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"It's clearly not in order, sir, not with the new guidelines passed down this morning." The inspector is a minor functionary, the sort of person who just follows orders he's given because it's easier and lets him flex a bit more power than he could otherwise. So, now, he's ready to give you all grief. "Unloading any creatures that are not cleared is an act of smuggling, as well as a potential health risk." The man makes finger quotes. "Even if they're 'crew', Formicidans and rock men are not covered, and, as such, the Port Docking Authority has no choice but to lock down this ship and consider if she should be seized, Mister Panovan. I realize that the Orbital Patrol may have different definitions, but that's not my problem. Look, if you want to protest this, take it up with my boss. Kam Unic's office is way out on one of the spokes,, though, and he's been in meetings with Consul Reginald and that foreign Commander guy. You're going to be lucky to get in with him any time soon." Feeling he's made his point, the man checks his clipboard again and makes ready to move further down the docking spaces. The Dragoness is hardly the only craft currently parked here, after all. Indeed, Hub Central Port is the busiest on Alzer, and there's a constant flow of traders, workmen, spacers, passengers, ambitious street vendors, and more, all throughout the complex. Sure, a ship that's actually lighting up its engines might be given a wide berth, but beyond that, there's little wasted space and most of the available areas are filled with people. Clearly, though, someone's taken exception. The Dragoness and its crew and its... more interesting charter visitors... are trying to be fed into the bureaucracy. This 'new guideline' wouldn't pass muster for long, but someone's hoping it will be for long enough.
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Jul 25, 2016 03:46
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Eriq Alssus "Passed down this morning?" Eriq downed the rest of his tea, set the empty cup down, and looked across the mess hall table to Daitorius and K't'agnaan. "You know Agrex better than I do so maybe he has something up his sleeve, but worst case scenario I'm sure I can figure out something. Still, this morning. I don't know if anyone even knows what the papers are supposed to look like."
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Jul 25, 2016 16:08
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Agrex Panovan The merchant looked at the functionary as he leaves, eyestalks almost shaking with spite. His voice is however controlled as he speaks. "How are K't'agnaan and Daitorius holding up?" Goodman leans on the side of the Dragoness. "Last I checked, they were getting tea with that Alssus fellow. It's hard to get a read on Daitorius, but K't'agnaan seemed pretty upset." Agrex takes out his palmtop, accessing his guild's archives and inputting this Kam Unic's name. "Understandably so. Whoever is responsible for this farce is putting them on the same level of cattle as far as this dock is concerned. I will have words with this person. And possibly their job." quote:Agrex is tapping his Guild Member guild to get some information on this Kam Unic guy. Someone with the authority to decide what can or can't enter a space port is probably someone the Solar Wind Trading Guild is at least aware of; who is he, what gives him the authority to do that, how did he get away with a rule that so blatantly disrespects different races.
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Jul 25, 2016 20:33
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Sada Insight Tokens: 0 Sada has no idea what's going on. This entire business is entirely foreign to her. In fairness, much is. She has settled for following people around and looking at everything she can. "I don't know what this health hazard is about. Rockmen have a silicon-based biology. Silicate life was specifically incompatible with carbon-based disease. Most disease can't even jump across species barriers easily..." That she knows. She couldn't tell you how she knows it, but she does.
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Jul 26, 2016 00:59
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Varakyn Varakyn looks up from her oracular engine, which she's been communing with for a while. She's in what she refers to as her war regalia, which is a lot more practical for walking around than some of her more ornate outfits. Her wand in a scabbard across her back, as usual. "It is not a health measure, Primordial. It is a trap. Of what sort remains uncertain. But they seek to delay us, and not merely for amusement. They would not bother unless they need to time to enact some stratagem." Her archaic accent remains thick, though her speech isn't quite so formal as it had been. The Ancient turns her engine over in her hands, then puts it into its carrying case on her hip. "I thought I might smooth our way in the etherium, but they are relying on hardcopy for this. Even more suspect." "Honored Captain, do you think this Kam Unic a foe, or merely a pawn, bribed to take this course?"
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Jul 26, 2016 02:41
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Kihra Rolla "And I'm telling you, I'm acting on authority of the Alzer Patrol!" The policewoman continually shoves her badge in the inspector's face, because it's worked before. "Don't make me bring you in for obstruction of an officer's duties!"
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Jul 26, 2016 03:31
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"Kam Unic:" the information comes back to Agrex quickly, scrolling through the palmtop with pleasant rapidity. The information is phrased a little more discreetly, but what it boils down to is that the man is a toad who likes two things: to feel important, and to get money. Hence the office being so far away: it's cheaper, so he can appoint it better, and it makes people come to him, which makes him feel important. Generally speaking, he spits out a constant stream of positions, waivers, policies, and memos based on who he needs to toady up to or who bribed him lately. This new policy is probably the former, and there's a very solid chance that everyone except whoever it was aimed at is going to get waivers easily, and that it will either be quietly dropped or remain on the books and utterly unenforced as soon as its actual target is no longer around. In fact, this one's news to them: somehow, this may not have gotten around to everyone yet. The good news is that it's usually quite easy to get an appointment to go in to see Kam Unic and make a case in person. It's no surprise they got back so quickly; naturally, anyone in the Guild who calls upon such local information could be counted on to do something for them, as well, in return. Cost: A favor to the local guild chapter The inspector futilely attempts to keep his clipboard between his face and Kihra's badge. "Ma'am--ma'am! I'm just doing my job! You can't take me in for refusing to allow a health hazard!" There's a definite 'this is not worth twelve zorbics an hour' expression on his face. Especially since he's not actually sounding very sure that she can't take him in. It probably wouldn't be that hard to get the clipboard-carrier to crack, but it's going to take something more than the badge itself. He just needs the fig leaf that says he did it properly, so he can argue that if he needs to. A certain base level of simple corruption like that keeps trade moving with well-lubricated speed, after all. If someone is going to intimidate or pick-pocket or ask to see a sample copy of the papers or anything of the sort, give me a skill roll.
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Jul 27, 2016 16:47
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Eriq Alssus "Agrex, do you have a minute? He seems to be, uh, preoccupied anyway," Eriq motioned toward the inspector cowering by Kihra. When they were safely out of earshot Eriq continued, "The rule just came down this morning, this guy probably doesn't know what the papers look like any more than we do. If you've got any Alzerian paperwork, Daitorius and K't'agnaan don't mind the indignity of being treated like livestock, and you're willing to put your, *ahem*, reputation on the line, I'm sure I can crank out something that looks official enough that he won't raise a stink." Eriq peeked through the door at the inspector, who was now cautiously backing away from the Kihra and the ship. "From the sound of it I can get the job done in the time it takes you to visit Mr. Unic, and meeting him would give us an explanation for how we managed to get our papers so quickly. Even if you never actually get to see him." [Not rolling until it's needed, in case things somehow go smoothly with Mr. Unic.]
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Jul 27, 2016 21:34
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Agrex Panovan The charter better not make me pay through the nose for this. thinks the merchant as he nods to Eriq and follows him. After listening to his plan, he makes a slightly wet humming noise. "I must confess I am not exceedingly fond of folding over this obnoxious bureaucratic mudskipper's threat, but needs must, and I'd like to have my whole crew with me when we visit this Unic fellow. Go ahead and connect whatever powered tool you need to use to the ship's grid, I'll find you a couple of local docking permits for you to, ahem, take inspiration from."
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Jul 28, 2016 13:00
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Eriq Alssus "All right, I'll get to- um, hmm. Right. I can work with this. Could I borrow your office?" Eriq shut the door behind him and sighed. "D-drat, holographic watermarks, this is going to be tricky." [Rolling forgery here, I think this is still in the domain of ID forgery but it's up to ZeeToo if that's a stretch. It matters because I rolled a 3.]
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Jul 28, 2016 17:20
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Sada Insight Tokens: 0 Sada seems perturbed by all this. "I really hope this isn't just a trap for all of us...I don't want to have to fight, Varakyn. You can call me Sada, I keep telling you." She smiles, a bit sadly. "I'm sorry I can't be more helpful here."
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Jul 29, 2016 02:38
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Eriq has to guess, somewhat. These things take certain familiar forms as a baseline, of course, so it's not a total shot in the dark. It won't fool anyone who's paid enough attention to know what it really should look like, but it's absolutely going to pass muster with the average person. Cost is a Disadvantage to any rolls where someone might seriously know what they're talking about here, but it should easily be enough to get into bars and move around normally. Even better, Kihra's pretty well chased off the only local expert. The last thing he wants to do is hang around here.
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Jul 29, 2016 16:43
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 Varakyn gets to her feet to join the others. She nods to Sada graciously, but she's done that before and not changed how she addresses the other woman. The Ancient adjusts the wand across her back to a more comfortable position and turns to Agrex. "If this functionary proves intractable, perhaps I can commune with his analytic engines and discern the truth in that way, Honored Captain. Though he will be made of sterner stuff than I expect if the arrival of yourself, in company of a Paladin and a Primordial - and of course the Antiquarian and myself - does not shake his resolve." She's clearly eager to get moving.
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Jul 30, 2016 19:07
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 "Hm, yes, I don't believe that that will be necessary; but it's good to have the option open, at least." Agrex nods at the princess, before addressing the rest of the crew and passengers. "If there are no objections, I propose that we visit this functionary and have a little chat with him. If nothing else, I would see this barbaric guideline lifted; we may also discover who is so interested in stopping us from getting around Alzer."
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Jul 30, 2016 21:18
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 "Hmph, nobody respects the authorities anymore! I guess if you wanna beat the bureaucracy, you have to get to the head of it! Let's go!"
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Aug 1, 2016 22:21
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 "Right, I'm not looking forward to dealing with this guy, but he's trying to keep us from something important. We need to find out what." Eriq handed the forged certificates to Agrex. "Captain Panovan, I'll let you handle these," he said, clapping the dust off his hands.
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Aug 2, 2016 00:59
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