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[Funk]

C

You have reached the trading station in near record time, the powerful engines pushing forwards.

It's an older model of station, out of the way and run down, its not in the best of repair.

Once docked you quickly sell your cargo of scraps and hire a repair gang to go over your ship.
Then you post the wanted add on the station bulletin board.
"Wanted Pilot-Navigator of light craft for undisclosed work, competitive rates of share. Craft The Demon of Madness .
All Applicant interviews at bar 3 ask for Captain Whiplash ."

Its odd thinking of your self as a Captain but you have a space ship now.
While the repair crews work you get some much needed shut eye.

The morning brings you two applications for the role of Pilot-Navigator and the need to hit the shops.
You have little in the way of credits left, enough to buy some food, a new 10 gallon hat, three pairs of pants, a pair of chaps an four shirts.

Then it time to get on to hiring a Pilot-Navigator
A) Besse 'Eagle' Reeves, it take you a while to worm her full name from her  and longer to get a list of her qualifications.
B) Idunixai 'Nightmare' Gordon, a towering man with  violet eyes and a love cheap cigarillos, he boasts his qualifications at you.

The both quite guarded about there past but are willing to take a stranded share.

Considering them you head back towards The Demon of Madness thru a the lower cargo bay when a figure a walks out an blocks your way.
"The Ogzik hear that your hiring a Master at arms, Ogzik would like to enter consideration for the role." it's a stiff machine voice, raspy with an electric edge.

You get a good look at them, it's a her, clearly a woman despite the spacesuits mask.

" Ogzik? is it partner? i haven't told you where this here wagon's going." you tell "her".
"We don't care, Ogzik need ship, you have ship an need a Master at arms.
Ogzik's come we good Master at arms. you think about it call us."
With that there gone an your shorty back on your newly refurbished ship considering work.
--------

1) A less then legitame cargo of "smelling salts and cooking herbs" needs a curair
2) The pirate fleets of the informas rogue AI Xpovr are hireing new members for it fleets.
3) A delagatoin of bissnes men need a fast transport to another world

Hire Ogzik?

Spoiler: Todd Whiplash, Space Attorney (click to show/hide)

Name:Todd Whiplash, Space Attorney
Sex:It, 'him'
Appearance:SPACE COWBOY. SPACE COWBOY LAWYER.
Background: 3, bio-adapter
Equipment: Laser pistol

Fleet

Spoiler: The Demon of Madness (click to show/hide)

Class: striped down star yacht
Crew: 1 of 6
Todd Whiplash

Weapons: 1 Fixed light anti asteroid blaster
Special features: Auk'hev Star crush engine

[Maximum Spin]

B,3,yes to the weird hivemind

[King Zultan]

B,3,yes to the weird hivemind

+1

[Funk]

B,3,yes to the weird hivemind

+1

You decide that yes, another crew could be usefull an if this Ogzik wants to be master of arms all the better.

It's not hard to find "Her" you soon sent down in to the lower levels of station, in the hot sweaty deepths of the station you find her curled up in a make shift lean too.

" Ogzik? It's Whiplash the Space ship captain you still whant on this wagon train partner, cos i could use a gun man? woman? some one like you." you shake the "sleeping"  spacesuit awake.
"The Ogzik are many, but She will do, you deal with the chief bee, head ant... The Queen.
Queen is she, Ogzik is a she then." The raspy voice is slow trying to fit ideas in to simple words.

"Well miss Ogzik get your pack stowed we ride at dawn. uh 20:00."  you shake her hand an pass her an air lock key.

The business men are not a high paying set of passengers but the lenient rules and a fast transit are attractive to them.
Maybe it the way they start the journey by each opening a bottle of Late bottled vintage port on take off, that tells you that there taking full advantage of your lenient shipboard rules.

You take an early night as the cry's of Down it! , Drink! and To the left! echo thru the hull.

The morning is worse, your ship is starting to smell, Nightmare's smoking is fighting hard to battle vomit.

"Morning captain', watch that bottle!" it's too late as you kick the bottle in the to the weapons station with a crash.

"There all over the place, bunch of drunks that lot." he comments.
"Just remember they paid up front." you remind him an your self.

"Well just watch out for the vomit, that lot was on the old port to port challenge, one bottle each, an that was for starters."

-----------------
 
You soon settle in to a routine, the business men are spending there time with card games, and getting hammered on there duty free, you see a few of them with breakfast beers crawl from there cabins.
 
You fill your time inspecting the ship, Nightmare's orders are to treat this a shake down cruise, your decided the ship needs new carpets anyway.
He follows them well, with rolls, twists an banking turns, stops an starts the knock you form your feet.
The heat in the wings is stiffening an he tell you that it could be much worse, heat radiators are the ships limit.

"If we had a few more wings, another 4, then it could hit stranded by 22, right now where only able to hit stranded by 16 before the air temp hits critical."
"So how fast can the ship go? Really flat out hell for leather with the devil on our heels."
" --sucks breath--- we could maybe hit stranded by 30 if we dumped the super critical coolant an air, it'd be fifty fifty if we warp the radiators or cook off the engines.
Doing that would be turning us in to a rocket, point shoot and hope that we get a tractor beam before we smash into some thing."

"Not on the cards right now.
Ogzik any report about the weapons." you ask her.

"We don't have weapons, we have a "snow plow" it cleans us the flight path." she shakes her head.
"Ok partner, but could we fit some real fire power? Get us some Rootin' Tootin shooting irons" you ask.
"More weapons? Yes, if where willing to lose a few points of speed or use Auto cannons, there's lots of space for weapons an plumbed lines for 6 mounts." she nodded a lot at the idea.

Soon your flight comes to an end, you look over the vomit and Urea stained remains of the ships carpet.
You make a vow not to carry any more passengers, at least no more that can't pay you well.

As you pull in the space station you dived the shares and have to decide what to do with the ships share of the credits.
(Your currently paying every one on a shares system, so the ships share is purely for improvements an gear.)

[As i have no wish to count coin you have 2 purchases, the rest is spent on whisky, lose women an song.]
 
Fit new weapons?
Armour?
Shields?
Hire a boarding party?
Buy new gear?

-----------

Take on a job as a:
Express courier 
Mail boat?
Merchant escort?
Miner relay shuttle?
Blockade Runner?

Turn to pirate?

Spoiler: Todd Whiplash, Space Attorney (click to show/hide)

Name:Todd Whiplash, Space Attorney
Sex:It, 'him'
Appearance:SPACE COWBOY. SPACE COWBOY LAWYER.
Background: 3, bio-adapter
Equipment: Laser pistol

Spoiler: 'Nightmare' (click to show/hide)

Name:Idunixai 'Nightmare' Gordon
Sex: man
Appearance:a tall towering man with violet eyes an pointed long mustache.
Equipment: none

Spoiler: Ogzik (click to show/hide)

Name:Ogzik
Sex: Woman?
Appearance: a space suit, vaguely woman shaped of middling height
Equipment: none

Fleet

Spoiler: The Demon of Madness (click to show/hide)

Class: striped down star yacht
Crew: 1 of 6
Todd Whiplash

Weapons: 1 Fixed light anti asteroid blaster
Special features: Auk'hev Star crush engine

[King Zultan]

Weapons and shields

Lets try being a express courier and see if that turns out better than the last job.

[Maximum Spin]

who puts carpet in a spaceship anyway

Weapons and shields

Lets try being a express courier and see if that turns out better than the last job.

This was almost exactly what I was going to pick so +1

[Funk]

who puts carpet in a spaceship anyway

Weapons and shields

Lets try being a express courier and see if that turns out better than the last job.

This was almost exactly what I was going to pick so +1

Before you head in to land, you start to remove the now stained and now smelling carpets, well it's more scraped off the floor, as bits of felt and glue are left behind.
You soon find out why the carpet was there, the ship echos an rings with every foot step.
But some some cheapo rubber flooring to cover it up anyway.

With that out the way you land an let your passengers disembark.

Entering the starship weapon dealers workshop, the stink of grease and hot iron fills the air.

"So what you after captain?
Fast bird like this, suppressed its not fitted up with a full suit already." the dealer a man with grit an dirt under his nails.

"Let me have a read this ones specs.. Nose can fit a quad Or a large pair if you skip on the wings mounts.
The Wings could fit one mount each two."
Should i do you a pair?.."
You sit down an pour over the catalogs....

-----------Weapon slots --------------------
Nose 4 / 1/ 1
Wings 2 / 0

Auto guns , Short ranged and ultra rapid firing weapons, there penetrating projectiles turn ships in to swiss cheese.
Lasers , melt holes in the hull, medium (1 slot) or heavy (2 slots).
Microwave, Fire a short ranged and deadly spray of high energy gamma radiation, small (1 slot) or heavy (2 slots)
Plasma Blaster, When lasers are too clean and you like melting dirty great holes in the hull, medium (1 slot) or heavy (2 slots)
Missile battery, embrace the fire power of a dumb rocket full of explosives,  small (1 slot) or medium (2 slots) or heavy (4 slots)

When you raise the words "shields" an the mechanics eyes tighten an he look at you.

"Which ship was your again? Mister?"
"Mister Whiplash, Captain of The Demon of Madness."

" Well maybe i can find you something but i get forgetfull some times an i need to see the paper work first, keep every thing proper an legal."
"A little something? , I'm willing to help you find more then that.. an i just hope this papers good."

He looseness up as the wad of bills weights in his pram, an you wink at him.
"You come thu here." he runs a hand tru his grey beard.

The back room is dirty and bare but for the a piles an shelf's of engine parts, he pushes some scrap aside to show you a pair of shield generators.
There a basic offering, but you have a pick of strengths.
150 KW or the 200 KW model.
That's not much of a choice an you take the bigger model.

Back on the ship, Ogzik presents you and Nightmare with a trio of boxed laser rifles

Your list of jobs gets short fast, with out any guild or league membership your lefty to cargoes that you have insurance fore (Nill) an the Cargo's that you can pay a security for (nothing worth your time).
Whats left is less then legal, risky or paying next to nothing.

1) Transport a sealed cargo express, its drugs and your sure of that but the pay is good.
2) Transport a high value cargo thru a dangerous sector .
3) Move a cargo of waste to be recycled for pay the cuts in your beer money.

[Maximum Spin]

2

[Funk]

2

Any in put on the weapons?
(Remember this is a soft SF, and science in genre only, so stuff just works.)

[Maximum Spin]

Any in put on the weapons?
(Remember this is a soft SF, and science in genre only, so stuff just works.)

Oh right, I got distracted halfway through reading and forgot that part. I'm not entirely sure how to interpret the slots as described, especially the part with all the numbers and slashes, but I'm voting in the general direction of a plasma blaster on each wing and missile battery on the nose.

[King Zultan]

Any in put on the weapons?
(Remember this is a soft SF, and science in genre only, so stuff just works.)

Oh right, I got distracted halfway through reading and forgot that part. I'm not entirely sure how to interpret the slots as described, especially the part with all the numbers and slashes, but I'm voting in the general direction of a plasma blaster on each wing and missile battery on the nose.

Sounds good to me.

Also vote for cargo 2.