04/09/2014 – Freight Run Disaster (1)
Employment Contracts
Sloane, the Pilot, has left the Red Queen to work directly for Mika Hunt. Ben is rather disillusioned with the previous mission and their employer. He opts to be a semi-silent partner. He will not go on missions but help when he can.
Grant is forced to recruit new crew members. After their last mission, he decides as Captain he needs a Pilot, a Medic, which Cyrus will be, an Engineer and someone skilled in combat, which he will call the Security Officer. He is forced to increase the wages as his previous rates were way too low. He also decides to reduce the crew cut of profits as there is an extra man, but can’t reduce Cyrus’s previous agreed percentage of 10%. So the wages and profit percentages for each crew member are now:
| Position | Salary | Profit |
|---|---|---|
| Medic | 6,000 | 10% |
| Engineer | 6,000 | 8% |
| Security | 6,000 | 8% |
| Pilot | 10,000 | 8% |
| Partner (Ben) | 0 | 10% |
| Popara Hunt | 6,000 | 20% |
| Captain | 6,000 | 36% |
As Ben is no longer a member of the crew, his percentage is cut to 10%, which is the percentage of the Red Queen he owns.
Popara Hunt said he did not need his share, but as it was in his contract he could demand it at any time, a point made clear to Grant in conversation with one of Popara’s employees.
Service Ship
Grant decides to spend some money improving the ship. He pays for a decent service at Dyvers space port, which takes a day and costs 30,000 CR. That will help fix the ship’s faulty sensors for a few months. When he mentions about the Life Support cutting out after a jump, the service engineers suggest he pays extra to refer the matter to a specialist, who will carry out a professional analysis of the problem. Grant agrees and pays an extra 20,000 CR for this.
The specialist does his analysis, and tells him the Jump engines are struggling because of the ship’s boats and shuttles. The Red Queen’s engines are only just enough to jump the main body of the ship and the extra tonnage from the smaller ships is putting strain on them. This was a problem with this make of ship. The next model came with stronger capacity engines, but also cost 20million credits more.
Grant tells Cyrus and they resolve to travel without the shuttles and ship’s boat for now. A new jump engine refit plus corresponding power system upgrade would cost around 70million credits, less what they could get for their existing engines and power systems sold second hand. Not the sort of money Grant has to hand.
Ben, Cyrus and Grant interview various people who apply for positions on the Red Queen. They resolve to employ the following:
Pilot – Drent Winter, a former pilot from the Scout service with lots of experience.
Engineer – Dirk Trillby, some sort of posh academic type who was an engineer in the Dyvers Space Navy.
Security – Ace Hardware, a former Marine Colonel who seems to want to keep a low profile but knows what he is doing.
Freight Run to Blackhawk
Unfortunately, Drent can’t start immediately as he has other commitments. As the monthly freight contract is due before he starts, Grant is forced to improvise with what he has, otherwise he will lose the freight contract.
He persuades Ben to be Engineer for this trip, while Dirk will Astrogate and Cyrus will pilot. Ace has no spaceship skills to help, nor does Grant.
The Red Queen’s freight run is from Dyvers to Blackhawk, the Sector Capital planet in the Galus system, 11 light years away. The Red Queen’s Jump-4 engine can do the jump in three days. They make 160,000 Cr taking luxury goods there and 80,000 Cr bring food products back. There are penalties for late departure and arrival.
Dangerous Manoeuvring
Cyrus is not a great pilot. He only knows the very basics. While leaving to pick up the initial cargo, he cuts up a large capital ship which costs the Red Queen a 10,000 CR fine for dangerous manoeuvring.
They travel to the Freight Company docking bay, despite Grant’s erratic piloting. They arrive and dock but nothing happens and it turns out they are at the wrong docking bay. By the time they get to the right docking bay, they are late on pick up and their payment will be cut.
They leave Dyvers and the head for a safe jump distance. Dirk’s first attempt at plotting the jump does not impress him and he does it again. (Astrogation roll of 6, then 11). The Red Queen successfully jumps into hyperspace.
Sleeping on the Job
It will take three days to get to Blackhawk. Ace cleans his guns and 16 daggers. Cyrus drinks and is sedated a lot by his own cocktails. Grant drinks whisky from a flask. Dirk plays with his computer and investigates hyperspace anomalies.
On the third day, when the alarm goes off in the cockpit to warn hyperspace jump is almost finished, Cyrus is fast asleep in his cabin and cannot be awakened.
Ace uses his medical skills and two stims to wake him up. Cyrus staggers to his feet as the ship auto-jumps out of hyperspace with no pilot in the cockpit.
Cyrus throws up big time then gets to the pilot seat. Fortunately, everything is fine and there are no nearby dangers. He sets course for Blackhawk and doses off again.
Grant checks with space traffic control, but his administration preparations have been poor (Admin roll of 6). His documents were registered late. The Red Queen will have to wait in line until docking is ready. Grant tries to boost the speed of the ship so as to gain time, but makes a terrible blunder (Pilot roll of 4). He disables the auto-pilot to change velocity but accidentally catches the control column and the ship lurches in a random direction. The auto navigator complains they are off course.
Cyrus wakes up and restores the direction to Blackhawk. At Grant’s request, he fires the MD at maximum burn for a few hours to make up time that may be lost in the queue. This burns up an extra 2,000 Cr worth of fuel.
Late Delivery
Grant attempts to argue procedure with space traffic control to get back the original slot he has. An Admin roll of 13 manages to get them an earlier slot. Cyrus’s weak piloting means they only just arrive on time, but it is enough. They pick up the return cargo OK and then jump back to the Arkon system.
An uneventful three day journey back. Cyrus is in the cockpit when the ship jumps back into normal space, only to discover the jump was short and it will take an extra day to reach Dyvers even at maximum burn.
They settle down for a long journey. Cyrus’s poor piloting causes 5,000 Cr worth of hull damage for flying through meteor dust cloud.
The return delivery is a day late, so their payment is only 60,000 Cr instead of 80,000 Cr. The whole mission has been a disaster. With lost income plus fines, the ship is 40,000 Cr down and has not even covered costs.
While catching up with messages, Grant notices a three day old invitation from Popara Hunt to a reception he is holding in 5 (now 2) days time on the planet Derwyn.