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[Horizon's Key] Job 01: Shakedown (Prologue)

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He smiled and shook her hand, "A few things, but not a lot. It won't take long to have them gathered togather and simply brought out to here for me before departure." he responded, looking Gem right in the eye as he spoke.
 
"A'right. We leave in four hours, send me a message when you get yeh stuff in. I'll show you t'yer room." Gem gave him a short tip of her head and turned to walk back to where Sabot and the new girl were waiting. Sabot had finished loading his truck (minus one container...still...) and was leaning against the side of it.
 
"At last, the one called Gem." The freespacer said in a silky, yet sharp voice, one that conveyed her detachment from decorum. "I have wanted to speak to you. This one here with the name of Sabot was rude. He expressed that you, for some reason, did not seem to want a pilot. I thought that he may have been misrepresenting you and thus waited for you to arrive. Am I right to assume that you do indeed need one, or was your want for help insincere?" Kassi cocked her head, then smiled. "You may call me Kassiopea. What should I do in order to become one of the illustrious crew of the Horizon's Key?" She giggled softly.
 
Lance nodded and started to briskly jog to his now former barracks to retrieve his personal possesions.

A short while later he arrived and quickly began to methodically place his personal items into a compact, yet spacious, travel pack. After having cleared his personal space of his few personal, non-generic items, Lance about faced and took a more liesurely pace back to the docking station.

After finally arriving with a good bit of time to spare, but he wasn't entirely sure how much, he sat his pack down and while keeping a careful eye on it pulled his datapad out and sent Gem a message.


His message sent, he picked up his pack and made his way into the docking arm, not having noted exactly how much time was left till launch.
 
The Commander looked at Kassi as the 'Spacer rattled off, just nodding slowly. When the girl finally took time to breathe, Gem just looked at Sabot.

Sabot was sitting on the tailgate of the truck and looking rather amused. When he saw Gem look at him, he shrugged. "She wanted to get a look inside th' ship. I just told 'er to wait 'til you came out 'ere since she didn' mention applying."

Gem smirked and turned back to Kassi. "Well, you're a lively one...but yeh got your facts twisted a wee bit. I do need a pilot. But Sabot there wasn' refusin' you the position. You need to apply for it, then I'll decide wheth'r y'r right for what I need ya for. If I think ya are, then good. If not, then I was gonna keep lookin'." She folded her arms and eyed Kassiopea. "D'ya have experience piloting vessels o' this size?"

-----

"Heeeeey, there, 'Cap'n Nemo'!" called a voice that would have made the soldier cringe. "Now now now, you would not happen to be trying to leave us, would you? Got your things all packed up and ready to go, I see, which is nice...you were just moving to another room, am I right?" A scarecrow of a man strode up behind Lance, clad in a Pisces Station security uniform. Messy straw-blonde hair stuck out at odd angles from under a beret hat, deep-set eyes sparkled like obsidian chips, and the spring in his step brought with it a touch of menace, as if he was a jack-in-the-box popping toward you.

"Hold on for a moment and listen to this amusing anecdote: I am sitting in my office, drinking my mealtime drink, and my computer buzzes me. Tells me that someone has been asking about you, about your 'service record'. 'But why would someone need information like that about a guy like him?' I ask myself." The man draped his arm around Lance's shoulder. "Well? What reason would that be, mate?"

The arm slid off Lance's should and swung down behind Lance...and planted a stunner tag between his shoulder blades. The security officer didn't miss a beat as he continued talking while the soldier slumped to the ground.

"You will like your new room, I think. Big front window, a nice place to sit and think. To reconsider abandoning your post without telling your superiors, yeah?"
 
Kassi sighed, this was a little troublesome; these people were so inefficient! "I suppose I am sorry for trying to barge in to your ship, that was rude of me. You said that the way to become your pilot was to apply. May I do so?"
 
Gem nodded. "Absolutely. All I need is some proof of your experience, either by testimony or simulator."
 
Kassi responded, "Well, would telling you that I have flown ships for my entire life, I have a digital brain in which I store all of the technical data of the ships I pilot, and the fact that I am a 'spacecase' among my fellow 'spacers do anything for you? If you insist, I will fly a simulator, but again, that is inefficient. It would be better to simply leave once everything is ready."
 
Gem's amusement disappeared. Li'l Kassi 'ere doesn' know when ta shut up does she? she thought, her temper starting to rise as the 'Spacer began telling HER how to do things...

...never a good idea with any captain.

"I don' know where you came from, or who ya think you are, but this is _my_ ship. An' I won' be puttin' 'er in the hands of just anyone, hear?" Gem's voice began to rise with her temper, and her eyes fixed on the Freespacer with a glare. "Speed isn' always efficient anyways...how 'efficient' would it be if I let the first dope with a mouth drive this ship and he's got no experience at all? Crashes the ship, destroys it. Now, tell me that being sure of who I'm workin' with is 'inefficient', missy!"

Sabot got up from the tailgate. He'd seen her get this way before...No one told Gem how to do things unless they had rank over her. And anyone who dared got both barrels, and would keep getting them until someone calmed her down or she ran out of ammo.

" 'ey, Gem, she's not Nepleslian, she's one of those 'Spacers. She didn' know any better, a'right?" He set a hand on Gem's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. He felt her slowly relax, then let go. "You say you 'ave all o' your experience in that head o' yers?" he asked Kassi. "Why don' we plug you in and then there wouldn't be much else to argue about. How 'bout it?" he asked, looking at Kassi first, then Gem.

Gem relaxed a little more. Though she didn't take her eyes off Kassi, the temper retreated from her eyes as Sabot made his suggestion. "If that works, why not. If it doesn', Li'l Kassi 'ere uses the sim," she said finally with a shrug. "B'sides, we can't leave for 'nother four hours. I'm in no hurry."
 
"I seem to have made you mad. I apologize." Kassi said, where she came from, things were always efficient and proper. Never in her life had Kassi ever had to apply for a job. "The plug should work just fine; you will find you have what you seek in here." She poked her head.
 
Gem was actually wary about reviewing digital memories...those could be faked, but she decided that she would just keep a close eye on Kassi until the girl's talent was proven. After all, if the girl could make a good fake...

"Do you 'ave a data port somewhere on ya?" asked the Commander, retrieving her datapad from her pocket.
 
Kassi's pinky finger's tip rotated out of the way to reveal a data port, whose ports configured to the type of connector Gem was using. Kassipea closed her eyes and waited. Data streamed into the datapad, showing scenes of Kassi piloting starships of many makes and models, most of which were known only to freespacers. Most were of her piloting small ships, which were maneuvered with grace, but on occasion Kassi piloted larger ships, sometimes even ones the magnitude of the Horizon's Key. Kassi closed the connection after about five minutes and said, "Will that do for you? Oh, and I can also cook things for us to eat. My other skills include repair and AI interaction. I hope I can be of service!" With that she gave Gem a rare full smile. She rarely really smiled to those she just met, although she felt that Gem merited one.
 
The logs were downloaded to Gem's pad, and she reviewed a few of them as the download finished up. She took a breath, then looked at Kassi.

"I don' know any o' the vess'ls you have 'ere, but I'm willin' to give ya the benefit o' the doubt. And, since you clearly 'aven't piloted a Trav'ler class before, I still want ya to take the simulator trainin'. It isn' hard, shouldn' take ya more than a half-hour. Then, consider y'rself hired." Gem offered her hand to the 'Spacer. "Welcome aboard," she said with a smile.
 
Kassi smiled, "That would be fine if it makes you comfortable. I have already downloaded the specs for the ship as well as a manual for its operation and repair. I hope it will come in handy sometime soon." Finished shaking Gem's hand, Kassi asked, "You are also wise, for even if you did not know, I have some skill in hacking as well. It may not be enough for manipulation of systems, but I can find information where needed. As I am now to show my skills at piloting, where would I find a simulator?"
 
"The Key has one on th' bridge," said Gem. She was unsettled further by the Freespacer's admission to having hacked information about her ship. "'ey, another tip 'bout courtesy: Don' go lookin' in private files, alrigh'? I know y'r an alien an' all, but you should learn that quickly. Either that, or get _really_ good at keepin' secrets."

Sabot got the last container loaded when Kassiopea got up. Pushing up the tailgate until it locked in place, he turned to watch them converse until Gem turned to head back into the ship. The man didn't really want to leave the two ladies alone with the looming chance of clashing personalities, but he had a ship to catch...they'd just have to hammer out their differences themselves.

"Gem," he said, getting her attention. "I got ev'rything I need, so I'll see ya 'round. Keep in touch, yeah?" he asked with a smile.

Gem turned her head back to look at Sabot and smiled. "Right, thanks for y'r help," she said, walking up to him and shaking his hand, then giving him a short hug. " 'ave a safe trip home," she said, waving. Returning to Kassi, Gem motioned for the 'Spacer to follow. "Watch your first step," she said. The commander went back to the airlock, waited for the cycle, and then stepped into the zero-g of the Upper Cargo Bay.

The bay was about 4.5 meters from floor to ceiling, and almost half the length of the ship. With the ship's nose pointed "up" relative to the station, Gem grabbed the lip of the airlock and gave herself a slight push that propelled her toward the doorway at the forward bulkhead.

The doorway led to a stairwell with another door straight ahead of the bay's door, which lead to Deck 1 of the Forward Module, and stairs going off to the right and left with doorways leading to Decks 2 (at the first landing) & 3 (at the bottom landing) of the Forward module and a door to the Lower Cargo Bay opposite the door to Deck 3. Every few steps there was a portal looking out to the Lower Bay, a cavernous area with its size accentuated by its current lack of cargo. There was only one Jillanth-class shuttlecraft and standard cargo-handling mechanisms, but the rest of the bay was empty.

Gem walked down a flight of stairs to the doors that opened to Deck 2, then went a few meters down the hall to the Bridge.

"Th' pilot's station is the one in th' middle there, in front o' the viewscreen. Jus' ask the computer to run program TR-00-004."

The station had a volumetric HUD that overlaid the forward viewscreen, giving added information about what the nav officer would see. On the panel itself, it was a rather simple interface with touch-screen inputs and a main menu/history on either side of the panel display so the pilot could quickly access past or related processes. Hidden at the moment, there was also a physical access system that used keys, buttons, and switches in case of a display failure.

The rest of the bridge was octagonal with four identical-layout stations set at each 'corner', the two corridor-access doors on the left and right walls, and another door at the rear of the bridge. The captain's chair was on a raised portion in the center of the bridge, high enough that the captain could see the screens of any station easily and have an unobstructed line-of-sight to the forward viewscreen as well. There were control panels to each side of the chair, and the captain's chair was the only one with a neural interface, though one could be attached to the pilot's chair if desired.
 
Nicholai sat in the chair at a local cafe looking through the wanted adds. Every one of the people want expierience people. Nothing against it but where am I supposed to get that? Well I need a job...let's see if they'll take me. Nicholai thought as he started off toward docking arm D.
 
The simulator test ran without incident (Kassiopea was as talented as she claimed, which was a worry off of Gem's mind), and Gem had shown the Freespacer to the crew quarters.

With little else to do, Gem went back to the airlock to see if anyone else had shown up.
 
"Docking Arm D." Nicholai said as he approached. "Looks like da place. Now I just gotta ask. I shoulda sent a message though, how else is they gunna know I'm here?" Nicholai thought as he called up a volumetric display. "These fancy things. It ain't half dis nice back on Nepleslia." the ID-SOL muttered to himself as he composed a message to Gem.


Guess now alls' I gotta do is wait. Nicholai thought to himself after he had sent the message.
 
"Alright, bring that crate in slooow! This is my last day, so I won't have you guys messing up on my watch!" Eliot continued watching the progress of the two crane operators as they hauled the large cargo crate across the floor. The events of the day swirled through his head. His shuttle to Pisces had been late, so he had been forced to route through to another station and, for arriving late for about the twentieth time in a month, he was to be laid off at the end of this shift. So he would soon be in need of a job.

The container was now positioned perfectly level with the one below it on the pile. "Good! Now bring it down and let the crew do their jobs!" The container thudded down on top of the one below it, and a crew moved in to attach the magnetic clamps that held the crates in position.

Steele had posted his ad on the classifieds shortly after he was warned that he would be laid off, and it was fairly simple. 'Cargo Foreman Seeking Job. Any pay will suffice.'

The stack moved off towards the hold of the freighter, pulled by a tram network of hovering pads. Once they arrived, by the time they came back a new foreman would be working the floor, and Tobias would be gone.

What little pocket change he had left would go into a shuttle back to Delsauria, but if luck would have it, he would be rehired before then. Cargo foremen were valuable on starships, and as such went hired and fired quickly.

His datapad buzzed as he walked off the floor, signifying that its search had found something. He flipped the cover open and read it over. The outline said that the ship's name was the Horizon's Key, that it was recruting and to meet at Docking Arm D if interested. The captain was a mister Gem Tabier.

"Sounds decent enough..." Eliot said to himself, and began writing a response message.

 
Nicholai didn't have long to wait before Gem appeared. She just finished his message as she came back out of the airlock and was checking to see who was hanging around now. She saw an ID-SOL looking like he was waiting for someone at the entrance to the docking area and watched him for a moment before sending him a reply:

A new message buzzed in just as she sent Nicholai his reply. Eliot wasn't doing himself any favors by admitting he had trouble with times, and though she gave him points for honesty, those weren't worth much. What's a cargo foreman without the ability to be on time? Well, I don' exactly 'ave any other options. If he's late gettin' on board, we're just leavin' without 'im, she thought. She sent a quick inquiry to Pisces for Steele's employment history, then sent him a reply.

Message said:
To: Eliot Steele
From: Gem Tabier
Subject: RE: RE: Cargo Handler

I'm busy at the moment, but I'll be done soon. Come by in thirty minutes. The Key is in docking port D-26.

-- Gem Tabier
Click to expand...
With that message sent, she looked back over at Nicholai and waved at him.
 
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