Endeavor Count: 3 Months, 22 Days, 00 Hours, 00 Minutes

Endeavor Event: In Orbit Around Oasis

Endeavor: The Shakedown has been completed!

Chester Von Sebastion leans back at his desk and smiles in satisfaction. Despite not creating an ongoing profitable enterprise for House Von Sebastion on his first Endeavor he had secured notable improvements to his assigned ship and opened a line of communication towards the possible creation of just such an enterprise. It was nothing glamorous, just an open ended shipping contract between two Mechanicus installations, but it could prove quite lucrative for The House in time.

Chester's smile fades as he considers his next assignment. Pilgrim transportation to Viking in the Tichell system. It was the sort of utterly routine route that any Von Sebastion ship would run at least once early in their careers: low risk, moderate reward, no particular time pressure. That alone would make most merchant Shipmasters quite happy, but not Chester or Shipmaster Hawkins. Not with the temperament of the Erwin Siegmar's Belecane 90.r Geller Field Generator. It was freshly tuned and consecrated, and had even been refueled as part of the post-shakedown optimizations, but it had proven twitchy so far. Navigator Murirn was confident that it was assisting her in maneuvering around common Warp obstacles... and also that it was steering her into other ones. More dangerous ones.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Chester blew out a longs sigh. It would not do for the Erwin Siegmar to encounter warp turbulence, or worse, with four man holds full of pilgrims on board. Rioting or panicked stampedes would be bad enough, but a preacher or missionary getting riled up could make the whole situation so much worse. And the choice of the Pastor from Oasis to oversee the pilgrims and to interface with the bridge crew was another sticking point. The Oasis-based Ecclesiarchy didn't particularly like House Von Sebastion in general, and Chester had not endeared himself to them either, so whichever Pastor was chosen would come with an ax to grind. A report of Warp turbulence would be difficult to explain as routine when the Ecclesiarchy was looking for an excuse to find otherwise. Imperial Law would almost certainly be on Chester's side, and equally certainly be too slow moving to save his hide if the Ecclesiarchy wanted it nailed to a bulkhead under Church Law.

Chester sits up and scrubs the grit from his eyes. There was nothing he could do but to grin an bear it. Chester figures that, with only a little luck, he can the Pastor can be convinced to liaise with Shipmaster Hawkins first and foremost. It will solve very little, but will also mean the only the truly critical concerns reach his desk.It would also mean that the Pastor would have nearly free access to the bridge crew, who could find their loyalties divided if something was to go wrong.

With his primary concern settled Chester considers the possibility of making this required trip a multi-purpose venture. Surely there is the opportunity for a side-hustle of some sort? It would be a bit complicated, but would certanly prove quite profitable...