Chapter 2: The Wayward Wind

Trying hard to hide his look of pleasant surprise Zuni thinks about the offer. The compensation wasn't bad and the mission didn't seem to be terribly dangerous. In fact, it appealed to Zuni's sense of devilish adventure. They would be pulling the wool over Savine's son's eyes until they delivered the present from mommy and they'd receive decent compensation to boot! It almost sounded fun.

"May we ask what the cargo is? It's only proper that our manifest lists the details of all our cargo."

Still not thrilled about this mission, Fallon nevertheless asks, "So, this Tarkine system. Do any of the planets have nice beaches?"

Alerio took a good long look at this woman. She was trying to read if this was the kind of woman who could send a bomb to her own son’s door.

Estranged? Why?…

She shakes off the feeling. Her brain was just going funny from all the jumps they’d made the last few weeks.

We need to slow down… she thought, hoping they might get to spend some of this money they’re making to settle and figure things out.

Seally nods, letting her team have their say. She's ever aware that she isn't the boss of them, as much as she puts on a different face for the public, they make decisions together.

She subtly gives the corp head transfer instructions for the 120k, for the 100k reward and maybe for the 20k deposit, should they accept the offer. They probably will.

"Tarkine is a lawless hive of scum and villainy. We'll need to conduct some repairs if we're going to head into a such a hornets nest." She considers the mixed metaphor, hive and hornets nest, and decides its close enough. "Can your parcel wait several weeks?"

Maybe they can get their hull patched and buy some spare missiles. That would be a start. They have investigating to do there in Tarkine too, but she won't tell Savine that.

Zuni stares at Fallon. He's all for beaches and scantily clad women but her obsession with beaches was a little odd. He almost suggested that there was more to life than beaches but decided he better keep his mouth shut or incur the wrath of the women. Plus it wasn't a diplomatically sound thing to do, not that he was an expert in diplomacy after his complete lack of any kind of greeting earlier but they did need to come across as, and be a cohesive team.

He hoped for an answer about the cargo. Surely Savine would understand their need to know.

Alerio winced as Seally called the place a hive of scum and villainy. Undoubtably true. The only problem was that the woman currently supplying them with a pay day might take affront to Seally calling the place her son administrates a corrupt shithole.

She coughs, and clears her throat loudly before resuming here grimace.

"A generous offer. We'll need to discuss whether we can get service on the station in a reasonable time frame." She stands up and bows politely. "We'll keep you informed of our time table. And thank you for the reward for rescuing the Astrogirl, it more than compensated my medical bills."

There are many reasons to not take this deal, but the pay was not nothing. They'd need to discuss this in private and part of that was their often discussed and not yet resolved priority of repairs. Whether they were comfortable heading into pirate central with a busted up ship, that weighted the heaviest on her.

"Why do feel it necessary to provide a caretaker if you trust us with the cargo? We have limited resources for extra passengers."

At the mention of beeches, Zuni waggles his eyebrows at Fallon and works hard at avoiding a smile. Savine might rethink her choice of a vessel with such an unprofessional crew transporting her goods if he succumbed to his silly nonsense.

Fallon still doesn't like the job, but the mention of beaches mollifies her a bit and she crosses her arms in grudging acceptance if everyone else is fine with the job. She spies Zuni's brow wiggle and attempts to keep her poker face on.

"With so many systems and worlds, what are the odds the pirate crew would happen to be on the one world we would be heading to?" she said, hoping the universe wasn't listening and taking this as a challenge.

Alerio clears her throat again, as more questions come flying in. She thought it possible that this matriarch might consider the crew and the bargaining more trouble than it was worth.

"Are we leaving this passenger planetside?" she asks, speaking for the first time.

Savine squints at Zuni. "Your heroic actions aboard the Astrogirl have demonstrated the danger of shipping cargo in this region. Do not think of this in terms of trust; it is merely a company-wide policy shift toward better security. Besides, my offer already factors in the cost of passenger accommodations."

To Alerio, she says "Yes, I expect you to return with my caretaker when you get you deliver the holovid to me and collect payment for services rendered."
"I have heard tales that Captain Dreks used Tarkine as a base of operations for many years, but a pirate without a ship does not pose much threat to you."

Savine is willing to leave it at that. The offer on the table as you leave it:
Returning to the Wayward Wind, you find that droids have been assigned to clean the exterior of the Wayward Wind. They swarm around it like flies, buffing the Alon windows and polishing the non-scorched parts of the Bonded Superdense hull.

Once inside, Goldie greets you with news. "There is a vessel that has been hailing us non-stop since you left. Transponder codes indicate the vessel is from the Florian League, a human polity many parsecs from the Imperium bordering the Aslan Hierate. They are requesting to speak to you about the encounter with the Alo'hei"

Seally is just about to make a signature cocktail with the autobar when Goldie interrupts. She thinks the encounter with Nguyen went well, but she's not all that interested in risking the Wayward Wind in Trakine just yet. The idea that Captain Dreks doesn't have any friends there, or hasn't taken berth on another privateer, seems like wishful thinking. But she doesn't even grey to voice those thoughts before they're notified that they are being hailed.

She looks at the others and says, "If they want to purchase access to our data, any idea what we should charge? Honestly, I don't even want to admit we have the data until we know what it might be worth."

Satisfied with Savine's answer to his question Zuni turns his attention to Seally.

"Not sure how we can find out. Maybe a little research of anything that might have been done with encounters with the creatures in the past? Or we wing it and come up with a fair price? Seems like if its hard to come by we could ask for a fortune but it's worth nothing if no one is willing to pay for it.

When Sabine mentions that Cpt. Dreks uses Tarkine as a base, she rolls her eyes and mutters, "Of course he does," and gives a large sigh.

Once back aboard and hearing about the party interested in the Alo'hei, she tries to solve the dilemma. "Well if you don't know what something is worth, a rule of thumb is to let the other party make the first offer. If they seem desperate, increase it by fifty percent. If they play hard to get or are assholes, double it. Then negotiate from there."

"Beats me! I’m not sure what I would pay for it. Probably nothing. I don’t know what I would do with it. Let’s see what they want first! Might be something else!"

Alerio speaks, throwing off the heaviness that she had taken on to seek tough.

Golide gives you a few details on their starship.

"The Florian ship is named Paragon One and is keeping its distance at 10,000 km. It is a 500 DTon* starship that appears optimized for exploration and defence. Tech level is quite advanced, approximately TL 14. I can give you more specifics, if you'd like."



When you answer their hails, a peculiar figure answers. Dressed in all black and wearing an ornate, black crown, the sophont appears human but looks like a child. When they speak, however, their voice is deep and commanding, causing a bit of cognitive dissonance for you. The person has a thick accent, but their Anglic is passable. His expression is rather pendulous, and he has a low energy about him.

"Greetings from the Florian League. I am Intercultural Liaison Officer Monrayleux. Our people congratulate you on making first contact with the Children of the Stars. This moment was prophesized in The Annals many centuries ago, and we are beside ourselves with joy to have witnessed it. Please accept our invitation to dine aboard our ship and discuss the event, at your earliest convenience."

---

* - This is 2.5 times bigger than the Wayward Wind.

Goldie puts a helpful map on a side screen of where the heck the Florian League is.

"Is that… a child?" Alerio asks, before Seally can patch through to return comms.

Of course, there must be kids born and raised on ships like that, but the thought had never really confronted her so blatantly.

"Mmmm… what are we thinking here, gang?"