8-001: Previously on Dominion Space

Lia Silver-Rose took passage on the tramp freighter Spanial in order to travel between ports to conduct her high-end escort business.  She got to know the crew and has to some extent earned their trust and comradeship. On Mundo Zargo, Lia attended a party where she learned that the Spanial’s latest employer, Zayaire Preston-Lischost, is a senior Bureaucrat with connections to organised crime and an unsavoury side-line in how he chooses his party dates.  Lia also met Adler Zang, another bureaucrat with an intense dislike for Zayaire who may have some proof about his dating organisation.  Because Zayaire’s bureau is not permitted to engage shipping directly (but is supposed to go through Adler’s), Zayaire has engaged the Spanial through Aston Ziegler-Sim-Carrow-Narw, who was Lia’s client at the party.  Zayaire has given Aston the Spanial’s cover story, which is about the ship picking up agricultural research samples and bringing them back to Mundo Zargo.  However, the ship’s real mission is to transport a cargo under the care of passenger Samuel Kort to a restricted system and return to Mundo Zargo with whatever cargo or passengers Samuel directs.  Although ethically conflicted at the idea of working for Zayaire, Lia has agreed to sign on as Spanial’s crew, suspending her passenger status, and go along on the job.

Immediately after speaking with Lia in Control, Karmen calls everyone together in the common room.

Samuel Kort turns out to be a tall and heavy-set man aged about 11, with dark skin and long black hair tied into a braid.  

Karmen begins by introducing everyone Kort hasn’t met, “this is Jennie, Master Pilot and XO; Gregar, Chief Engineer; Prrri our Mechanic; and, Lia our Cargo Officer and Apprentice Pilot.”

There are a few wide eyes among the crew at this news, but everyone remains quiert.

“Team, this is Samuel Kort, he’s our passenger and represents our employer.  This is going to be one of our interesting contracts, and as usual, anyone is free to leave now if they aren’t up for some risk.”

Karmen says it as a formality, and it’s pretty clear she expects everyone to stay and they do.

“So, the job is, we set a course for the jump point to Zarg’s Word immediately, and make the jump with an estimated travel time of about 8 Cycles, check in at the Mainworld, and then officially we fly around the system collecting agricultural samples from various remote stations.  Kwint will be covering our absence in the shuttle and he has a route to fly to leave us an audit trail.  In reality we jump out to a restricted system which is only about 6 Cycles travel from Zarg’s World.  We rendezvous with our passenger’s contacts and drop him and the cargo we are currently carrying off, and bring back whatever cargo his contacts want us to bring and return it to our employer at Mundo Zargo.

“It should be a straightforward job.”

Gregar says, “what about customs at Zarg’s World?”

Kort responds, “The cargo has been cleared by customs at Mundo Zargo, and I don’t expect problems at Zarg’s World.”

Karmen says, “Other questions?”