The next morning some of the crew went for a hunting expedition (which was more of a shooting expedition with no intention of killing anything) while the rest stayed in the bar and around the ships.
Upon returning Lady Nitrane found that she had received an invitation. It was a gold edged card, carefully written out with meticulous penmanship, inviting her to dine with Captain Torsa of the Imperial Treasure Ship Martin II. Did he have a thing for her? Had she gone overboard by talking to him for such a long time the evening before?
The day was drawing to a close, leaving little time to prepare. Nitrane chose a simple but elegant dress and asked Unter to accompany her as her bodyguard. She chose not to take electronic lock openers or other devices in case of detection, and then crossed the flat expanse of the spaceport and arrived at the treasure ship.
At the hatch she was met by a guard and accompanied up to Captain Torsa's quarters. Unter meanwhile was escorted to the galley for his meal.
Torsa greeted Nitrane cordially and kissed her hand. He led her to an end of the room where some memorabilia were strategically placed. She took in the scene as aperitifs were offered to her. Taking a moderately alcoholic one she realised that there were pictures of ships on the sideboard but no family. Torsa's conversation was smooth and practised - he was clearly used to speaking in noble circles - but there was something that Nitrane picked up. He was apprehensive about something that he was carefully trying to hide.
The couple moved from the end of the room to the table, where Torsa slide Nitrane's chair under her at her end of the table and took his position at the other end. Soup was followed by fowl, and then a roast haunch, but Nitrane was more interested in finding out what Torsa was up to.
Lady Nitrane mentioned it was terrible luck that the ships had gone missing, but Torsa took it that she felt bad for him rather than the missing (presumed dead) crews. She then tried a slightly clumsy attempt at flattery but he seemed to be aware that it was less than honest and she ceased that line of conversation.
Over the dessert Torsa got more and more agitated and eventually asked if he could be quite blunt. Did Admiral Slayed think poorly of him?
Nitrane managed to successfully stifle her huge guffaws when she realised that was the whole purpose of the evening. Torsa wanted to know if Slayed liked him or not! She told him that Slayd didn't hate him at all, and in fact had talked about Torsa the night before. The captain seemed entirely heartened and more or less dismissed Nitrane - her usefulness at an end.
Leaving the captain's quarters Nitrane bumped into First Officer Jagad who had been waiting for her. Jagad asked about the meal with Torsa and as Nitrane rolled her eyes and suggested it was less than pleasant Jagad asked if Nitrane wanted a coffee and that she had a coffee machine in her quarters where they might be able to talk more privately.
Entering the First Officer's quarters Nitrane took in that Jagad was a tidy person but not afraid to be feminine. There was indeed a coffee machine and Jagad promptly made one. With nowhere else to sit she motioned Nitrane to sit on the bed and brought the coffee over.
Talk turned to the treasure ship and the predicament that it was currently in. Jagad gushed that it was such a good party the night before and how difficult it was to meed new people who were interesting - most times in port the locals were underwhelming and the port officials somewhat overawed by Imperial Navy people.
As Nitrane was mentioning that she and her ships had been hunting pirates not long before Jagad reached up and tucked one of Nitrane's stray hairs behind an ear and smiled. That stopped Nitrane in her tracks as she looked into Jagad's eyes and realised it was no pure happenstance that saw Jagad waiting for her outside the captain's quarters.
Some time later (maybe eight hours).
Unter wondered for the hundredth time what was taking Nitrane so long. He'd seen many crew he'd recognised from the night before, but when they started coming in for their next meal he hoped that the eight hours of so that Nitrane had been busy was worth it.
Nitrane stirred and got out of the bunk, dressed and bade Jagad a fond farewell. She went to find Unter and with him returned to the Harriers to tell Slayed that he should be expecting an invitation. Slayed laughed and waved a gold edged invitation to breakfast with Captain Torsa.
Slayed dressed in his Drinaxian officer uniform rather than the Imperial one and went across to the treasure ship. Eagle eyed crew on the Harrier saw that it was Torsa who met Slayed at the hatched and bowed to the approaching man. They entered the ship.
Some time later (probably an hour).
Slayed emerged and strode purposefully back to the Harrier. The PCs asked what had happened and he held up a single finger to motion them to wait. He pressed the button and the cargo door slowly closed, and when it did so Slayed laughed his head off.
Torsa was interested to know if the Drinax Harriers could escort the treasure ship on its journey to Byni. It would be travelling at Jump-2 anyway and it seemed, with such good fortune, that Slayed could indeed accompany the Imperials.
What's more, Torsda had insisted that Slayed accompany him on the treasure ship and Jagad suggested in strong terms that Nitrane also travel on the treasure ship so Slayed was not alone. Torsa agreed and the two of them were to embark in an hour as they were leaving shortly.
Nitrane and Slayed packed bags, went to the treasure ship, were assigned staterooms and prepared for take off.
To be continued....
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