The Merchant Ship

Posted on Sat Jun 17th, 2023 @ 10:59am by Chief Petty Officer James Calmara & Samanthia Akiashiro

Mission: The Archan Job
Location: SB 332

Megan Akiashiro finishing her upload of notes into her computer. She came across her notes about a Merchant ship that seamed abandoned in the docking areas. She looked at the notes for a while, thinking about the merchant ship and its addition to the Akiashiro fleet. She exited out of her data-storage program and brought up the ship in question. She looked over the ships stats and current condition. She added the information on the ship into an active file to keep as one of the dailies she would till farther notice. It was still taking up space at one of the more active docks within the vast starship docking area.

She leaned forward and activated the inter-star base communications, bring up Chief Petty Officer Calmara connection and activating it. "Good morning, Chief. I'm Miss Akiashiro, Megan. Of the Akiashiro Merchant Consortium. I'm interested in the merchant ship that apparently looks like it was abandoned. What would be the process to acquire it for the Akiashiro Fleet?"

An incoming call on the communications channel, caused Jimmy to break off from ship status reviews. He was somewhat familiar with the person making the request, definitely knew the company she belonged to, and knew the ship she spoke of all too well, the one he had just had to move out of the way, the current bane of his working day. “Good Morning Miss Akishiro, I would be more than happy to be rid of that ship, I don't mind telling you.” He replied honestly, before going on to detail it status and the reasons why. “The ship is in dispute, thanks to the sudden death of the ship’s skipper and all stemming from it being owned by two consortiums. Now one, I have regular and amicable contact with, they are Verences Shipping Solutions. Highlighting the positives, before going into the problem. “The other company are decidedly less so.”

"What is Verences Shipping stance on the ship that's in port? Will they be coming to pick up the ship in question? Or just abandoning it?" Megan looked at her console and brought up Verences Shipping Solutions to see what type of company it was. "Who is the other owners of the ship?" Fingers poised over her keyboard, ready to input the info to bring up the appropriate data.

"Verences Shipping Solutions, Seem very much like a broker or leaser, they seem to own very few ships outright, usually in conjunction with either a person or a company, seems like they are good at putting people in touch, for a fee I’m fairly sure.” Jimmy explained passing along what he’d learnt through both conversations and a little bit of extra research, the unique circumstances had prompted him to be a little more nosey about the ones involved, “They seem to want out of ownership, I get the impression.” He paused, and a visible eye roll preceded him begging to talk about the other ones. “The same cannot be said about Tumeris Mining Consortium. They have just flat out ghosted me, which is a right pain in the ass. I know they manage a pair of sites, in this sector and one in adjacent sector, They only use vessels they have a stake in, and they manage to turn a slight profit, but there’s not much to go on to be honest.” His frustration at only being able to get this far was clear enough by the tone, he ended with a shrug and offered a query. “I get the feeling previous contact might help, other then that all i can do is pass on the contact i have and wish you the best of luck.”

"I seee... Please pass on the contact for Tumeris Mining." Megan thoughtfully said as she typed in the newest information. "How much longer will it be to consider the ship is legally abandoned and up for open grabs?" She looked up at James with her eyes showing interest.

“Forwarding to you now.” He said in response to the contact request, having an open comm line made this process very rapid, his attention now flicked between the communication screen and a second screen on which he had the particulars of this particular ship, calling up a note on the time frames surrounding it, referenced of course. “Looks like there's three weeks left before it’s considered abandoned, it’s worth noting folks are aware of the ship, but you are the first that has made any definite enquiries.”

"Can you put a lock on the ship to prevent others from grabbing that ship while I consult with my Elders and jump through all the legal steps to procure the ship?" Megan looked at James. "Could you also set up for us to board and inspect the ship to see for ourselves the current conditions and what personal, previous crews, property that has been left behind. We would have to make sure that what personal property to be returned to the last crew that flew the ship." She gave James a soft smile. She liked his rugged look and taking note that he was easy to talk to.

“It’s already a considered a locked vessel, moving within the starbase it requires authorization, and a whole lot of questions after the fact, and any ownership transfer will have to go across the desk of the XO, I’ll note your Groups interest, for sure. He paused and looked back at the comm screen, he gave a smile and agreed to accommodate the request with a condition. “As far as an inspection goes, it’ll be a few days at least, but i can set that in motion for you, it’ll have to be accompanied and supervised by starfleet personnel, you understand.”

"I understand. Hopefully you'll be one of Fleet Personnel that accompanies our group of inspectors from our company and me?" Megan returns with a s soft smile of her own. "Maybe afterwards, we can go have a drink to hopefully to go over and finalize the paperwork?"

"Luck would have it I sort the shedules out, so i think that's a very strong possibility." Jimmy returned with a slow nod and a grin , before going on to add playfully. "As for drinks. that sounds smashing, you see i've got this new friend who's family run a little place called Warp 12, you may have heard of it? but if you have another little place in mind, I'd be open?"

"That would be perfect place to go to." Megan smiled a little wider. "Lets schedule the inspection..." Looking at her screen and bringing up her schedule. "Say at 0900 hr., two days from now?" Looking back at James visual on her communication screen.

Glancing down and a little to the left to view the roster for the specified day, he was looking for two things in particular. Luck would have it there were no meetings that clashed, and the shift was fully staffed. "That's workable, more than workable. Looking forward to it." He stated honestly with a grin, there was something about Megan that intrigued him enough, to want to know more about her. "If i hear anything more in the meantime I'll pass it on, I'd be grateful if you did likewise."

Megan smiled a bit wider letting the natural warmth show through. "Definitely, I'll let you know also. Take care." She reached out and shut off the communication link, leaned back in her chair semi-lost in thought. Letting stray thoughts flitter through her mind about James with a soft dreamy smile as she sat there for a bit.

As the channel closed Jimmy nodded to himself still smiling. As the roster was already open he made sure to put in the inspection, marking himself as dockside, security would have to be contacted and probably involved in the inspection, he was intending to be helpful, but protocol was protocol. He reflected on an what had been interesting conversation, and with an extra appointment to boot, not that he minded overly much, Megan had intrigued him enough to want to know more.