all, direct competitors of one another. Playing them off against one another, both to gain the plastic and deny it to their rival, Mick got the price up to Cr 20,000 per tonne!

The rest of the morning was spent delivering 6 tonnes of Petrochemicals, collecting Cr 120,000 in electronic payments, deducting Cr 6000 in expenses (of which Cr 3000 was Mick’s personal “broker fee”) and the rest covered transportation, paperwork and expenses gathering the information.

Mick Petrochemical Sale roll [10] +3 = 13 (200%)

[Thumper]

Mick will message In the open net on the business phones the details of the sale so the group can keep track of current account status. Once that deal is closed, he’ll go trying broker the textiles.

[Thumper]

Between brokering errands, Mick will check in with Sofia via text (he doesn’t want a traceable voice print over the phone). See how she’s doing generally. Give her a rundown of his business creation and brokering activities. Totally concealing anything about the ship or the computer or Ellie.

He’ll text inquire of the black Clan as to whether they will be ready for any deals soon. He will inform both Sofia and Black Clan that the company owns its own Grav trucks now.

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:afternoon Brulantfort Domes [Mick]

Mick found Brulantfort a “fair” market for Textiles. Nothing spectacular, but with a little hustling he could match the product to the perfect buyer. It didn’t hurt that the goods were purchased at a low price. So with a little finesse, Mick negotiated the Cr 3000 per tonne FMV up from a Cr 3150 local market price to a Cr 3600 per tonne sale. That was Cr 14,400 paid for the Textiles, less Cr 360 in expenses and a Cr 360 broker fee to Mick for closing the sale … leaving Cr 13,680 into the company account.

Relaxing during the down time, Mick reached out to Sophie.
She missed you and wondered if you had forgotten her. Comms were hard when there was so much that could not be said.

Catherine, of the Blue Clan is ready to receive another shipment 1 tonne @ Cr 7000 FMV(1) for the contracted Cr 9100 and they had 1 tonne @ Cr 28,700 FMV (2) for the contracted Cr 20,000. They had also been talking with Joe and were interested in trying to sell ammo (12 ga HE) at that secret meeting if you were interested [Cr 28,000 FMV] … 50/50 split of sale price.

Mick Textile Sale roll [8] +3 = 11 (120%)

(1) BUY: 100 kg Machine Tools(Cr 75k); 100 kg Electronics (Cr 10k); 100 kg Spices (Cr 600); 100 kg Dyes (Cr 500); 100 kg Seeds(Cr 500); 100 kg Fruit (Cr 100)

(2) SELL: 200 kg Pharmaceuticals (Cr20k); 200 kg Crystals (Cr4k); 200 kg Animal Skins (Cr4k); 200 kg organic oils (Cr 400); 200 kg meat (Cr 300)

12 ga HE Ammo (5d6+2) = 300 boxes (30,000 rounds) = Cr 28,000 FMV = 1,400 kg

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:afternoon Hydrogen Generation [Mick, DJ Hol & Tut]

Throughout the day, in and among other activities, the issue of creating Liquid Hydrogen for your fleet of droids was explored.

Mick had purchased a small Hydrogen Generator for his Pickup and hoped to simply acquire a larger one to meet the Company Needs. Almost immediately, he was assaulted by a wall of paperwork and an army of suspicion. Mick quickly discovered two great truths. First, Hydrogen Gas occupied 1000 times the volume of Liquid hydrogen, thus a small lab might need even 1000 liters of hydrogen gas, bit that was only 1/1000 of a tonne of Liquid Hydrogen. Thus the creation of 1000 liters (1 dTon) of LH2 was equivalent to a million liters of Hydrogen Gas … and the government CARED about people with that sort of capability. So Mick was fine with a system that generated a liter per hour of LH2, but larger systems required special industrial licenses. The second fact was only Montsoliel had Industrial scale systems.

DJ calmly accepted this information and decided to casually inquire about INDUSTRIAL Hydrogen production systems at Montsoliel. It was a “good news and bad news” situation. Good news was they had them. Bad news was that Montsoliel Spaceport had a monopoly on producing LH2 in commercial quantities on Beau. Thus the systems could only be installed on Spacecraft for use OFF-WORLD.

The rest of the Company followed the exchanges over the secured COMMs. The Ship’s AI suggested to Hol and Tut that this might be an opportunity to test the DRONE-0 scavenging plan in the Boneyard. Perhaps they could FIND what they could not purchase.

Thus it came to pass that Hol, Tut and 24 Drones under the control of the ship’s AI began to scour the Boneyard for parts. Although there were no Fuel Purifiers just laying around, the AI produced a shopping list of parts that might be repurposed to create one. This commenced the Great Scavenger Hunt. The DRONES began carting parts back to the transport and loading them aboard. A part from this system and a sub-assembly from that system and a controller from another completely unrelated system.

Once back at the ship, most of the drones shut down as Tut worked alongside an army of Engineering and Mechanical workers as good as he was to modify the parts and assemble them according to the Master Plan. In the end, a small plant powered a well that extracted groundwater, filtered it, converted it into Unrefined LH2 Fuel and pumped it along a hose into the ship’s fuel tank for storage. It was crude, 6.5 tonnes and only produced 13 tonnes of fuel per hour [compared to 22 tonnes of Refined LH2 per hour for a small Starship Purifier from Montsiliel] … but it was all yours and nobody knew about it. Free Fuel for vehicles, robots and small craft … just don’t try to Jump.

[Thumper]

Upon hearing a little of Tut, Hol, and the AI’s (maybe we should name it) beginning to work on the situation, Mick ceases searching to purchase a H2 gen. He makes an excuse to the people he’d previously inquired about and said: ”Well, Omni Enterprises will just stick with buying used after-market generators for our growing vehicle fleet operation. This commercial scaling of H2 is a pain in butt! We don’t want that. Maybe distributing the LH2 generation will be easier than a large consolidated plant anyway. I know where some old used nano-generators can be found. Thanks anyway.”

———
Mick will assure Sofia that he misses her as well, and he has been thinking about her...very often. The tyranny of distance and circumstances haven't changed that. He plans to visit her soon.

After consulting with the Blue Clan, he will text Sofia: "Hopefully very soon.

He will immediately consult the company about doing a trade deal with the Blue Clan. Assuming they give the go ahead, he will immediately begin brokering the acquisition of the items to sell at St Oyland, and to sell the products acquired at St Oyland to sell at Brulantfort or elsewhere. He might inquire if the fruit might be acquired off market by DJ and Tut. From this point on, he will use a slight Human Charm effect on people he knows can afford a favorable trade with him to try to get a better deal. He will use just a very slight bit of charm to make the other person feel good about negotiating with Mick.

Will the company Medium Lift Grav vehicle handle the extreme cold temperatures? If so, he'll coordinate with the group and with someone with more grav fly skill than himself to accompany him and drive that vehicle once the goods are acquired. The total return payload will be approximately 2500 kg. The bigger vehicle is needed.

Mick remembers that they have the ability to trade with X2 as well and will inquire with them as to their "out of cycle" import and export needs.

Assuming they wish to trade, he will arrange for whatever of their order will fit in the payload of the Grav transport and contact Marcel about using the Snow Cat ATV to finish the trade there. He'll also discuss the possibility of trading St Oyland trade goods with X2 trade goods via Marcel and ATV transport that doesn't rely on the owners of Omni to take trade goods to the Arctic.
——————
When able, Mick will have a private conversation with Joe and DJ (assuming DJ recongnized that Mick's and Joe's ambition to develop psi talents):
"Sophia is the one who unlocked Joe's and my psi. She is a telekinetic psionic of incredible talent. She can help Joe formally learn the art of telekinesis. I lack that talent however.

I also care for her very much, and would have tried convincing her to join us here at the ship. It’s true that I want to be near her, but perhaps also her telekinetics could help make the repairs go quicker.
However, she is wanted by the blockheads. She was afraid to leave St Oyland. But Juliette is wanted...perhaps much more than Sophia. I just don't yet know the circumstances of Sophia’s fugative status. But my read of her so far is she can't be a hardened criminal. Perhaps she's wanted for what she is...maybe they know of her talent...maybe it's something else. Either way, she believes herself safe in St Oyland.

If I discover what her crime was, and it's just an issue with the blockheads or corpies and I think it safe for us, what are your thoughts about bringing her here...if she's willing. Alternatively, we offer her a way off the planet when when we leave here. Way I figure it, we are harboring Juliette, we are connected to Ellie, we have an alien, we are scavenging a boneyard and who knows what regulations that may be a violation, and we have an unsanctioned ship. The blockheads and the corpies won't be happy with us. If Sophia wishes to come here, are you ok with that? Do we need to share this with the rest? I think we probably should...as much as that pains me. Mick, Joe, and Sophia might spook them. But I don't want them in the dark on anything that else that might put us crosswise with the blockheads or corpies.

What d'ya think?"

[shaidar]

DJ

"I don't have a problem if Sophia wants to join us, we seem to be deep in it anyway. However, everyone in the company needs to agree, and it's only fair they have all the information before they decide."

[atpollard]

Just an FYI for MICK:

Data on his personal Hydrogen Generator ...
Personal LH2 (Unrefined Fuel) Generator (TL 11; 350 kg; Cr 680) Generates 2 kg of LH2 per hour.

[Thumper]

So, converting kg to L = aproximately 6-7 minutes to generate a refuel for Micks truck?

IMG_1519.png (450.52 KiB) Viewed 213 times

[Eris]

When able, Mick will have a private conversation with Joe and DJ (assuming DJ recongnized that Mick's and Joe's ambition to develop psi talents):
"Sophia is the one who unlocked Joe's and my psi. She is a telekinetic psionic of incredible talent. She can help Joe formally learn the art of telekinesis. I lack that talent however.

I also care for her very much, and would have tried convincing her to join us here at the ship. It’s true that I want to be near her, but perhaps also her telekinetics could help make the repairs go quicker.
However, she is wanted by the blockheads. She was afraid to leave St Oyland. But Juliette is wanted...perhaps much more than Sophia. I just don't yet know the circumstances of Sophia’s fugative status. But my read of her so far is she can't be a hardened criminal. Perhaps she's wanted for what she is...maybe they know of her talent...maybe it's something else. Either way, she believes herself safe in St Oyland.

If I discover what her crime was, and it's just an issue with the blockheads or corpies and I think it safe for us, what are your thoughts about bringing her here...if she's willing. Alternatively, we offer her a way off the planet when when we leave here. Way I figure it, we are harboring Juliette, we are connected to Ellie, we have an alien, we are scavenging a boneyard and who knows what regulations that may be a violation, and we have an unsanctioned ship. The blockheads and the corpies won't be happy with us. If Sophia wishes to come here, are you ok with that? Do we need to share this with the rest? I think we probably should...as much as that pains me. Mick, Joe, and Sophia might spook them. But I don't want them in the dark on anything that else that might put us crosswise with the blockheads or corpies.

What d'ya think?"

Joe shrugs and says, "Of course!"

"I'd welcome Sophia to our group, but I think you'll have a hard time convincing her to leave St.Oyland." Joe adds, "She is comfortable there. She likes it there and they like her being there.

[atpollard]

So, converting kg to L = aproximately 6-7 minutes to generate a refuel for Micks truck?

That's H2 GAS (at normal pressure and temperature). For LH2 (LIQUID), it is easiest to start with the basic Traveller definitions ... 1 dTon = 14 cu.m = 14,000 L = 1 tonne (1000 kg) of Liquid H2.
Therefore 1 kg of LH2 = 14 Liters of LH2.

The GENERATOR creates 2 kg/hr = 2 x 14 = 28 Liters (LH2) per hour.
The GRAV MINI-PICKUP has a 2833 Liter (LH2) tank = 2833 / 14 = 202 kg of Fuel (LH2).

So it takes 202/2 or 2833/28 = 101 hours (4.2 days) to refuel the Mini Pickup. [roughly drive 8 hours, rest next 24 hours to top off]. Normal use every other day.
If you use the 202 kg of LH2 in the tank to fill a balloon, it will generate over 2.2 million liters of Hydrogen gas.


Mick’s GRAV MINI-PICKUP [500 kg cargo capacity]
(TL 11) Cr 40,000 (Used for Cr 20,000); 1900 kg GVWR. A two-seat personal Grav transport with a seat, Electronic Controls and onboard Autopilot for a 100 kg Pilot, seat for a 100 kg Passenger and a small “pickup bed” with a 500 kg cargo capacity. The vehicle is designed for operation below 3000 meters altitude, has a Top Speed of 600 kph, a Flying Cruise speed of 450 kph (10,800 km range), and a Nap Of Earth (NOE) speed of 150 kph (3600 km range). The Fuel Cell consumes 2833 Liters of Liquid Hydrogen Fuel (Cr 99 to refuel) in 24 hours.

[Thumper]

Aha! Thanks.

[Thumper]

After consulting with the Blue Clan, he will text Sofia: "Hopefully very soon.

He will immediately begin brokering the acquisition of the items to sell at St Oyland, and to sell the products acquired at St Oyland to sell at Brulantfort or elsewhere. He might inquire if the fruit might be acquired off market by DJ and Tut. From this point on, he will use a slight Human Charm effect on people he knows can afford a favorable trade with him to try to get a better deal. He will use just a very slight bit of charm to make the other person feel good about negotiating with Mick.

Will the company Medium Lift Grav vehicle handle the extreme cold temperatures? If so, he'll coordinate with the group and with someone with more grav fly skill than himself to accompany him and drive that vehicle once the goods are acquired. The total return payload will be approximately 2500 kg. The bigger vehicle is needed.

Mick remembers that they have the ability to trade with X-2 and between St Oyland and X-2 as well, and he will inquire with X-2 as to their "out of cycle" import and export needs.

Assuming they wish to trade, he will arrange for whatever of their order will fit in the payload of the Grav transport and contact Marcel about using the Snow Cat ATV to finish the trade there. He'll also discuss the possibility of trading St Oyland trade goods with X2 trade goods via Marcel and ATV transport that doesn't rely on the owners of Omni to take trade goods to the Arctic.

During breaks in his activities brokering purchase of goods to trade TO Blue Clan and brokering the sale of goods FROM Blue Clan, he'll also check in with the leadership of X-2 to see if they have any import/export needs of a relatively small trade potential. He will consult with the rest of the Omni Enterprise ownership to use the MEDIUM GRAV VEHICLE (and possibly the CREW-CAB TRUCK if extra payload is needed). His intent is to the additional 1500kg capacity to supply X-2 with what they might need. They do, after all, have Marcelus and a extreme-cold-weather tracked ATV that Omni owns at St Oyland to conduct trade between St Oyland and X-2 and vice versa.

If additional capacity or weather forecasts indicate a need to take two vehicles for additional trade capacity or for safety enroute, they should consider taking the two Omni-owned grav vehicles.

[atpollard]

With the sun setting, Mick headed back towards the Camp.

[Continued in DAY 9]