11 Isten 1117: Jumpspace
Today was quiet. Jumpspace usually is; that’s the one place you don’t want excitement.
Our Oligack passengers were the only real problem. Varan had retrieved their personal luggage for them the night before, but they were still complaining about the inconvenience. I was as apologetic as diplomacy required me to be, but it really was their fault. They continued to grumble but were mollified somewhat when I let them load an MVRRPG onto the passenger system.
We had installed a separate system for passengers a while back. It was only a Comp-2bis, but it met almost every need passengers could conceivably have. There was a one-way link from our main computer to keep it updated, but that was it. They could do whatever they wanted to that system; we wiped and reloaded it every time we landed. It had no access to any of the ship’s systems, so we didn’t have to worry about what the passengers were doing with their computer access. The ton of cargo space it cost us was well worth cutting off the worry of someone interfering with our system.
We had our own MVR games, of course. At the moment we were playing Inquisitor; a historical fantasy game set on old Terra where demonic portals were opening. We were agents of the Church charged with finding and closing them. We had been playing it for a few months now and, while it was still enjoyable, we probably needed to look at something else.
The game the Oligack’s had loaded was Buccaneer, a swashbuckling piracy game set on a low-tech planet during the Long Night. The world had fallen into barbarism and the now-separated cities on the island planet had sent out fleets of sailing ships looking for resources and remnants of old 2nd Imperium technology. The main attraction seemed to be exploring an unknown world and the vast mix of technology available.
The Oligack team seemed to have only picked it up to have something to do on the trip; none of them were that good at it. Strangely, Hirin and Kalen seemed to be familiar with the game and were doing quite well. I had been afraid that Dr. Bertoan and his team would have been annoyed at that too, but they seemed to be happy for the challenge. I was glad; it kept them from annoying Varan too much.
Do’rex and Jami have assured me that everything is fine and we should have an ordinary Jump. Varan says the passengers mostly seem to be happy. The Oligack group complains a bit, but he thinks it is more because they believe they have to. He did say that Joh Parah pulled him aside and apologized for the rest of the team. Apparently, they had been drinking and almost missed the launch window. So maybe they’ll be subdued until we reach Fugitak.
Other than that, not much happened today. Me? I’m going to sleep early.