Dinner was expected at 2000 IST so I had a couple of hours to get myself ready and to continue some of my early research into Beck's World and see what our passengers were like.

From the rough data I could gather from the ship's library it appeared that he colony on the planet's surface was small, the residents eking out a simple existence under pre-fabricated domes. There was a small local military force known as the Thanes, keeping law and order in the town. Although there was an Imperial consulate listed in the Beck's Town, which was the name of the domes surrounding the downport, there was no note of the name of the consul or mention of their administration. A little further out from the town there were living quarters for some of the archaeologists and scientists from the University of Regina that were attending an Ancients' dig further afield. Quickly scanning the passenger list I tried to guess why my guests wanted to journey to such a desolate rock and started to form questions to use in small talk across the dinner table.

As the time for dinner approached I headed to the passenger lounge which took up most of the front of the upper deck. Annie had been hard at work preparing the Jump Entry meal and everything was laid out ready. After a few minutes the first passengers came from their staterooms and we engaged in idle chit-chat. When we were all there we sat down to eat.

A seated dinner gave me more time to play the role of what I thought a captain of a merchant ship should be and tried to keep the passengers entertained in conversation, trying to show an interest in them. I will check with Annie whether my strategy worked well later.

I asked Commander Bernheim, who despite his years was looking resplendent in his dress uniform, if his intent was to assist or train the Thanes on Back's World with his military insight and training but I was rebuffed on that suggestion, as he told me that it was the University of Regina that had commissioned him to provide his services to the dig team. Whether that was for his military knowledge or another skill of his I could not fathom. The most elderly of our passengers, an old Scout called Pekka Zuo entered the conversation to ask if that was to provide protection to the archaeologists, to which Bernheim tried not to answer but I assumed it was so, though protection from what I did not understand.

As Mr Zuo kept the commander busy I began to talk to Gebke Schnell, asking if they were heading to Beck's World to start afresh away from the growing conflict on Kinorb. It didn't appear so, however. She was a little guarded, but it sounded like she may be wanting to travel further on from Beck's World and I could already see Annie making a mental note as she attended to the table and overheard our conversation.

With Bernheim joining the dig I asked the same question of Saime Cousins, who had indicated that she was a scholar and was visiting the dig. As I asked further I must have accidentally mentioned something sensitive as Saime's demeanour switched. She became a little aggressive, suggesting that I was working for the Thanes, supplying them with information and collateral and even went as far as mentioning that she had seen the cargo crate of currency being loaded into the hold when she had arrived and knew, just knew, that it was to be delivered to the Thanes who would use the money to hire more thugs and shut down the dig site.

Despite my protestations she became very upset and headed back to her stateroom. The other passengers mostly appeared sympathetic, but Secretary Kimball (who I assumed was visiting the consulate, but had not had time to ask) and Sieds Gentle both retired to their rooms very quickly. I fear that Annie and I may have a lot of work to get the passengers happy again and ensure that the reputation of the Kalitá is not tarnished.

#0001 — 007-1106 @ 1800 to 007-1106 @ 2100 IST Ω

When all of the passengers had finally left the lounge Annie and I had a quick discussion. She was going to go and see if she could placate Saime before she went to sleep. Better now than leaving it until morning. Annie would know better than me in these situations, so I left that to her and decided to head down to the cargo bay to inspect the crates containing the currency that Saime had seemed to get very upset about.

Heading down to the lower deck in the lift I quickly turned to the fore cargo bay entry. Punching in the code let the door open and I went into the cold and darkness of the vast space. There were some emergency lights, softly glowing at the sides and on the floor, but I switched on the overheads to make things easier.

The cargo manifest display was quick to search and to identify the crates that contained the currency and it was a quick walk around the bay to isolate the crates themselves.

There were nine crates in all, standard displacement ton containers. If this was paper currency there could be an enormous amount within them, especially if there were all full. There would be millions of notes. However, if the currency was truly valuable then it would be unlikely to be shipped via freight. Something that Saime should be made aware of.

Based on the manifest and the markings on the shipment crates the currency was definitely intended for the Imperial Consulate. The consul was listed as Fedic Jocan on the shipment, a representative of the Duchy of Regina and the only official from the Imperium on Beck's World.

With no more to be found in the cargo bay I left and headed back to my quarters to await any update from Annie.

Annie knocked politely at my door about fifteen minutes after I had returned. She had not been able to calm Saime down fully, although she still thought she might be able to. I told Annie about the currency crates and their intended destination and she seemed happy about that and would see to Saime in the morning.

#0002 — 007-1106 @ 2100 to 007-1106 @ 2300 IST Ω

Early in the morning Annie had taken breakfast to Saime's stateroom and had managed to engage her in conversation about the currency shipment and what was happening at Beck's World.

Saime had calmed down somewhat and listened carefully to what Annie had to say about the currency being intended for the Imperial Consulate rather than any paramilitary regime on the planet. It appeared to rectify the situation and we seemed back on track to have a quiet jump.

For the rest of the day I made sure that the passengers were all being well looked after as well as checking in with James, Annie and Otto.

James had taken the starboard stateroom just aft of the bridge and commandeered the room at the other side of the corridor, the smallest room of them all, as a tiny medbay. It was thin and long in there, with just about enough room for a thin gurney, but at least there was somewhere for him to lay out his medic apparatus, though hopefully it wouldn't need to be used.

Annie was a whirl of activity most of the day, making sure that the passengers had everything they needed. She had also managed to arrange the corner of the lower deck common area into a useful kitchen and food preparation area. A simple curtain separated it from the rest of the room so that the crew could still use the area to relax when they wanted.

Otto had one of the staterooms nearest my own quarters, however he spent most of his time in engineering close to the drives. He was not happy that one of the thrusters was not working to full capacity and had started to strip and clean parts of it.

With everything seemingly in order I've managed to get some time to myself and have begun to study more about Beck's World so that we have some information to decide on how best to go about selling the trade goods we have and see where we might go after there.

#0003 — 008-1106 @ 0800 to 008-1106 @ 1900 IST Ω

With some study of Beck's World the previous evening, and the day to day life of being onboard a ship in jumpspace beginning to seem normal, there begins a time to relax a little and plan for when we finally return to normal space.

Time to relax didn't seem to be an option, though, as Otto pinged me say that the sensors were acting "funny" and he couldn't get to the bottom of it. As part of the first survey of the ship when Otto had come on board on Kinorb we had discovered there were a few issues with the sensors, that, in conjunction with the drive efficiency and the contamination of the cargo area were likely the reason that Lollops had passed on the ship to me.

With some investigation we determined that the readings were in fact part of the issues. Between us we thought it would be best just to place a temporary jury-rigged patch on the sensors for now and then see if we have the capital available to get them fixed properly when we get to Beck's World.

Otto has spent most of the day on the patch and says he will be working well into the night. I think he's enjoying himself really.

#0004 — 009-1106 @ 1500 to 009-1106 @ 1800 IST Ω

The rest of the jump passed without any incident. Annie worked tirelessly to keep all of the passengers happy and satisfied and Otto did a good job in keeping the sensors operational and within parameters. James kept himself to himself most of the journey, happy to spend time between his stateroom and the medbay and was not needed by any of the passengers fortunately.

As we got closer to the predicted jump exit time we let the passengers know and asked them to wait safely in their staterooms whilst we took our crew positions; Annie and I on the bridge, Otto in engineering and James in the medbay.

The transition from jumpspace to the Beck's World system was seamless and after a brief sensor check to confirm location we let the passengers know that we had arrived in system. Meanwhile, the comms and computer systems kicked in to discover communication buoys^[2] and I collected a passive sensor sweep to determine any close traffic.

Although our sensor suite has had its problems, it looked clear that the passive radar scan indicated no other ships within at least a thousand clicks. However, the chatter from the comms buoy came through quickly and the basic information about the Beck's World system, including the starport co-ordinates, was fed into the computers.

With trajectories and orbits confirmed I set a course for the starport — a simple dirtside affair — and gave Annie the nod to let the passengers know we had arrived in system safely.

The next six hours or so we relatively uneventful, travelling through the blackness on a pre-computed course needed little attention and apart from announcing deceleration halfway through the voyage the time passed slowly and without incident.

As we came closer we could just about see the mainworld in front of us, its blackness almost hidden in space. The red streaks across its surface, however, gave it away and as we approached orbit we could make out the red and orange lava fields, the planet looking scorched and burnt, with rough mountains and volcanoes scattering the surface.

Gradually we moved into an orbit and sent out a communication request to the starport. An automated beacon replied only a couple of minutes later giving us a flight path to their secondary pad, along with the prices for berthing and fuel which were, to say the least, expensive for the facilities. There was no alternative, however, so course was set.

The passengers were asked to head to the lounge and strap themselves into the seating, with Annie accompanying them, as much for safety as well as giving them an opportunity to view the descent and the planet through the lounge windows. As we descended, the view was lost as we dove through vast ash clouds, black and swirling, but soon we pushed through and were greeted by a dull red glow from the veins of lava on the surface. Cracks and vents and the occasional towering volcano spewed the smoke into the atmosphere, which was thick and heavy. Soon, the starport and colony came into view, a gaggle of habitation domes and prefabricated shelters on the shore of a milky-blue lake, the first that we had seen on our descent.

The request came through from the automated starport beacon to take over the helm for landing and I gladly accepted. The Kalitá slowed, maneouvered about, and then finally came to rest on the pad. We had landed.

#0005 — 014-1106 @ 1230 to 014-1106 @ 2100 IST Ω