Chapter 1 - My ship's where?

After lounging and visiting for the afternoon, you retire for the night. The next morning you meet up and head off of Cas's 9am meeting.

Imperial Scout Service office, Flammarion Highport

Welcome to Flammarion Highport Ms. Green. I expect your ready to pick up your ship and head back out to the stars. Unfortunately, there's a snag. Between the time you mustered out and now, the Erebus was assigned to a crew for a few missions. He pauses for a moment and sighs. They screwed up. They ran one mission and it was time for the annual refit of the ship. On their next mission, the drives failed to start after they landed. The managed to make their way to the nearest starport and book passage back here with the diagnostics report from the ship. They thought they would just requisition more parts and be on their way. However, the base commander reviewed their report and is pretty sure that they sold the parts we provided and bribed the Maintenace crew to install secondhand parts. They are currently locked up and their sentence will be determined by just how much damage they did. In the meantime, we've put together a couple crates of parts and a copy of the basic control software that should be enough to get the ship flying so it can be brought back here for a proper refit. We need to hire a team to go retrieve the ship and I assume you would be interested?

"Unfortunately, there's a snag."
The words hit Cassia like a physical blow. They weren't necessarily unexpected, she had anticipated there would be conditions conditions attached before they turned her ship over, but the next part was a complete surprise.
"...they sold the parts we provided and bribed the Maintenance crew to install secondhand parts."
As Anders Casarii continues, Cassia can feel her blood pressure rise. She says nothing but her mind is racing. The nerve of those fuckers. To take my ship, strip her of her parts, and abandon her on some planet -God knows where- for a few creds! She stays silent until the report is finished.
"We need to hire a team to go retrieve the ship and I assume you would be interested?"

Fighting to keep her voice level and controlled she replies "Yes, you are correct, I am interested and I appreciate the opportunity to handle the retrieval operation personally. I think you'll find my interest align more closely with the Scout service's than the previous crew's did. With that in mind, let me introduce you to these two highly capable and experienced individuals whose expertise in ship systems, mechanics, transport, and space travel would be an invaluable asset to retrieve the Erebus.
She introduces Avi, "Avi Avilla is an engineer, mechanic, and expert astrogator."
She turns to Sy and carefully considers what to say. She doesn't know his entire background and suspects it's by design. She settles with a short introduction, "Sy has transport."

"I'm sure it is in the scouts best interest to move with haste to prevent further damage to the ship. The sooner we secure these men’s services and provide remuneration for usage of Sy's vehicle, the sooner we can load parts and be on our way. I assume the Service will be providing passage to the Erebus’s location current?"

Sy didn't have to be a mind reader to see through all the bureaucratic bullshit. Every carefully considered placation, each subtle microexpression. It was telling a tale all its own. No, Sy didn't have to be a mind reader but he was one.

Analyzing the subtext, the context, the posturing. Anders Casarii was telling Sy a story that his words were attempting to hide. Sy just had to pinpoint what wasn't being said. Two green and blue eyes augmented by the combat Implant within them. Recorded every microexpression. Watching for the subtle dilation of Anders' pores, his nose dialed in, for the excretion of apocrine sweat. Sy turned his full attention to the man, looking for the truth he was concealing.

Casarii's brief outline of their task only makes Avi wonder whether it will still seem so straight-forward once they hear all the details, but When Cas introduces him he says: "I'm confident we will be able to handle this to your satisfaction, Mr. Casarii."

" That is correct Ms. Green, the Erebus is on Walston and we have arranged passage on trade ship we have under contract. We will provide you each with Cr1000 for incidental expenses plus we will provide vouchers for life support, fuel and so forth while you are recovering the ship. Once you have returned, we will provide hotel accommodation and Cr1000 while the ship receives a proper refit. Once the refit is completed and we're all satisfied with the ship's condition, we'll assign you the Erebus under standard Detached Duty terms. As to the van, I'm more than happy to find a place here to park it, but the far trader is packed to the gills. Once on Walston, you shouldn't have trouble finding local transportation, should you need it.

"Should be a walk in the park." Sy broke from his scrutiny satisfied that Anders wasn't purposely giving them the shaft, and instead was frustrated with how it would effect his own bottom line.

2000cr might not seem like a lot to some people, but it was more than Cassia had expected. The fact that it would be on top of fuel, life support costs, and transportation to the Erebus made all the difference in her mind. But, perhaps her judgement was being clouded by her desire to get back to the ship. She said nothing, waiting to see what the rest of her companions thought. After all, she wouldn’t be able to retrieve the ship on her own.

Zeke smirked before speaking up. "Dare I ask what kind of hotel accommodations you have in mind for us? Last time I had that kind of an offer, the hotel was a bunk bed in a vermin-infested warehouse with just a hole in the floor for 'waste' disposal. I'd rather not worry if I'm going to be devoured in the middle of the night by insects and the like..."

"Rest assured sir, there are no vermin infested bunks here on the Highport. You'd be staying at one of the hotels on the main concourse."

"Well, I'm happy with the arrangements." The job actually sounds a lot better to Avi than some he has had recently.

"Could we get a copy of the manifest for the parts we'll be taking, please, Mr. Caserii? I'd like to get an idea of which systems we'll be working on ahead of time."

Avi will access the starport's public information system after the meeting to get engineering manuals or whatever other technical guides he can find for the Scout, for study during the trip to Walston. He will also check that any specialist tools needed to install the parts are included in the manifest.

The way Sy was looking at the Scout Service Officer made Cassia squirm in her seat. It was pretty intense and she was thankful she wasn’t on the receiving end of that stare. Evidently Sy didn’t see anything too concerning and was still on board with the retrieval mission. The part about leaving his van behind must have been a blow. Cassia could tell he really loved that thing.

She was glad Avi was satisfied with the offer. His skills as a mechanic would be invaluable to get the Erebus up and running. Besides she like the guy. If it wasn’t for his help getting on that merchant all those years back she probably would still be driving an agricultural algae harvester back on her home world.

Zeke seemed most hesitant. Cassia didn’t know much about Zeke but Sy and Avi both spoke highly of him. She hoped Anders’ assurances would be enough to convince him to come along.

"Everything seems in order to me. How long to we have before the Far Trader is due to leave port?"

"Well, now that we know your onboard, I'll have the parts and tools sent over to the Autumn Gold they should be ready to leave later this evening. You'll have plenty of time to grab you gear and anything else you'd like to take."