Episode 9 - Diversions

Howotro High Port
113-221 through 118-221

After the “beef party”, Jordan received a call from Joshua Wallace – a holovid producer he had met some weeks ago – who wanted to get his approval for the script based on events from his life. The script was not entirely accurate, but seemed like it would make an entertaining show without embarrassing anyone. At the meeting, a young man named Sullivan Penn introduced himself saying, “Dude! I am, like so totally stoked to meet you, man!” Sully was slated to play a young Jordan Ross in the vid and wanted to meet and get a sense of the person behind the story. Despite his initial misgivings, Jordan finds the kid to be genuinely interested in his story and eager to learn about naval life, and arranges a tour of the naval base for him.

During this time, Henri received a call from Baroness Keshiigma inviting him to a dinner at her summer home. Apparently, her chef had just found a “wonderful new kind of beef,” and she was dying to share it with people who shared her refined tastes. She included Marquis Samadr and Captain Ross in her invitation, but somehow failed to mention Thiel. Henri was hesitant to accept the invitation, but the others convinced him based on their desire to get more information on the odious woman’s connections to Mr. Smith.

Thiel posed as Harim’s valet for the evening and went completely unnoticed by the Baroness. While the rest of the group met the Baroness’ other guests, he slipped quietly off to the servant’s lounge. Sir Arturo Wing, a small man with a large, white handlebar mustache, was introduced as the chief operations officer for Keshiigma charters. He was an ex-Navy commander who now manages crews, maintenance and other logistical concerns for the Baroness. Dame Maxene Morrigan, the chairwoman of Morrigan Drive Systems appeared to be a tough, no-nonsense business woman. Baron Bertrand Yaqub introduced himself as the CEO of Napoleon Technologies Corporation, but said little else.

The meal itself was decent but uninspired, but the Baroness raved about the superiority of this Iskendu beef and how difficult it was to find. After dinner, Morrigan explained that her company had recently expanded its operations to Howotro to take advantage of the high technology base and limited bureaucracy. She also invited everyone to the christening of the first ship constructed in Howotro using Morrigan drives. She and Jordan talked at some length about the performance characteristics of her company’s systems, boring Harim to tears in the process. Yaqub remained quiet, but did mention that the current piracy scare was good for his business, which consisted primarily of weapon and sensor systems for starships.

While the Marquises and the Captain mingled with the high-rollers, Thiel chatted with their drivers and other staff in the servant’s lounge hoping to gain some information about the Baroness’ business and connection to Mr. Smith. He learned very little of substance, but did manage to slip away unnoticed and prowl through the house, eventually determining that the Baroness did not have an office in the building. They returned to the highport that evening, but it was late and they called it an evening.

The next morning, Jordan received a message from Mr. Smith indicating that he’d like to meet with him the following day. Later that day, Jordan and Thiel attended the christening of the ship Morrigan had told them about. They discovered the ship was owned by Mr. Smith’s Sentinel Express Lines and was named Sister Ione. Harim and Henri had no interest in the ship and instead met with Duke's agents Udar and Seska relaying what the group had learned. The agents had spent some time crosschecking their records and believed Reiff had been operating for at least a dozen years as a mercenary and gun runner, almost always aiding revolutionaries and insurgents. Reiff had been very slippery and - prior to Zhuge - made few mistakes. The agents suspected that he received professional training in covert ops, probably by SolSec – the infamous Solomani intelligence agency - however they have had no evidence of SolSec operating in the area for close to 30 years. In the evening, Harim researched Sister Ione, trying in vain to determine the significance of the name.

The following morning, Jordan and Thiel went for their first face-to-face meeting with Mr. Smith. After some pleasantries, Mr. Smith offered Jordan a short term contract for a specific job. Sentinel Express Lines had accepted an urgent contract to haul a dozen passengers to Ushkager within 19 days, but the only ship he had in system was the new Sister Ione which had only a partial, inexperienced crew. He offered Jordan Cr12000 to captain the ship for this one mission, as well as a share of any profits made from cargo and passengers on the return trip provided the ship was back in Howotro within 40 days. He was also willing Thiel Cr6000 as a pilot for the trip. They told him they needed to consider the offer and would contact him later that day with their answer. The Marquises flatly refused to work for their passage, but agreed that Jordan should take the contract, both for the cash and as a means to get more information about Mr. Smith’s operations.

After accepting the contract, Jordan interviewed his new crew briefly. Margot Park was training to be a pilot and seemed pleasant enough, but was very young and inexperienced. Amos Charles - the engineer- was a big, surly man in his mid 20’s. He seemed almost as inexperienced as Margot but much less pleasant. The final member of the crew was Owen Korbo, a steward. Owen was portly man in his late 30’s that seemed very competent and helpful. Afterwards, Jordan inspected the ship and its technical specs very carefully. He discovered a number of elements that were unusual in civilian ships, including armor, wiring for military grade sensors and fire control, as well as cargo spaces to would be better suited for use as missile magazines. The ship was more reminiscent of a military transport than a traditional commercial ship.

Meanwhile, Thiel worked with the crew and passengers preparing the ship for its first trip. He worked well with both Margot and Amos, and developed a feeling that they too had slightly shady backgrounds. However, his attempts to strike up casual conversations with the passengers were coldly rebuffed, leaving him with a very bad feeling about the men.

While Jordan and Thiel were hard at work preparing the ship, the Marquises spent their time readying themselves for a dream vacation to Ushkager, one of the most decadent and hedonistic systems in the sector.