Fatboy's face visibly crumples, as he didn't expect that answer. Was he again a victim of his curse with women? Why was Billianah reacting so aggressively? What did he say - or not say that provoked her? Was Billianah really mad at him, or stressed by Theodore's death and was he just her outlet or punching ball? How should he react?

He needs to figure out fast what she wanted to hear to calm her down.

Fatboy finally and unconvincingly pulls himself together. He tries to hide his turmoil and look  cold and detached: "My... apologies for the misunderstanding... which seems so...", he utters in a coarse voice. "Your computer skills and intelligence were so impressive that I assumed, er... there you go". He wants to yell back at her to stop immediately the scene she was making. At the same time he has the urge to run out of the meeting to the restroom, or crawl under the table, but he can't. He just gestures emptily, fiddles with his nano-computer, staring at the screen, avoiding crossing eyes, sweating and reddening, on the back foot, waiting for someone to break the painful silence.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Tue 31 Oct 2023.

"I can help with Comms Eldorado, I'm pretty good at it." Harry breaks the palpable silence.

"ow, excellent, thank you", says Fatboy with an over-affected equanimity. "Maybe we could investigate how our transmissions were encoded? Viruses don't do that. Your contribution is most welcome.". "A man at last!", he thinks to himself. "who won't suddenly blow up at me"

"I have a good understanding of communications, both operating them and the theory on how they function," Tanja contributes noticing Fatboi's discomfort. "Once I'm back from flying our grav-cart to collect our purchase list, I'd be happy to help out.".

She didn't expand. Drive the taxi, deliver the goods then offer to help.

"But beyond knowing how to use them, computers aren't my strong point. If you were to point and show I'd happily act as dogs body to do the repetitive stuff if you need to do more involved, expert jobs."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:15, Thu 02 Nov 2023.

Levi was concerned that his repair team was being watered down, but he still had Phillip and Lexon to call on.

Repairing the damaged conduits and electronics would need technicians rather than engineers?? After all a hill breach was primary to repair, the computer (if Fatboi was right) was safe for now. He wondered about computer eggs and whether the system was truly clean, or whether it would be reinfected the moment the program detected network connectivity.

That wasn't his immediate concern. Getting the hole in the hull repaired, them the inner walls rebuilt along with any power conduits and wiring that was damaged.
While they were doing that they needed to check and replace any and all danger network.routets, controllers and any system that suffered at the hands of this "virus".

Then the team would need to look at the misfile bay and what repairs the autoloader needed.

That was a long list, and he needed technicians as well as engineers.

"Not to rain on anyone's parade here, but if the server is secure and safe, can we prioritise the damage the virus and explosion did. That means anyone with any technical skills will be needed for rewiring and systems checks," he hoped this is what chief engineers did.

"I really don't want to rely on any ground crew that may or may not have their own agenda. We have the skills and technical ability here around this table, we just need time and resources.

So can we set in motion what we need for the computer and focus on fixing everything else that needs doing before we start to figure out the roots of the conspiracy??"

"All in due time Mr Stensgaard." the captain replies. "Like I said, load commodities cargo, buy necessities,  repair hull and M-drive communications, four hours. If you can manage a server purchase as well in that time, do so. It's more than one hundred hours to Baelnefaer. Plenty enough time to dismantle S1 and install S3 and to fix the grav array."

Levi is visibly disgruntled by Karma's orders, especially as she'd just overruled him and his expertise. His mind whirled - Fix a hole in the hull, that would mean a temporary fix. Then undergo repairs while in space on route to another destination a hundred hours away?? That was madness. They were sabotaged with fewer hours than that under their belts!! They needed a repair and maintenance bay on board to ensure the repairs were secure and would last. Which they didn't have any repair would likely need shoring up once they docked again, and the repairs they'd put in would likely be taken out to accommodate them...

He wanted to scream, but said nothing.

"I feel your frustration."  Karma adds, seeing the reaction of those around her.  "This job was time sensitive to begin with and the pay is dependent upon it being completed in a short amount of time.  We only make 50 K-creds for the job if we fail to deliver on time, not to mention the loss of reputation."

You all know your parts, so lets get to it.  Ms Skorskald, notify port authority of our readiness for drone dock assist in the station cargo landing zone."  the captain asks of the pilot.  She then regards Billi, "Ms Urquah, while we are being hauled into the station cargo access, broker us a deal for commodities. I have already sent you the file with the requested materials for the mining colony."

"Mr Stubbins, oversee the loading of the cargo once Ms Urquah gives you the lot numbers." She says to the gunner. "Coordinate with the cargo master.  They will use mechanized cargo loaders to bring the pallets aboard.  Make sure they do not damage our ship."

"Mr LaPierre, coordinate with the station's trades guild." she says to the engineer.  "Lease a maintenance bot to do the outside hull repair. Once the plate is installed in place, we will seal the inside seam ourselves. I trust you know how to use a seam welder?"

"Mr. Stensgaard, Mr Stout, and Mr Reed will be doing a purchasing excursion for maintenance items, either separately or together." she says, looking at the three.  "You will have four hours to gather what you can and get it back here.   A new communications switchgear is paramount for the M-drive, along with a new gravitic array controller card.  Buy a few cards, if you think it necessary.  Other items might include power tools, bulkhead plates, flooring grates, power conduits, couplers, cables and whatever else an engineer, mechanic, and computer hack can think of.  Mr Stout will be looking for a new server, but can help out otherwise."

"Ms Urquah, Ms Skorskald, and Ms Orilliah will be on a separate shopping excursion, either separately or together."  she says finally, looking at the two women.  "Purchase necessary items we discussed already, and any other items you think may be needed.  Look into the idea of the armored jumpsuits, or uniforms that Levi mentioned.  We have little in the way of protective gear, especially in a beam or projectile weapons fight."

Lastly, she looks at Lt. Dawn Hunter. "Ms Hunter, you will be ship's security." 

The captain looks around the galley at her crew.  She liked them all.  Likes their capabilities.  It is the most balanced crew she has ever commanded, or sub-commanded.  She didn't like all of their personalities, but to each their own.  As long as they respect the command, she is fine with them.  She presses more of the hardpoints on the holo-vid screen accessing finances again.  She allots one M-cred platinum Vcard to Mr. Stout, Mr Stensgaard, and Mr Reed and flicks it to their wrist-comms.  She makes another 100 K-cred Vcard and sends it to Ms Skorskald, like she already had the other two women.

"Alright.  Let's get to it. Time is money. Close Iris."  she says, clapping her hands together.  The little iris closes in the middle of the table, to once again depict an artful fractal image.

---

If you are making a purchase, you will need to make an opposed task check for obtaining a price.  It is a broker routine, 6+, skill check.  If you do not have the broker skill, use an average, 8+, SOC check.  A GM RESPONSE will be made which depends on the effects result table. Feel free to do some free form writing for your character here. You can write your encounter with an NPC in the station, but the opposing rolls for the NPC will be made by the GM before the GM RESPONSE.

Once they landed, Phillip got on coms to the station Trade Guilds for assistance in repairing the hull breach.

[VoX/Trade Guild]
"Greetings, This the Second Engineer Phillip La'Pierre on the Empress Katarina. We need to hire a maintenance bot from you to install a patch on our bottom outer hull to patch a breach. We need it done immediately if possible as we're on a very tight schedule. Can you please accommodate us?" He asks the person on the other end of the comms channel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:53, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Harry heads for the cargo bay and begins getting things sorted and in place to make sure he had room for the new cargo that Billi was getting ready to onload. Then he waited for the lot numbers for the cargo so he could coordinate with the Cargo Master of the port.

Lex looking at Levi "How should we best go about this.  Do we need to split up or are we likely to find what we need in the same location.  Also, although I know what to buy I'm not the best broker.  How are you at haggling?"

Lex is comfortable with building things, but haggling?  This is a skill he has not yet felt the need to develop.  But, he is now in a different environment.  This is not the Army or his intelligence gathering/ security business.  This is new, he was now a member of a starship crew.  When he left his business he was looking for something different...he definitely found it and he is enjoying it.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Levi looks uncomfortable at Lexon's question about haggling. "I don't haggle. It takes too.long," he admits. "I pay the going rate usually and sometimes more. It's easier and quicker.

In the navy we have quartermasters who are responsible for that sort of thing. I just made sure the ship's powerplant functioned."

He accessed his pad looking through the list of item they'd been requested to buy.

"Most of this stuff can be bought from general retailers. There's nothing specialist about it. We just need to find somewhere that will give us a bulk discount or something."

18:03, Today: Levi Stensgaard rolled 7 using 2d6.  Broker roll

Forgot to add:
23:06, Today: Levi Stensgaard rolled 5 using 1d6.  Chance roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

Billianah acknowledged the Captain's request and had the acquisitions processed within six minutes.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:44, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

In reply to Levi Stensgaard (msg # 378):

Lex accompanied Levi and contributed with the buy where he could. He is more interested in getting the items back to the ship and working on repairs than buying the parts.

---

12:03, Today: Lexon Reed rolled 12 using 3d6+1 ((2,5,4)).
This message was last edited by the player at 21:41, Sat 04 Nov 2023.

"What exactly are we looking for?? I've heard of spacer suits, tight fitting almost second skin type outfits. They come with hoods so that in the event of loss of atmosphere it doesn't take much to be protected.

But armoured versions?? We can get armoured suits. You know helmets, vests and limb guards. They could go over the top I suppose. And armoured vacc suits. Hell, even battle suits and powered armour." Tanja asks conversationally as her group prepare to out.

When Billi called him with the lot numbers for their cargo, he contacted the Cargo Master to arrange immediate delivery with all of the information about the cargo to be delivered to the ship. Once delivered, he meticulously arranged for the disposition of the cargo by the robotic pallet movers from the port and made sure everything was secured in place for launch and maneuver. All was secure before he went to check what comms needed to be worked on and where.

"Where and what needs worked on Eldorado? I'll get right to it once I know what needs worked on."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Mon 06 Nov 2023.

Fatboy marveled once again a the fact that the most efficient broker was a ship's gunner.

"Here's what I want - a Server Core, preferably of the brand KAWAL, or VadoGen - but those need more maintenance), with a Zopil (R) CPU calibrated at 6.11 Zibaflips and with 64 QRMM (that's Quantum Reactive Memory Matrices) and QDv-F3 ports... [and on and on techno slang... fortunately it's all written down and Eldorado already has put this into a search engine and narrowed the system integrators to a fistful]... and then this list of spare parts. But mind you, I don't want them to be delivered, I'd like to physically test the components, and chatwith the techs."

"Uhh, El, I was referring to the coms work you wanted done, that list needs to go to the ladies, they're on the shopping spree. I won't be leaving the ship myself, work to do. Comms the ladies and text your list over to them, if they find them, then you can go and check them out and pick them up. I'd do it quick, we're on a tight window here."

"Uhh let me express it this way, in layman's terms.

The virus has accessed two of the ship's systems : Engineering and Communications.
It encrypted the communications encryption with an algorithm a bit archaic. Good, but archaic nonetheless.  Nothing that had not been tried before.  I needed the right sequencer and I began work on coding a sequencer to break the encryption algorithm, but that took too much time and I changed my method.

So, the comms have been breached, and the reasons we can use them presently is we have shut down the program exploiting the breach. But they are still "weak". I'm not an expert, but I'd guess all communications ports and codes have to be reset to seal the breach, and security needs to be reinforced. Plus, in the case the computer is compromised, comms should be able to bypass it. Plus, is there a way to "manually" communicate? A very low-tech radio which could simply send and receive on the distress frequency? The ship's locker contains radio transceivers, but with a range of 50Km, it's insufficient for intra-system comms - you know I wonder why the comms were encrypted, and not simply cut. I think it's so that we waste our time decrypting it. It's was a diversion. There's a mastermind behind this.", and Fatboy illustrates this by tapping his temple.

"Uuh, the ladies... which one? Billy seems to have developed an intense dislike towards me, so...", says the geek while balancing on one leg and the other.


The captain has intiated contact with Adm. Amundson's offices and has been informed an agent will be coming to the ship in the cargo zone to pick up the old server.   She relays this information to Mr Stout so he can crate and prepare the old server for pickup.  Once the ship is landed in the zone, the agent is already awaiting.  The two agents offer identification, then proceed to load the old server onto a grav.  They then disappear down the wide avenue of the zone until they can no longer be seen.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:52, Mon 06 Nov 2023.

"When you get back to the ship with the new parts, I'll jump right on it and take care of the comms for you. You'll have to take care of the server!" he says with smile and a clap to the back.

1107.321 0036hrs UST - Regina High Port Station

The call to port traffic authority is made and within minutes, docking drones that have been in stand-by mode since the ship's arrival descend upon the Empress Katarina.  They make hard point contact and activate their gravitic arrays, guiding the ship toward the station.  It takes thirty minutes to span the 11,550 meters.  The ship glides through the static stasis shield and is set down on cargo landing Z-1A.   During transit, Billianah finds an exceptional deal, purchasing a commodities package for almost half the retail price.   With luck, they can almost double what they spend in profit at the mining colony.

On landing, the first thing done is the removal of the old server from the ship.  It is carted away by two military agents with a grav unit.

Next in is the QRT.  They begin the recovery effort for Mr. Balakov.  At the same time, an investigative team begins their work in the missile bay.  The captain oversees the efforts in the missile bay.  There are some heated words when it is discovered by the team that the server has been taken.  But somehow, Karma navigates the difficulty with an ease borne from serving on a capital ship.

Levi and Lex take on the task of purchasing maintenance items and ship repair materials.  They purchase a ship's tool chest that contains plasma cutters, welders, and a very large assortment of hand tools and power tools.  Then they locate and procure ship materials.  Bulkhead panels, Hardware, conduits and accessories, coils of cables, hydraulic lines, valves, grated flooring, steel bars and beams, and two iris doors to name a few. Levi does the talking and buys everything at retail value.  All these items are to be delivered within two hours by delivery bots with gravs.

Levi and Lex then purchase new gravitic controller cards.  One to replace the bad one, and two spares.

Fatboy has the task of purchasing, testing, and scheduling delivery of a new core for the computer operations.  He spends a couple of hours at the task, haggling with space ship computer geeks, who know a lot less about the systems than Fatboy.  In the end, Fatboy manages to procure what he desired.  It is at retail value.  In his quest to find a server, he almost forget to get the M-drive communications remote switch.  He decides on a Stratix-8000 module and purchases it before heading back to the ship.  It too is at retail price, having been unable to get the representative to come down from the price.

Billianah, Adriannah, and Tanja go about finding the items discusses earlier.  It takes two hours of walking the main vendor hub of the station with a rental grav unit to find it all.  Purchases include Emergency soft-suits for every station, a rebreather for every station, four fire suppression canisters, two suits of advanced poly carapace armor for the security team, eleven dispersion suits, and two hull breach kits.  With Billianah's brokering skills, the team procured the gear at discounted prices. 

Harry is kept busy with watching the loading of the cargo area by the mechanized robotic cargo handlers. They place cargo at the direction of Harry, who then secures them in place.  It takes two hours to load 80 tonnes of cargo in place.  It takes another hour to secure the purchased deliveries where they need to be on the ship.  By this time, the QRT and investigative teams are finished and leave.  In the background is Dawn Hunter, watchful, and wary of every individual that comes aboard, human or robot.  She watches them all in her boarding vacc-suit she received from her time as a Marine.  It has the effect of looking very imposing.  The laser pistol she carries helps too.

---

If there is anything else you want to do on this station, now is the time to speak up, or write it out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:15, Tue 07 Nov 2023.

Phillip waited for the bot to install the new skin on the hull covering the hull breach. He arranged everything earlier while they were approaching, so it was waiting for them when they landed. It took the bot an hour and fifteen minutes to maneuver the plate into place and secure it in place on the ship. The only thing left was to seal everything from inside with the welder. That would be finished within another hour or so.

"We find it very disturbing that evidence has been disturbed and removed! I'm glad you didn't tamper with it too much, though obviously you had to seal the breach so it is understandable as it was necessary. The server being removed completely from the ship on the other hand, that was unacceptable. The team will now have to follow up with Admiral Amundson, but the chain of evidence has been broken."

"I will be on the ship for quite some time unfortunately, as I will have to conduct a significant investigation and interview everyone thoroughly. The team will investigate the ship's logs, we'll need a copy of everything to set the timeline and everything to evaluate the sequence of actions and establish where everyone was and what they were doing when. I'm terribly sorry Captain, My name is Dr. Zbigniew Soboleskii, the Agent in Charge for the investigation on the ship. I'm not in overall command, just this team. Do you have any questions for me?"

Karma regards the agent in charge warily. "I was under the impression you had concluded your investigation." She states, crossing her arms. "Sworn statements can be recorded and sent to your offices. Our ship is on a tight schedule. We will be leaving this station in an hour or so. A lengthy stay for your convenience is not possible."

"Are you coming back? I can ride along if need be. I'll even earn my passage, I'm a surgeon." He informs her.