The Great Diamond Operation

[Cattywumpus]

Petr lifts off smoothly, leaving Paquin and the threat of the 14k behind. Once out of the atmosphere, there is the question of a route to take to Arial which is 2 and a half days away by a not regularly traveled Alliance free route and 1 day away by the Alliance controlled shipping lane.

[Nate]

Cid shakes his head in response to the Captains question. "I know there are several people there who don't like me, but I don't foresee any actual troubles at all while we're there. To be safe I should probably avoid coming with you on the dropoff, more to avoid drawing peoples attention to our business endeavors than anything else. I'm not wanted, and I don't owe anybody money, so I can't imagine me causing any trouble at all."

[Hayabusa]

Spart has put his suit back into a drawer in his bunk and changed to something more casual after he has watched the engine heating up, the ship has left atmosphere and engaged the pulse drives.

He has carries a small bag into the common room and unpacks a few pistols, small tools, ammunition and gun oil, putting all of it on a blanket to prevent to damage and stain the table. Spart didn't want to do it in the darker light of his bunk and show the selected weapons to the captain, so he chose to do this in the galley. Casually he dismantles the guns, cleans and lubricates them before loading them with regular ammunition. Then he waits for the captain to further discuss the issue of the hidden weaponry and display the pistols.

[TetNak]

Petr sets a course that can easily be switched to either path. He walks out of the cockpit and yells at the captain, in not such a nice tone, "Captain, care to tell me which way you want to go? The long way, or the short way?" Petr expects the captain to know what he is talking about.

[Muskrat]

Amelia nods to Cid and says, "OK. If you think it's best that you stay in the ship, you should probably do that. Hopefully, Sir James and CiCi will stay with us long term, so we won't need to look for new passengers while we're on Ariel. That does mean, however, that we'll need to stay there a few days, to give them time to do, well, whatever it is that want to do."

In response to Petr's shout, she goes up to see him on the bridge. "We might as well go the short way. We're not carrying anything illegal this time around, so it ought to be safe, even if the Alliance does stop us for inspections, and it will save fuel. That make sense to you?"

[Joni]

CiCi manages to get to her room and starts to go through her contacts list. Maybe she can find someone who knows someone in there so they don't have to deal directly with her clients.

[TetNak]

Petr simply nods and heads back to the cockpit, setting a course to Arial the 'short way'.

Afterward he sits back and relaxes for a few moments, looking over some charts and ensuring the trip will go as smoothly as possible.

[Muskrat]

Amelia warns Petr, "I've asked Spart to set up a system where we'll have pistols cached in secret compartments throughout the ship, including in here on the bridge. The idea is to have a little extra insurance, so to speak, if we get boarded by someone ... unfriendly."

She then heads down to the kitchen, where she saw Spart laying out his gun collection on the way up.

[TetNak]

"Okay," Petr says simply, finishing his research of the flight path. With the ship on autopilot he follows the ship's captain from the bridge.

[Hayabusa]

"Oh, hey Captain", Spart says as Amelia enters the galley. "Ah put a few handguns out here so you can have a look over them. All of them can be used for your little project and Ah still have one or two in a box, but usually I don't use these here and they're just dead weight to me. All are loaded with regualar, non-fancy ammunition, dependant on the caliber of the gun. Here's a Deutrex revolver, .22", he says pointing at the smallest gun. "Certainly not enough to puncture the hull, but enough to penetrate a human skull, although torso wounds are probably not deadly. Well, most of the time, you never know what you hit in the torso. That's a Century 9mm semi-automatic, this one's a larger .45 six shooter, a 9.2 mm revolver and, my personal favorite, the Misriah Armory M6S, which fires rounds almost twice as thick as a finger, so your target won't get up again. Tell me where you want 'em and Ah'll get them stacked away."

Proudly Spart stands next to the five firearms which lie in order of their size on the oily blanket.