Federation Commander

"We would certainly hope to. For profit. But first, if it's all right with you, of course, I think your security is currently beating our distraction senseless. If you would be so kind as to inform them that is not neccessary, I would personally appreciate it."

He quietly speaks into a communicator for a moment.

"Done," he says. "Now then..."

[He waits for y'all to do your 'splainin'.]

(OOC: I'm a bit shy on the details, I'd like to be able to spin it in a favorable light for us. Please keep that in mind when I try to do this.)

"Thank you. Bit of a Klingon at heart, my friend, unfortunately not Klingon in constitution. Loves a good fight, but tends to lose the battle when the odds are four or five to one.

"Anyhow, we have come into possession of some items after someone hired us to help with a delivery. That seems to have gone south through no fault of our own, and the client is... uncommunicative now. While it is not the custom for humans to honor contracts past a stalling point like that, it seemed a good idea. We have, at our own expense despite not having the final payment from our client, continued in what we deemed would likely be the most honorable course."

He looks at the Klingon, and if he seems a bit skeptical, he adds, "Granted, we are certainly looking for profit, but that does not exclude honor."

"To make the story short, we have tracked down your eminent personage, and happen to have in storage the items I believe would be most interesting to you."

"It was discussed whether an open auction should be held. That option has been postponed until after our conversation. Am I correct in the assumption that you would prefer a private offering?"

(OOC again: How hilarious that my spell checker alerted me that I misspelled 'Klingon'... )[/i]

Muankaal looks a little skeptical....

"Who is this that hired you, now...? And what are these... items... of which you speak...?"

"Ever hear of Karn Cheyeng? Anyhow, let's say a guy named Tarsh hired us. I'm sure you've heard of X'al Fen. Pretty much, all of these people are uncommunicative now. Anything you may have wanted to discuss with them, you would likely only have the oppotunity to discuss with us."

"You worked for Cheyeng? Then that makes you *my* employees, does it not? I pay generously, and, in exchange, I expect complete loyalty. Those who betray me... well... that doesn't come up very often."

He then explains that he has a minor sideline trading old artefacts that date from the time of the Old Kings. X'al Fen had a bad habit of selling significant cultural artefacts to outside bidders. The Klingons preservation societies knew about this, but decided to let him continue operating so that they could keep an eye on him. Karn Cheyeng posed as an Andorian to buy back key items so as to not arouse any suspicions on X'al Fen's part.

But... something out of the ordinary has clearly transpired here. Muan Kaal will pay you... rather well... to find out who killed Karn Cheyeng and X'al Fen. He'll pay you even more if you can get him the artifact they got killed over.

"Besides, I'm limited in my ability to operate here in Federation Space. Perhaps citizens like yourselves can get around a bit more freely, could you not?"

What do you say?

"First, it definitely does not make us your employees, although that is negotiable. If you believe in honoring that sort of chain, then it obviously does not count under a presumed name and disguise, when we have great difficulty finding you, let alone getting in to actually see you.

"We have suspected as much, and are aware of your generosity. That is what brings us here for negotiations.

"However, any information or items we may or may not have is, by dint of salvage, ours. Your generosity is indeed almost as legendary as your honor, and these items are worth far less to us than you, and I'm sure an arrangement can be made. I hope I am not insulting at all, when I simply wish to make clear we are not currrently under obligation to you."

Presuming 'rather well' is acceptable, he will counter with 'rather well' X1.5, since it's just not right to accept the first offer.

Also, unless I'm mistaken, we currently have in our possession the item in question, and a data device which probably has particulars about the whole thing that we cannot read without some sort of Klingon reader doohickey. Was that item broken?

[OOC]

No, the artifact was broken.

the data disk is valid and not damaged.

And Captain Jack would be ok with money now, and picking up the job to find the killers and why for more money.

"I'm more than happy to find the killers for the right price. You want 'em dead or alive?"

[Marcus Kane arrives... lurches over to the group... and dry heaves a little after the big beating he took.]

"I'll take the killers either way. Did any of you get a good look at them?"

Muankaal starts laying down 1000 credit card-bills onto the table. There's a stack of five of them there as he asks that last question.

(OOC: We have the broken artifact? If not, ignore this entire post.)

"I believe it might be time to reveal something as a token of good faith." Finding the artifact, he pulls the pieces out. "Apparently, this is what the deal was all about. I'm not sure how valuable it is, but it seems likely it was in better shape when the deal was supposed to go down. This is, unfortunately, the way we discovered it."

Marcus composes himself and responds,"Sorry for being late, I was a little disposed at the time. I saw the killers. The muscle were human males relatively large seemed maybe they had a military background. The leader seemed to be female. I think she was human but she wore a black jumpsuit and was rather quick. Can't remember much else since I was trying not to get disentegrated."

Captain Jack hands Muankaal the data disk from Tarsh and the broken artifact pieces.

"Marcus knows what they look like, the next question is if we have leads where to start first?"

"Ah yes... There is also the matter of the data. We have not yet had a chance to examine it..."

He pockets the creds, making sure there's some sort of nod or something so the others know he's not taking it all for himself.

"This is agreeable for the work we have already done, I believe?" he looks at his companions to make sure. "shall we say, an equal sum for the work we are about to do?"

Captain Jack explains: "All things being equal is always equal, and I agree. I welcome new opportunities at this time."