Is everyone ready to start?<br/><br/>I think I have an interesting little adventure lined up for the group, though I would plead with all of you to<strong>please be gentle with me, this is my first time</strong>.<br/><br/>Now,<em><strong>Christmas presents</strong></em>:  On a<em>first come, first served</em>basis, I would like some of you to pick up some additional skills.  You do not need to expend skill points, or assign numbers, since the points don't really matter.  These are just things that might come in handy to the group.<br/><br/>Between Bel, Cam, Chase, and Lynn, I would like three of you to each to claim one of the following skills.  (It isn't as if I'm trying to leave Angel out, but as a Companion who is a reader, I figure she can already sword fight, play the dulcimer with feeling, turn boys into men, and make our heads explode.)<br/><br/>-<strong>Gambling</strong>.  Primarily cards, but also gambling in general... knowing the odds and the rules of the various games and machines.  And reading the other players, knowing what the cards are by the way they hold their eyes.  Maybe not on a professional level, but damn close to it.  This won't involve the ability to cheat at cards, and spotting cheating will depend on the previously generated skills ... like perception.<br/><br/>-<strong>Technology</strong>.  Specifically, the sort of technology that enables a person to steal free internet service and maybe some cable television, too, and send threats via email routed through so many different servers it's impossible to track. (or, you know, whatever the Firefly equivalent is... after all, we don't want the Feds knowing what we're researching, right?).  I'm thinking of a level of competence that will enable someone to hack a simple password on a simple system, but not something what will let them get away with hacking into the CIA homepage.  (If Bel wants this skill to supplement the numbers she already has in Communication and Security systems, then just pretend her numbers are through the roof, and maybe she really can hack the CIA web site and maybe not get caught.) Same applies to Chase who already possesses computer and hacking skills.<br/><br/>-<strong>U-war history</strong>.  The person may or may not have been military, but they followed the war with great interest.  (And, they had fairly strong feelings about which side was the good guys -- your choice as to which side that was).  So much so that they can be thought something of a Unification War Historian.  Obviously, they can't know the name of every captain on every ship, but they might overhear a guy in a brown coat reference the not-so-famous Battle of Timbuktu and say "Oh, were you with the Fighting 69th or the Third Infantry?"  (Of course if their sympathies were with the Alliance, they might not say anything so nice.)<br/><br/>Four characters, three skills, first come first served.  Sorry about that, but the three skills listed were all I could think of that I thought would be particularly useful.  To whichever of you was last in line, I might think of something else we need, and then you'll be first in line for that one.<br/><br/>So, why don't we try to get something up and running:<br/><br/>All of the characters have met at least one other character.  A few jobs had to be done.  The mechanic and the pilot had to check out the ship to ensure she was airworthy.  Bel was doing a deal with the local longshoremen guild to get some cargo loaded onto the ship for delivery to Greenleaf. While the captain was busy with the necessary paperwork (transferring the registration to his name, signing the loan agreement, getting whatever license is needed to transport cargo, getting the other license for transporting passengers for a fee ... all thanks to the Alliance bureaucracy.<br/><br/>The location is the<em>border planet</em><strong>Paquin</strong>, in the city of<em>Beaufort</em>.  It is a popular tourist destination, with a large number of tourists from the Core planets, while most of the locals are intent on recouping their losses from the war by ripping off the tourists by whatever means is legal (or illegal ones they can get away with.)  Everything from expensive bed and breakfast deals to poker games to picking pockets.  And many of the locals don't experience a huge amount of moral dilemma when the victim is from a border or rim planet either.  Due to its strategic location, the Browncoats committed their share of destruction to life and property.  If the victim has something they want, they can justify taking it.<br/><br/>The local law enforcement officials have to balance their desire to keep the tourists coming to spend money with their total lack of empathy toward anyone who isn't a local.  The Feds, of course, generally have that Fed attitude... the<em>Feditude</em>.<br/><br/>The captain left it up to the First Officer to meet everyone, make cabin assignments, and oversee the loading of stores and cargo.  This is a job being done on consignment for the Colonel, so they'll be getting a lump sum payment based on distance and amount of cargo, rather than negotiating prices and splitting profits.  It's a way for the Colonel to ensure he gets his first payment, taking it off the top.  The advantage is the crew didn't have to come up with the coin to purchase the cargo hoping to resell it at a profit.<br/><br/>After the Colonel takes his cut, this job (or rather this one way trip) will only make enough to replenish their fuel and put a few extra meals on the table, but the hope is that they can pick up work once they're there and unloaded.  And if not, well it's a few extra meals they wouldn't otherwise have.  And for some people it holds an additional payoff.  It's more distant from the Core.<br/><br/>The First Officer also has access to the "petty cash" fund, so she's the one to see for the money for that odd part that needs replacing.  A fragile fuel line.  A burned out bulb.  Etc etc etc.<br/><br/>The guys (Chase & Cam) have been checking over the ship for the past couple of days, making whatever adjustments or repairs are needed, with the Captain checking in on them occasionally. Oddly enough, he doesn't make it very far into Engineering spaces, so he has yet to meet Chase, only Cam.  Mostly, his time is spent with meetings, appointments, etc. tieing up loose ends before departure.<br/><br/>The ship was in pretty good shape for a ship her age, but hardly mint condition.  All the standard safety equipment is on board.  The ship has the standard passive and active sensor type devices.  Passive = "something's out there" and active = "what's out there".  (To use examples from the show, one type told them there's a ship in close proximity, but they had to activate the other to see what kind of ship it was, scan for signs of life on board, etc.)  They have nothing as sophisticated as the military of course.  I mention these devices specifically, because the "active sensor" doesn't appear to be working consistently.  Can it be fixed?  Yeah, probably, by someone who knows how and with the right parts.  Is it really needed?  Nahhhh.. I don't think so.  It's not like we're a government operation, and parts cost money.<br/><br/>On this, the second day of the "coming together of the crew" (though they haven't actually all met) the plan is to meet at 1800 hours local time at a place called the Space Sprocket, not far from the docks. This is where the Captain will discuss the job, the schedule, ensure the ship is ready to go, cargo loaded, engines tuned, etc.  Since it's intended primarily for the locals, there isn't as much ripping-off of tourists there, so the characters are fairly safe from that (though it can still be a rough place.)  It's reminiscent of the old time saloons, except there's a tad more serving of food there, not just drinking and gambling.<br/><br/>Whoever has the gambling skill will arrive early and has the opportunity to get into a low-stakes poker game.  Any other character who wishes can arrive early and has the option of entering that or any other game, or not gamble at all.<br/><br/>The passengers (only Lynn and Angel at this point) have the option of meeting at the "Sprocket" at 1800 (<em>Cap'n promised 'em a free meal if they weren't too particular 'bout it not being the chef from the Ritz doin' the cookin'</em>) or just making sure they were at the ship by 0800 next morning.  If they've already paid for their passage, they could stay the night on the ship at no extra charge. (Naturally, it falls on the First Officer to assign them to their passenger staterooms.)  Of course if Lynn picks the gambling skill she'll need to be at the Space Sprocket.<br/><br/>I'd like everyone in the IC posts to put their character's name, location, and any pertainant information regarding their activity at the top of the page in bold type, to remind everyone who and where they are and what they were doing.<br/><br/>It might look something like this:<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body"><br/><strong>Brad (Captain) - Cargo bay - lying prone on deck with a large knot on his head</strong><br/><br/>As the Captain slowly regained consciousness he was becoming aware of three things.  His head hurt.  Badger's goons were searching the ship.  And he wasn't in Kansas any more. etc etc etc....<br/><br/></div></div><br/><br/>I'm going to go ahead and open an IC thread and make a short post setting the stage... or at least providing a location for someone else who wants to set the stage.  Please let us know here who picks what<em>Christmas present </em>(the aforementioned extra skills) and we'll let the Gambler go first in the IC thread, picking any time between 1700 and 1750 to arrive and get into a friendly game.<br/><br/>For now, you can also post here OR in the IC thread if you want to cover anything that happens before 1700 of day one and bring your character up to real game time.<br/><br/>Hopefully, you'll find an IC thread titled<em><strong>Back in the Black - IC Thread</strong></em>here:  http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=127240.msg5614043#msg5614043 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=127240.msg5614043#msg5614043)