Sea of Stars - IC II

[Blarghy]

Just the two of us, then. Kennoch wondered about Sun Lee's motivation; these were high bids for a collection item. Did she have a more pressing reason to want the memoirs? For one of her own Navigators, or for herself? Not that it mattered. Either way, he had to press on.

"Five hundred five and fifty and," he called out.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Quite intent on those, aren't you?" Sun Lee said. "Five sixty."

[Blarghy]

"I could I could say the same say same of you you you," Kennoch murmured with a hint of suspicion. "Especially as you especially are no Navis no Navis. Five hundred five and seventy-five and five."

You won't beat me!

[Destro_Yersul]

"Do I have to be a Navis, to be interested in what one might say? Regardless, I think that is too much for me." She waved a hand at the auctioneer, who took one last look around the room.

"Sold, to the good Navis, for five seventy five."

The next lot up was the Tau pulse carbine. The bidding started low, with Charlabelle Armelan putting in the initial five thousand.

[Blarghy]

Her sudden reversal surprised Kennoch a bit, but that was quickly washed away by relief. Even though he came to the auction determined and confident, he started to worry just a little. But now the task was done, and he could fulfill his bargain with Lorenzo, not to mention continue his search for answers. He relaxed back in his chair. Furthermore, he signaled to one of the waiters and ordered a glass of dammassine. The rest of the auction seemed like good fun, with work out of the way.

[rax]

Hannabel immediately raises her arm and bids seven thousand for the carbine.

[Destro_Yersul]

The carbine turned out to not have a huge number of takers. A couple people entered token bids, but by and large Hannabel was left competing with just Charlabelle. She placed a bid for nine-thousand, edging out one of the tokens, just as Echo's dataslate bleeped at him; Lorenzo had been true to his word, and transferred him enough money to cover forty per cent of the purchase price for the memoirs.

[rax]

Hannabel throws Charlabelle a smile and jaunty wave, then raises her bid again. "Twelve thousand."

[Haval]

"Do I have to be a Navis, to be interested in what one might say? Regardless, I think that is too much for me." She waved a hand at the auctioneer, who took one last look around the room.

'I admit I can't speak for my colleague, but I could probably send you the highlights. Eventually.'

Anika will clap Kennoch on the back to congratulate him. 'That is an expensive book.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Charlabelle gave a small smile back, and shook her head. She wasn't about to go above that for the carbine, and Hannabel took it.

With the carbine gone, up next was the only lot that was self-motivated. The Remidium-pattern servitor shuffled up to the auction block and stared blankly at the audience. Ravia knew a great deal about this particular pattern of servitor - it was relatively common, as specialised medical servitors went, largely because of its reliability and precision. It could be issued instructions remotely through an internal micro-bead, and featured a pair of injector mechadendrites and a broad array of implanted surgical tools. It would be an ideal assistant, but was also capable of operating on its own, fulfilling many of the functions of proper medical staff.

This particular model appeared to have been designed as a custom piece, built to the highest standards and fitted with pure white laquered armour plates with gilded trim. It also looked as though many of its tools were designed to be easily swapped out if they became worn from overuse. The bidding started at thirty five thousand, with Quinn and Fel the main competitors.

[Leon]

++Now for some Quality++

Ravia signals her intent

[Destro_Yersul]

Fel raised to thirty seven, and Quinn put in thirty eight.

[Leon]

++I raise to Forty++

[Destro_Yersul]

Quinn went to forty two, and then Fel put it to forty three. There was some hesitation, though. They likely didn't want to go much higher on something like this.

[Leon]

++Forty Five++

While one could guess that they would want a quality medicae servitor for their respective ships Ravia is sure that they are more interested in its looks than its functions, while it wasn't a necessity for her as well it would be nice addition to her growing servitor collection and a small part of playing to spite quinn with another loss. Besides with a growing fleet of ships having a reliable medicae presence in all ships was important and this one would make a good installation on the Sting.

[Destro_Yersul]

Neither of the others seemed inclined to go over that, and the auctioneer shortly called "Sold!" on the servitor, which shuffled itself back off the block and towards the storage room. It was passed by someone carrying - extremely carefully - a small, black book, with yellowing pages.

"Something special here," the Auctioneer said, "this exceptionally rare book dates back to the early days of the Imperium. It holds a wealth of knowledge, information on a variety of materials and subjects. It may not look it, unassuming as it is, but within these pages is information any junior tech adept would fall over themselves backwards to have. It would be nigh on impossible to find another copy anywhere in the sector, but once again, putting a price on the pricless is what we are here for. Can I get two hundred thousand?"

[Blarghy]

'I admit I can't speak for my colleague, but I could probably send you the highlights. Eventually.'

Anika will clap Kennoch on the back to congratulate him. 'That is an expensive book.'

"Less expensive now less," Echo mused, looking down at his dataslate. He did some math in his head; now he should be in an excellent position to pick up the mystery locker too, though even if he failed, today would still be a resounding success. Regarding sharing the memoirs even further, he decided to keep his options open. Best to see what the pages actually contained before committing either way--and if Sun Lee wanted a copy, then well, something of this value shouldn't be cheap.

[Leon]

++I will give that price++

Ravia wonders how much of this book she knows already but has other idea for it aswell.

[rax]

Waving over an attendant, Hannabel whispers and instruction to deliver a message Charlabelle.

"Please inform Captain Armelan that I'll be trying out the carbine at the shooting range later. She's welcome to join me if she wants to know how it handles."

[Destro_Yersul]

The attendant nodded, and hurried off across the room, while the auctioneer called "two hundred! We have two hundred thousand!"

Jerot Penthon placed a bid for two-twenty, after some prodding from his fiancee. A few other traders had started to enter the hall now, arriving late - perhaps they had chosen to skip the first half, or perhaps there were some specific items amongst the upcoming that they were interested in. Either way, the hall was beginning to fill a little more, with people shuffling in and out. Corbett Lionus had arrived, and he placed two-thirty, but it quickly jumped again, to two-forty, with another bid from Penthon.

[Leon]

++Two Forty Five++

It was interesting but Ravia wasn't sure how much it was worth pursuing to far

[Destro_Yersul]

Penthon called two sixty-five. Lionus wasn't backing down just yet, though, and made it two seventy-five. A few others shuffled in their seats, looking as though they might be inclined to enter.

[Leon]

Penthon called two sixty-five. Lionus wasn't backing down just yet, though, and made it two seventy-five. A few others shuffled in their seats, looking as though they might be inclined to enter.

++Two Seventy Eight++

[Destro_Yersul]

Jasmine nudged Jerot again, just as he was moving his hand to place another bid, and he subsided. Corbett Lionus smiled, raised his hand, and bid two eighty-five.

[rax]

"Three hundred thousand!" Hannabel suddenly interjects.

[Destro_Yersul]

That gave Lionus pause. He started, having clearly expected no further bets, and considered. "Three hundred ten."

[Leon]

++Three Hundred Fifteen++

[Destro_Yersul]

"Going once, going twice... sold!"

Lionus balked at adding more, and Ravia won the pocket ref.

"This next lot," the auctioneer said, "cannot be displayed. Not even I know what it actually is. The Winterscale Dynasty owns a series of storage lockers on Scintilla, each of which is quite large, and Calligos has decided to clear one of them out to make room for some recent acquisitions. Everything in it must go, which is why we will be selling it to one of you privileged few as a single mixed lot. It could be anything, but it is certainly something interesting and valuable. Shall we start with... two hundred thousand?"

This lot seemed likely to attract the more adventurous types. Saul and Morwenna stayed out of it, but Aoife, Quinn, Fel, and Sun Lee were all in, and the price shot to two hundred fifty within the first round of bids.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius laughs. Why not? Two sixty.

[Destro_Yersul]

Sun Lee put it up to two seventy, and Aoife bid two-eighty.