Saga - OT Doctor Vertti, I presume?

Title: Doctor Vertti, I presume?
Timeframe: Saga OT, round 0 BBY
Synopsis: Doctor Nanda Vertti of University of Sanbra have not reported back for some time so the university decided to send an expedition to find her. Something that expedition leader, Professor Amidala Kun, find is a lot harder to do than to say.
Notes: Nanda Vertti belongs to @Raissa Baiard and the Blue Bloods is @Anedon

Parts
Part 1 - see below
Part 2
Part 3

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Part 1
There was a lot of work involving creating an official University of Sanbra expedition to locate one of their staff-in-the-field who had not reported back for some time. So much work that Professor Amidala Kun was thinking that next time would she simply make it an unofficial expedition and just hire somebody who know the way and had a good enough ship. An official expedition demanded some requirement regarding quality and internal space on the ship/s they would use, on the people hired to crew the ship/s and the person guiding them to the planet Giaca in the Wild Space, the last known location of Doctor Nanda Vertti.

All those things cost money, more money than the ornithological division of the zoological department had available, so that meant getting some sponsors and people from other divisions and departments that would be willing to spend money to travel to Giaca. The first to bite was the Cartographic Department, represented by Doctor Bioulf Starstrider, then they were able to interest the Zoological Department’s own Professor Juuus in joining with mentions of large, dangerous fauna and the mention of tribal natives hunting the fauna made her use her Doctor’s chair in the Ethnographic Department to pull some people and money from there. Some feelers into the wider scholastic sphere made the Necrotic Library of Dahrtag, and the Poison Weapon Study Club of Epsi Nadir send some founding to the expedition and people to participate; they were also able to get a grant from Mrlsst Trade and Science Academy.

Expedition member Hon-Erika Svartengrip was also able to use her family contacts to get two escort ships from the Honourable and Noble Blue Bloods Free Company to serve as their protectors during the journey for just the fuel and food expenses; thereby saving them lots of time in finding a good escort or a ship that could defend itself to the standard an official expedition outside Imperial Space demanded and having to pay full for it. With escort established they had a wider range of ships to choose from and thankfully one suiting their need and was in good condition and had a crew was easily available.

Now they had all they needed (ignoring easily available stuff that they could buy while preparing, like food and hygiene articles) but a respectable guide that could guide them to Giaca.

Thankfully the Cartographic Department had contacts among that kind of people.

 

Off on a Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now / Ad Astra journey?

 

We will see...

 

Part 2

Doctor Bioulf Starstrider of the Cartographic Department, with a bachelor from the Ethnographic Department, was a male human - slightly below average high, with purple skin, a round face, almond shaped eyes, and whiskers of a moustache - who had not really stopped talking since they had left the University area, he had talked about the development of the areas they travelled through, their history, how they had changed – culturally, architecturally, and/or topographically – throughout the decades. Dr Starstrider had been talking Prof Kun’s ears off, not because he was in love with his own voice (like some academics Kun could name) but because he could just not understand that others was not as interested in his subject as he was. They were on their way to the Herglic Quarters in the Spacertown, where Starstrider had said that they could find a ‘Rastredor’ – a term unknown to Kun that Starstrider had explained was a local (by galactic standards) title for a interstellar pathfinder of high repute, both regarding character and trade craft.

The smell of water and sea-life was the first indications for Kun that they were near the Herglic Quarters, first they passed by some habitations that was for aquatic/amphibian species of a less broad shouldered build than the herglics’. – “The so called Aquatown was built around the Herglic Quarters, which was the oldest part of Spacertown that was special made for semi-aquatic species. Therefor had many non-herglic found it easier to just take over the nearby buildings and refit them for their environmental preference than to build their own area.” – When even the smallest doors were big enough for two humans to walk side by side thought them did Kun know they were there. – “Interestingly so have small colonies of species of a similar broad and high build as the herglic developed in the Herglic Quarters because they found it easier to accept the moist and watery environment here than in areas made for smaller species or having to build their own. This has created some interesting cultural meetings and fusions, that you can read about in…” – They were supposed to meet the ‘Rastredor’ at the in Admiral Bendbowe , which inside was (like all establishments here) made for people of herglic-like form, and had aquariums as part of many of the walls, and decorations following aquatic- and spacer-themes.

 

Not everyday you get a story where a bunch of academics go out on an adventure! this is a fun plot

 

Part 3

Starstrider took them to one of the corner tables, where a herglic sat with a houk standing beside him, the table thankfully had chairs made for human-sized people that Kun and Starstrider sat down on.

The herglic introduced himself as Melchi Me!me!-kk and was a dressed in louse pants, hold up by a silk sash under a utility belt, his naked upper body was covered in scars - some of them from weapons or animals (Kun recognised the bite marks from a umuruk-leech on his bicep), but most was scarifications (Starstrider recognised different marks and glyphs for power, and protection).

The houk standing by his side – who was dressed in checkered pants, a t-shirt under a double-breasted high collared vest (showing that both his arms were cybernetic to the shoulders) together with a broad utility belt and topped by a feather bedecked beret – went unnamed but his stand combined with the empty gun, and long-knife holsters hanging from his belts indicated that he was Melchi’s bodyguard.

“Starstrider say you’re in need of mine services, yes”, begun Melchi the discussion after Kun had presented herself.

“Yes, we’re planning an expedition to the planet Giaca in the wild space beyond the Svivreni sector”, she inserted a data card into the tables holo-terminal and a picture of the Galaxy appeared; the picture zoomed in until it showed a notably smaller but still large area of space, with two of star now marked in different colours: one in red, the other in green, “The green star is the sun of Svivren, in the Svivreni sector, that’s to our understanding the closest planet within Imperial space that’s cosmopolitan. The red star is Giaca’s sun. As you can see do we know where it’s but we have no idea of any routes to it or the dangers along the way. I have understood it that you can take us there.”

“Take you there, yes. I do know of Giaca and paths to it, yes.”

“Have you been there?”

“No, but I’ve see it’s sun as a star in the sky, yes.”

“That means that he has been to a nearby system”, explained Starstrider.

Melchi looked at the hologram and stroke his shin, “We should take the standard route to Svivren where we do a full refill of everything, from there we go to Gung-Rha Station that’ll be our last stop in know space. From there on its wild space, but I do know some of that wildness, yes. We’ll move using short jumps, one system one deep void at a time, no fast jumps, yes. We’ll go into port from time to time to refill our coffers, and find out the political lay of the land. Giaca are contested by two conflicting interstellar realms, they might have gone to war since I was there, yes. That would make it bit harder to travel there, yes.”

“Yes, yes that would make it harder”, commented Kun, “But not impossible I take it?”

“No, not impossible. Just harder, yes. But I take right to turn round expedition if no semi-safe path can be found, yes?”

“That’s acceptable, yes”, Kun realised that she had only been in Melchi presence for a short time and she was already imitating his ‘yes’-ing. That was irritating.

“Good. You have been informed about mine costs, yes? I have mine own ship, small, it will be docked to yours, airlock-to-airlock, slave-linked, yes. Mine ship’re equipped with better sensors than most and will be finding our bearing and path, yes. All this agreed, expedition-leader Kun, yes?”

“It’s an agreement.”

“Excellent.”