Commentary:
Narrative convention (for me; you all can use whatever you want): I write Captain Tomos Puch's dialogue in the first person limited point of view, present progressive tense. When writing other characters, I use third person limited POV, mostly simple present tense. (Yes, I had to look up what they're called.)
Story:
Week 4
122-1106
Imperial Residence Module
Library
The chair I'm sitting in is ancient, like the rest of the furniture here; it's all real, and must have cost a fortune to bring to the Imperium's border. The walls of books are of similar vintage.
Quite the antique collection, I think, then correct myself:
No, not an antique collection -- they're heirlooms. The Ishmiris have been here on Boughene Station for centuries, probably bought this stuff new
.
"Please rise," announces the butler, "The Knight is Near." I stand.
Ritual. Status demonstration. I get it, and it's not personally directed at me -- it's just their culture.
We just live in it, for the sake of Empire.
He phrased it as a request though, I realize.
That's probably variable, dependent on the visitor's relative status. Not such a strange culture after all, even if I'm on the outside looking in.
And there she is. Amber eyes, impeccably-tailored long-sleeve blouse and slacks, shoulder-length dark hair. Lapel pins -- the red apple of her Knightly order, a swirling amber circle for her world, and a detailed blue one I can't quite place.
Keeps the rank markers even on semi-formal dress, I notice.
That, too, means something in their culture.
The butler continues the introduction ritual. "Captain Tomos Puch, please meet Dame Lishbii Irshinri of The Honorable Order of the Emperor's Guard, Knight of Boughene."
Well, that's it for my protocol knowledge. "An honor as always, ma'am," I respond, and hope it's close to appropriate.
"I trust you are well," she replies. "There, that takes care of the formalities. Relax, have a seat."
I return to the chair, she smoothly seats herself behind the desk next to it.
"You're probably wondering why I couldn't do this over comms," she states. "I've pulled a few strings and given some nudges, and I think I've worked out an interesting opportunity for your old ship."
I lean in. "Interesting opportunity? Sure, let's hear it."
She begins with a question. "You remember Scout Base Director Kehoe mentioned that you're
obligated for Detached Duty, right? Would you mind returning to active service again with the
Annic Nova when it's rebuilt?"
I thought that was just a paperwork dodge, and I paid that debt on the way out from Feri, I think.
Whatever. "Sure, I can do that for a bit to balance the books at Feri, if they really insist."
She continues, "What about your crew? Would they be willing to accompany you on a recall to active status?"
I pause, then answer, "The core crew that's been there from the
Spinward Poni days? Absolutely -- we were fine with Reg 5.1 recalls on Jon's ship, it's just more of the same. Pretty sure my engineer Jones would too. The potential new hires -- I can't really speak for them, but the Scouts can probably backfill if the new guys bail out."
She hesitates, then goes on. "Here's the big one: Would you be prepared to turn over the title to
Annic Nova to the Scout Service?"
Taken aback, I blurt out, "What?! It's not mine to give! The crew are joint owners, and even then we owe a debt to any survivors of the previous crew."
"Look, Tome, if we find them and their civilization and its technology..." she stops. "That's not even megacredits. That's Aryu. They'll be taken care of. We'll
all be taken care of."
Aryu? She means R.U.: Resource Units -- wealth counted in terms of worlds' entire economies. It hits me --
she's right. That power storage system was beyond the best Imperial technology. There's no telling what the Imperium would pay to have it.
"But what if we can't find them?"
"Well, then you won't have to give them back their ship, now will you?" She smiles. "Anyhow, here's the deal. As it stands, you get it back about nine months from now with a Collector-2 drive because that's the best that General Products can do for civilians. If it's a
Scout Service ship, we can get them to upgrade it to Collector-3 with a backup power plant so it'll jump twice, the way it was when you found it. You get it back as a Detached Duty loan, the Scouts put some crew members on board to shadow you for the experience, and in return they cover the maintenance. And I can get the process started at Rhylanor three weeks from now with a fast courier -- you get it back two months sooner. What do you say?"
That's a pretty sweet deal, I think.
But... "Ma'am, that's quite generous. But who's paying for it, and why? There's got to be a catch in there somewhere."
She looks at her notes to refresh her memory, and explains, "GP is paying for the upgrade because
they know, that
we know, that they just destroyed what may have been an unreported Ancients Artifact and it's in their best interest that the Duke not find out." She looks at me with a knowing grin. "We're getting pretty good at blackmail, aren't we?"
"Anyhow, Director Kehoe wants the operations project located here at Scout Base Boughene, and can get it funded out of the Efate Scout Way Station's pot of money if we're the home port. And they want
you to fly it since nobody else outside the Imperial Navy has experience with Collector-3 drives."
"Do we have a deal?"
"I'll have to run it by the crew, but I don't think they'll object. So, yes, we have a deal. But, one last thing: what's in it for you?"
"Kehoe's happy, General Products gets to tap the Way Station's budget, and I owed you one. When you find the ship's owners, I want you to have one to owe
me, too. And even if you don't, we get a unique ship out here and you to show us how to fly it. That's a couple of days of good deeds right there."
Commentary:
Not done with this scene, but it's almost 0400 local and this is a good break point. I'll pick it up again in the morning -- ZERO GAME TIME ELAPSED, sorry -- with the mods to the
Albatross (it gets another turret and an adapter to carry the small craft that Spinward Flow thinks it needs -- SF and HJD, you guys can thrash out what you're going to do with the 41Td cargo bay between yourselves later.
) and other minor matters.
Note that
all of this scene so far is simply an in-universe justification for rewriting the
Annic Nova design using T5/LBB2 rules instead of adapting it from LBB2 '77 as I'd done previously.
Well, and giving an ex-Scout's sociological perspective on the exotic and alien "Noble" culture. Kinda.
