Characters: Verroel & Fi
NPC: Vuedueloghz
Location: Happy Trails
System: Jumpspace, Suthgzu, Jumpspace again
Jump to Suthgzu.
Arrive at Suthgzu
Land at downport. Pay berthing fee. Order fuel & life support.
Refueling complete. The crew start running through the pre-flight checklist.
Permission to depart received from Traffic Control. Happy Trails takes off.
Jump!
Arrival at empty hex between Suthgzu and Roetingaz. Fuel pumped into jump drive. New jump coordinates calculated.
Fuel transfer process complete. Coordinates plotted. Jump!
Arrival at Roetingaz.
Characters: Verroel & Fi Khong
NPC: Vuedueloghz
Location: Happy Trails
System: Roetingaz
The ship emerges from jumpspace and soon picks up navigation beacons offering
guidance to the starport. Fi sets his course accordingly. There appears to be
light traffic; Roetingaz is a refuelling stop for traffic bound for coreward
Confederation worlds.
Along the way, a Type T patrol cruiser transmitting a Confederation Navy
transponder code pulls alongside. It scans and hails the ship, requesting cargo
manifest. Verroel transmits it. Several minutes later, the patrol cruiser thanks
him for complying and peels off.
Roetingaz's starport is in orbit. It's cylindrical with docking bays all along
its circumference. Fi deftly guides Happy Trails into their assigned bay and
powers down.
After paying the docking fee, Verroel arranges for fuel and life support
refurbishment. Once that's set, he contacts the Voenggaks Ore Refining
Corporation, the recipient of their freight. They state that they'll have
someone by to pick it up within the hour.
Now there's the matter of the Suthgzu ngukok meat that was purchased as a new
speculative trading idea. They've had time to do some reading up on Roetingaz
over the course of the trip. The world is a tidelocked desert with a very thin
atmosphere. Basically, that means no widespread agriculture or free roaming
livestock. This is a place where agriculture is confined to domes. The planet's
high tech level (D) means that protein is going to be vat grown. While better
than no protein, any vargr will tell you that it's just not the same. Real meat
is going to be highly prized.
Verroel goes onto BrokerNet and announces that they have two tons of ngukok meat
from Suthgzu to sell. In a few minutes, the bids start coming in. By the time
the truck from Voenggaks Ore Refining Corp arrives, the price seems to have
settled at 3,600 credits for the lot. The group paid 3,000 credits for the lot,
which would make for a 20% profit.
Verroel mulls over the top offer. He was hoping for more of a windfall, but
maybe he miscalculated the market. He decides to accept the offer.
Meanwhile, Vued handles the unloading of the freight, and Fi contacts the
network engineer's consulting firm to let them know his ride is here.
Freight unloaded.
Ngukok meat buyer (Sorrusgurrguengkhaer Corp.) arrives.
The driver, a male vargr in his early 20's, says, "Your manifest says that you
wolves came from Suthgzu. Are you from there?"
"No," Verroel answers. "We're regional traders. We smelled opportunity."
"Probably an old scent."
"What do you mean?" asks Vued.
"Well, a freighter from Rroeghae arrived a couple of weeks ago. Sold enough
fresh meat to replenish everyone's stores. It's funny: They always seem to come
by after we've all run out and have to go back to vat drek. We're all so happy
to eat fresh meat again that they make a killing."
"So," Verroel asks, "how often does the meat you buy last?"
"Oh, about six weeks."
"So, is it a free trader, a group of them, or a corp?"
"Oh, it's a corp. The Rroeghae Agricultural Corp. It's a planet-sized entity.
They charter freighters."
After the Sorrusgurrguengkhaer Corp. truck leaves, the fuel and life support
refurbishment supply pods arrive. Vued offers to stay to handle them if Verroel
and Fi want to go out now to sniff about.
Verroel and Fi just throw on casual clothes and grab their comms to go for a
walk about the starport.
Next: Having Fun at the Vargr Cowboy