Hendricks will go about his business on the ship as well, and will likewise find a break to look at the contract at the opportune times. He chews on his cigar while considering the offer. "Ah! What the hell. It's not like I'm going to live to a hundred anyway."

He'll throw 40K creds at the venture himself, will sign the paper, and bring it back to the captain, all folded neatly like an official demand to reenlist in the marines. "Here's your mail, Captain. Now make me proud and get us some turrets to mount on that thing ASAP, alright? I don't fancy trips in vacsuits when I can blow the shit out of pirates from the comfort of our cockpit. Know what I'm sayin'?"

Aron brings around the signed contract with what he can muster of the 10k (8700).

"You said you'd front the short, eh?"

___

Later he walks the deck of the ship, alternately muttering to himself as he reads from a used copy of a vilani book on ship duties and trying to figure out where best to hide the still.

Quote from: Spike;516207"You said you'd front the short, eh?"

Buzz nods. "We'll issue you the additional shares on credit, and you can repay them out of your dividends or your monthly salary. There's a 5% surcharge, so the total repayment is 1365 credits.

"Your ship's salary is 3000 credits per month," the captain adds, "so you can pay it off all at once after a month or make payments over six months at 228 credits each month."

Quote from: Benoist;516084"Here's your mail, Captain. Now make me proud and get us some turrets to mount on that thing ASAP, alright? I don't fancy trips in vacsuits when I can blow the shit out of pirates from the comfort of our cockpit. Know what I'm sayin'?"

Buzz nods. "A triple turret's going to set us back about a million credits, and filling it with three sandcasters is another seven-fifty large.

"I don't fancy fighting pirates in space - there's no money in it," he continues. "Sandcasters protect us while we run. But they also have another advantage I think you'll appreciate - imagine a giant triple-barrel shotgun fired against boarders." The captain shakes his head. "It's devastating.

"In the meantime, we have four boarding shotguns and four snub pistols in the armory, plus a couple of cutlasses. We can fill that out a bit when we get to Shirene in a few weeks. A couple of laser rifles wouldn't be a bad idea." He considers for a moment. "You and JB are both checked out on combat armor, yes?"

Quote from: Black Vulmea;516759Buzz nods. "We'll issue you the additional shares on credit, and you can repay them out of your dividends or your monthly salary. There's a 5% surcharge, so the total repayment is 1365 credits.

"Your ship's salary is 3000 credits per month," the captain adds, "so you can pay it off all at once after a month or make payments over six months at 228 credits each month."

"Don't fancy the vig so's I'd just as soon pay it quick, Cap'n"

Quote from: Spike;516906"Don't fancy the vig so's I'd just as soon pay it quick, Cap'n"

The merchant smiles. "That puts the money back into our operating capital sooner, so that's appreciated. I'll make the deduction at the end of the month."

Dr. Pradesh retires to the sickbay where he starts looking up health warnings in the nearby systems the Cap mentioned, and checking everyone's health clearances, as oriented.

When he's done, he goes to the bridge to remind all crewmen present that, with the Captain's authorization, he'd like each men to report to sickbay and submit to a full physical and a few tests, before they take off. "No one wants to discover a serious health condition in the middle of a jump, I trust?", says the doctor in his peculiar upper-class accent.

"That's a good idea, doctor," Buzz replies. "Today's 047, and we lift on 053, so let's make sure all the physicals are complete by 051."

JB shows up in medical and says, "Ok Doc, lets get it over with, I have ducts to get back to."

After his medical work-up, JB returns to his repair of the duct-work outside the bridge, occasionally muttering.

JB returns to engineering and flips on some music as he goes through his maintenance routine.