S13 Trade for Fun and Profit

Newland Down Starport, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward, 220/1105

Over the next few days, the crew dealt with their ship’s monthly maintenance and other sundry jobs, while locating freight contracts and looking for passengers.

Every other cargo was Nobble related; meat, leather, rugs, horn-handled paperknives, glue for traditionalists, even live animals. Copies of the book Cooking with Nobbles, made famous across the Marches by its’ patron Duke Ashley Cleon Elwood, were available for sale in the starport and as cargoes for places trading in the meat. Feaysen bought a copy, correctly guessing that most meals on the run from Tarsus were likely to feature Nobble.

Freight and cargoes were easy to pick up, but passengers were a bit thin on the ground, especially High passengers, though Feaysen did her best.

One nice afternoon, a man walked onto their pad to find Feng doing some rifle cleaning in the warm sunshine.

Hayden Poole

Of medium height with olive skin and dark hair, he was dressed as a fairly well-to-do merchant, and spoke to her pleasantly. “Morning! This is the Short Walk, isn’t it? Nice smart new coat of paint. I’m guessing you’re a new hire? Pleased to meet you, my name is Hayden Poole. Would you tell Captain Pinera that his usual is here?”

Discovering that Pinera and his whole crew were very likely in prison on Collace by now, , he was rather shocked; “I thought they were decent enough folks, always dealt straight with me. Shame. Dope’s not my field though; my usual trade is in Nob Boost. The nobbles may enjoy it for all I know; certainly makes them grow! I don’t suppose you have my usual, then?”

When he discovered they had no idea what Nob Boost was, much less a cargo of same, he sagged a bit. “Well, there goes this month’s bottom line,” he said. “Frank won’t be happy. I don’t suppose you’ll be doing the Collace-Tarsus run at all regularly then?”

After some negotiations, it emerged that Pinera had a regular run from SusAG on Collace where the product was made to Poole here on Tarsus, who distributed the product at “a sensible markup” to the local ranchers. His normal shipment was five tons, but the PCs agreed to bring ten next time in return for a credit bond sent ‘ahead’ to SusAG by Poole’s bank.

Newland Down Starport, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward, 222/1105

Lucy

Two days later, a young woman appeared at the bottom of the ramp. Blonde and pretty, her clothing and appearance were of a farmer’s daughter or similar; she was in considerable distress. She turned out to be the girlfriend of Shane Mezera, the original engineer of the Short Walk, and was distraught to discover that he was likely in prison or maybe even executed on Collace. After Feng and Feaysen had calmed her a bit, she scraped together enough capital for a passage to Collace, to find her man and be there for him. Feng kept to herself the suspicion that her view of the relationship might not match Mezera’s.....

Feng added to her growing collection of specialty liqueurs in the bar two local brands; Tanglewald Tang, a high-end spirit, and Nob Piss, a “gulpin’ whiskey”

Newland Down Starport, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward, 225/1105

Two days later, they took off and made an uneventful trip from Tarsus to Collace, skimmed for fuel from the gas giant Karthas and headed insystem. They took note that the Scouts had a Type TB Map Chip scout doing a detailed survey of the iceball Kitono - presumably after being caught napping by smugglers using it as a postbox.

Shadira Highport, Collace/District 268/Spinward, 237/1105

As they came in, Wombat picked up the local news. It had come out badly in court for Pinera and his crew, and Mezera had been handed an eight-year sentence. Feeling sorry for Lucy, Feng made some calls and organized her somewhere safe to stay in the nearest arcology to the prison and means of getting there, and Feaysen lined her up with an interview for a job at her old bar. This was enough for Feng’s conscience, and she got no deeper involved, not wanting the girl to discover that it was she and her companions who’d landed Mezera in prison!

Using the profits of this trip, they bought Dr Wombat an Autodoc - after a disappointing trip to a second-hand dealer, new - for his dual-purpose stateroom/sickbay.

He’d run Nob Boost through his Lisani analyser, and stared at the insanely complex molecule it had discovered. Most of its’ composition was unknown but there were several biochemicals he could identify that most likely came from Tarsus. So there was going to be a feedstock of some kind from Tarsus that SusAG were using to make the stuff.

Newland Down Starport, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward, 250/1105

Nelly Lindqvist

After another successful run back from Collace, the crew were loading up when another woman approached the ship. Introducing herself as Nelly Lindqvist, she explained she was PA to the eminent Vargr botanist Dr Ksorrdzaerrludz (Dr Ksorrd). He and his staff have been working locally, and wanted passage, initially to Collace, on route to their eventual destination; the stop at Collace was to pick up some processing equipment that’s been ordered for special manufacture.

She’d been sent to charter or reserve passenger staterooms for Ksorrd and his team. There were only 5 of them plus 3 of the allowed 5 dTons of baggage but she was more than happy to book all 6 staterooms for a quick trip with private accommodation on condition to launch today.

Nelly's Pistol

After establishing that there were no weird or dangerous items in the cargo, the crew took the booking, and after loading the last freight took off. Nelly checked her pistol - the only weapon in the group - which was quite probably the most ornate piece of gunsmithing any of the crew had ever seen.

Collace/District 268/Spinward, 265/1105

As they headed in from the jump point, the sensors showed an Aek Naz-class Vargr battlecruiser in orbit near the highport. Nobody else seemed to be panicking, so they carried on. Feng asked Dr Ksorrd if he knew anything about it, but he replied that he was an Imperial citizen and the ship was probably from one of the Vargr states hubward of the Marches.

As they disembarked, Nelly asked Nevada, “Do you know any ships heading onwards from here towards Arcolin?” He controlled his surprise with an effort; the last time they’d been there, he and his friends had dropped a lab ship onto the planet. A lab ship belonging to the Lisani corporation - whose logo he now noticed on the corner of her datapad.