Docked at Mora; let the Commerce Commense!

May 14, 1115. Hard Dock achieved at 0630. 7 standard 'days' in port, provisional departure set for May 21, 1200.

Mora system is the busiest of all..., at least in the Spinward Marches. Literally hundreds of starships are detectable, including a good portion of Navy and Scout vessels. Once within 10-diameters the Starport Authority requires strict adherence to guidance from a controller.

MISS FORTUNE is piloted effectively and reaches its designated docking-port without issue. The Port Captain's representative comes aboard within a few minutes of docking (very efficient) and inspects the ship's logs (both physical and digital) then signs off, noting in passing that your first mortgage payment is due on the 15th of the month...tomorrow!

Said Ma starts the process of 'thawing' the Low Passengers (with help? dice roll please) while the steward, Captain, and others help get the Mid-passengers packed up and on their way to the customs/immigration hall. The three mid-passengers all express their satisfaction with the trip and promise to give positive reviews to friends and co-workers.

Once all the passengers clear the ship, its time for stateroom, galley, and lounge cleaning; inventory of supplies for the replenishment order, and other book-keeping. Engineering Crew performs routine end-of-voyage tasks.

Starting on Day Two, priority is to sell speculative-trade goods quickly and profitably. Ideally the crew will have completed selling by the end of day three so that goods can be picked up no later than day five.

On Day Three the crew will start to shift priorities to finding goods to purchase and to locate High Passengers. Mid and Low passengers can often be contracted on short notice, but High Passengers need some effort to find and convince to book on a small Far Trader! (Also, a jump-plan needs to be filed before any passengers can be booked!)

Days four and five in port are dedicated to acquiring cargo. If you still haven't sold something in the hold by day four you've got problems.

Day six should mainly be off-loading sold cargo and loading purchased or contracted cargo. Once that's done, its traditional for the crew to have a fancy dinner or pub crawl as a group. (Everyone should have had a 24-hour leave in there sometime before this!)

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Reminder: All crew have a maximum of THREE commerce-related actions during one week in port. Plus a day of rest & recreation. Listing goods for sale on the public trading board does not require an action, nor does buying from the public boards. BUT drumming up sales before they're listed publicly, finding contacts to get best prices, selling directly to brokers or end-users...those things need crew to get out and about; knock on doors, vid-call prospects, hang out at the Travellers Aid Society, etc, do take time!

IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL for every player to list the three actions they wish to undertake. Helping another character with their action is an action in and of itself, so some coordinating with one another is needed. If you need help deciding on or imagining possible actions don't hesitate to ask.

Example: Rin is leaving the crew, but if he were still an active character he might:

1. Help with Engineering 'special duty' (checking the power plant).

2. Rin uses his Steward and Medical skills as a way to make contacts with sophonts running low-cost Hostels and other Housing looking for LOW and MID Passengers. (dice roll!)

3. Rin offers to help any other character in their stated task...

AND, Rin of course wants to take his R&R, perhaps with one or two other crew, and do a sightseeing trip down to the surface of Mora, followed by a few hours in a beach-front resort where he can get in some water sports and perhaps even find time for a romantic fling...

Tharrok brings Miss Fortune expertly to the docking port, placing the ship exactly where it needs to be. After the docking collar and clamps are attached and locked, he begins closing out the cockpit. He has spent the extra time cruising in from Emergence well and as soon as he has the bridge closed out, he is able to make the short walk back to Engineering, where he waits patiently out of the way for one of the Engineers to have a moment. He quickly reports his "Squawks", any maintenance-related items from the cockpit. He has nothing of any serious note, just a couple of displays that could use a little tweaking on their power modulation, but it can wait until the outbound trip if necessary.

Today is a busy day and Tharrok helps where he can. He offers to assist Said Ma on the computer side of things, careful to stay out of the way and work from the computer terminal. Once the popcicles are thawed and join the rest of the passengers disembarking, he will help with cleaning and replenishment, hoping to help have the crew finish it's Day One activities as early as possible.

After the Day One activities are completed, Tharrok head to the crew lounge and pour himself a cup of kaffe. Seeing LC sitting at the crew table going over the Trades Boards, he pours the man a fresh cup, then sits down across from him. He waits patiently until LC acknowledges him, then he says, "All in all we didn’t end up being really all that late."

He takes a long draw from his cup, savoring the hot, caffeinated beverage. "I’ve been thinking about something. It might seem particularly trivial, but as we are new and needing to build a good reputation, I thought of something we could do that is unique… or, at least I’ve never seen it. Up front, it would have a small outlay… more of a setup kind of charge, not particularly expensive.". Tharrok watches LC to see if the Captain has any early concerns.

Then he moves into ‘T-Jive’ mode. "What I have in mind is really just a sort of token of appreciation for the passengers who, arguably have the least… my thought is that we invest in a small pallet of custom ‘Miss Fortune’ logo’s towels and toothbrushes to be given each low berth passenger as disembarkment gifts.". T-Jive sits back slightly, watching his Skipper for any kind of reaction before he expounds on the idea. "the way I see it, low passengers are the most likely to be disenfranchised, so it’s possible that any useful trinket such as these is likely to be appreciated and used. The more they are used, the more bang for a very subtle advertising buck. And even if they are ditched or lost, they would still function as an advertisement. And places like right here on Mora would be a perfect place to start our initial inventory. Quick, cheap printed materials would be easy. We could start with a smack lot of, say, 100 items each…"

Tharrok licks his chops and tilts his head slightly to the left. "Even if we don’t see any direct return on investment… and even if we do it once and then decide it’s not worth it, it’d be a small outlay for a chance to be unique. Whaddaya say, Boss?"

I will respond to Thorrak's suggestion in the next post later today.

Yesterday was busy, but he had managed, at the end of the day to have an epiphany and have a good sit-down with Captain Rains to discuss the idea. Today, he needed to get a few things accomplished, starting with getting the X-Boat Wave off to his old friend Phelan. But he also needed to check on vendors for his toothbrush and towel idea. In addition, he figured it would be a good time to work the streets, bars, pubs and inns for rumors, contacts and backroom deals. If he got on the trail of anything juicy, he'd just comm LC and let him know he would be staying off-ship and he'd trade his personal liberty time if necessary.

Tharrok is up and dressed in some rather flashy (if he does say so himself) Vargr-style 'threads', just what is needed for a good bar hop. He stops in to speak with Said Ma and picks up some NalcTabs, "I'm gonna be working the bars and pubs for deals and patrons. People get suspicious if alcohol isn't drunk but I need to stay clear-headed. So if I can get a few tabs, I'd much appreciate it."

After picking up some tabs from Ma, he'll hit the galley for some Kaffe and a quick pastry before heading out. While he is eating, he'll let LC know his plans for the day. "I'll prolly be gone most of the day unless I just find a great deal or contacts early on. If I get a lead on anything particularly promising, expect me back first thing in the morning and I'll consider it my Liberty for this Port Call." Tharrok takes another bite and chases it with some steaming hot kaffe. "Also, I'll see about contracting out for the towels and dental kits. If I find the right thing, I'll take care of it and submit the receipt for reimbursement. I'll have my comm on and with me, but it'll be in silent mode, so don't panic if you don't hear back from me right away. I'll get back with you as quickly as possible." Taking the last bite and swallowing the last of his kaffe, he finishes the conversation. "Is there anything I need to be looking out for, either for you, personally, or for the ship... other than what I've discussed, of course?"

If LC doesn't add anything, Tharrok will get moving, first stop, the X-Boat office. After waiting in line for just a minute or two, he gets his text Wave lined out of the IS Form 6, pays the fees, including the extra for the encryption and non-specific destination charges and gets the message sent off (see below if anyone wants to read, but remember, its OOC).

Once Tharrok leaves the X-Boat office, he will turn his attention to beginning his search for a solid, reputable vendor (or vendors) for the towels and tooth care kits. He hopes to have that business wrapped by around midday, when he will begin hitting the bars and pubs. At first, he'll take it easy, mostly watching how the customers and waitstaff move and transact. Tharrok moves easily in and out of the various eateries and establishments, sometimes pausing to eat a small bite, but mostly just sipping various drinks. He does wander through some of the shops, and he considers buying a bespoke suit of the Mood Fabric that seems to be a particular draw. In the end, he decides to get fitted for a decent 'dueling' shirt of the fabric, but not a whole suit. The entire time, Tharrok is drawing on his Streetwise skills to pick out the kinds of people he thinks talking to would best help the ship and crew.

NEW:

Day 3, May 16 1115: After the last of the freight is off-loaded, Tamm and Said Ma exit the ship, pass through the docking ring, through SECURITY and onto a commercial concourse. Mora Prime Station is huge; an orbital port-city of half-a-million sophonts counting inhabitants of every spine and spire and nearby privately held satellite station. Luckily, there are several adjunct offices of the SPACERS' GUILD and it takes only a few minutes (including a short tube-taxi trip) to arrive.

They mix in with a small crowd of other Spacers; some looking for jobs and others just having a beer and shooting-the-breeze. One of the main topics of conversation is the upcoming 'strike'. But the gab centers on how that might impact popular entertainment venues, taverns, hostels and the like. When you ask about 'replenishment', no one seems overly concerned. "That's one thing Starport Authority won't tolerate! Messing with Interstellar Commerce! Not a Thing!" (Your own recent experience at Catuz may lead you to believe differently...)

If you wish to pursue this line of inquiry further, a grizzled old Ship's 1st Officer suggests contacting one of the many Ship Chandleries directly. "Have you already contracted for your replenishment? Talk to who you're contracted with."

Bronz is pretty smart, and in interacting with the departing passengers gets no 'off' vibes or anything out of the ordinary. The two shopping trip vacationers seem excited to be at Mora and eager to get on with their plans. The scholar-philosopher seems even happier to be home after his academic-study jaunt. "That religion....ugh. Don't get me started! Real happy to be home. Mora may be authoritarian in some regards, but the government isn't entirely crazy!"

The 10 disciples of Ram are all thawed out with no problems; Said Ma is happy with that. The low-berths are all functioning well within spec. These people chant prayers and then head out as if on parade...

Per Tharrok:-----

The towels/care-kits can be assembled/customized by any number of small firms in this arm of the huge spaceport. Cost would be 10-credits per, with a minimum order of 100. Pretty much the same whichever vendor is selected.If Tharrok mentions the 'ceremonial wine' from Jokotre, a bartender summons his 'manager' who gives T-Jive the owner's card. The owner being Javron Belli haupt Smythe with residence and office on one of the higher (and more affluent) decks of the high-port. "That wine can be purchased under a tariff/tax waiver for 'religious' reasons" the manager confides. "Then maybe it gets diverted, relabled... Uh, well, not that I'm advocating anything like that; it'd be against the law you know. But if hypothetically someone did that, they'd have a tidy profit for it."