Windir has arrived.

Lyra has left.

Kanna OOCly notes that... this is his 200'th log.

Lian OOCly whees. o.o

Beowulf OOCly blinks?

Kanna OOCly says, "So, anyway... Kanna, Beowulf, and Lily ended up
heading out back to... pick apples!  (and to point to those who missed
it, http://www.eyrie.org/~aerianne/dld/amber/kanna.house.jpg ). 
Presumably, Beowulf was able to conjur up some baskets to hold said
apples. *wg*"

=================================
=================================

Kanna shoulders her bushel baskets of apples, and starts leading the two
back to the house.

Beowulf grabs his basket and helps carry.

Lily walks along, her basket floating alongside her happily carrying
itself.

Kanna says, "Anyway, from this angle, you can see the main water
tank..." She quirks a grin at the floating basket.  "When I built the
place, I didn't want to get too hyper-tech, so the original design ended
up being gravity-fed from rainwater collection.  The main tank's
shielded from most of the direct sunlight thanks to the shape of the
house, but the hot-water tank's up on the roof so the sunlight helps
warm it."

Beowulf nods, appreciating the design.

Kanna leads up to the back porch.  "All the water facilities are
clustered inside... this is the way to the changing rooms," She gets the
second back door, " which leads back into the mudroom, and that door
over there leads to a combination shower/sauna."

Kanna says, "For when you want to steam your cares away after a long
workout."  She grins, and gets the door to the Mudroom/hallway, leading
back into the kitchen and living/dining area.

Lily smiles.  "Always a nice thing."

Beowulf hmmms, and nods.

Kanna chuckles softly.  "Hey, just 'cause I'm living out in the middle
of 'nowhere', doesn't mean I can't have -some- amenities of life."  She
winks, and puts her apple bushels in the kitchen area.  "Now, lemme go
and get out the cider press... back in a bit..."

Kanna heads back out through the kitchen door that leads back the way
they came.

Beowulf starts sorting through the apples and picking out the most
likely ones for cider, making occasional glances up the stairs to see if
Lian and Thropan have managed to stir yet.

Lian does come down eventually, still dressed in her usual casual
t-shirt and shorts combo. She waves to Bey once she can see into the
kitchen area. "Hi. Finally got up, I see."

Beowulf grins. "More or less. We *needed* the sleep."

Lily smiles at Lian. "Good day, Lian."

A little while later, Thropan comes downstairs.  "Hello, everyone."

Lian grins and falls onto a couch. "Feeling better now, then?"

Beowulf smiles crookedly. "Somewhat, at least." He luxuriates in a long,
slow stretch again. "Tension's off, at least for the moment."

Kanna comes back out into the kitchen area, Kanna-handling a compact but
floor-standing Cider Press through the kitchen door.  She visibly
brightens when she espises Lian, and Thropan too.  "Hey --- urf ---
there, Lian."  She grins, and gets the press the rest of the way
through, settling it on the floor near the wall so it doesn't block the
traffic path.  "Morning, Thropan.  Sleep well?" She winks.

Beowulf looks at Kanna and groans. "You *could* have asked for help, you
know." He smiles a bit guiltily. "I could use the exercise."

Thropan says, "Slept very well.  I won't need a catnap for a while."  He
winks and wanders into the kitchen to get food.

Kanna shrugs apologetically to Beowulf.  "Sorry, old habits.  Don't
worry, I'm sure you'll get plenty of time to exercise in the weeks
ahead."  She chuckles softly, makes sure all the accoutrements for the
press are where they should be, and then ducks into the pantry for a
couple buckets for later collection of the cider.

Kanna considers, ducks -back- in, and grabs some pie tins.

Lian grins and gets up to wander over to the kitchen area, since that's
where everyone else is. "Someone's in the mood for cider, I see."

Kanna says, "Well, beowulf managed to convince me, Lian."  She grins. 
"Breakfast's under the heating dome, Thropan."

Thropan wanders about with the look of someone who wants food, but is
half hoping it will appear fully prepared in front of him.  When Kanna
says that, he smiles.  "Thank you," and goes and snags himself some.

Beowulf waves a hand in acknowledgement. "Remind me to pick up the
cherry cider recipe next time I'm back home in Lucas; then you'll really
taste something good." He grins.

Kanna says, "Right, right... by that time, I -might- have some cherry
trees planted out back."  She grins, and goes ans snags another strip of
bacon for herself.

Lian smiles and leans against the wall, watching the others.

Beowulf takes a seat on convenient furniture. "Well... so now that we're
all more or less awake and gathered, what's plans for the day?" He cocks
an inquisitive eyebrow.

Kanna considers the group of apples Beowulf's gathered for
cider-pressing, sets throse aside to -be- pressed once the time's right,
and then divvy's up the rest for general eating, and for making pies. 
"Well, let's see.  Sometime during today we should call Ruka, get more
details on the naval situation and what we can provide for the bases." 
She sighs slightly.  "I sincerely doubt we'll be able to convince him to
come -here-, bless his heart for being so dedicated, but we can try to
get more information on naval needs."

Thropan says, "Eating."  He gets his food and goes and sits down and
goes to work on it."

Beowulf hmmms. "We might be able to convince him, if we can offer him
fasttime planning and potential ship construction, yes?"

Kanna says, "Then we can plan from there as to what we want to do
'working' vacation-wise on Jade and whatnot in fast time."  She chuckles
slightly at Thropan, and glances at Lian.  "Helped him work up an
appetite, eh?" She winks.

Kanna mmms at that.  "-Maybe-, Bewoulf."

Beowulf just smiles slightly at Lian and Thropan.

Lian looks innocently at Kanna with a 'Who, me?' expression.

Kanna says, "Thing is, I was already offering ships in fast-time for
him, and while he's accepting the ships, he doesn't want to take any
chances of things going out of control while he's out, even for a
second."

Kanna says, "Shalomar is -stressed- to the limit in trying to get ships
made.  I can only begin to imagine what it's like down in Mystara, and I
have no clue what's going on in Amberport."

Beowulf nods soberly. "I have some idea, yes." He sighs. "I can see why
he'd be worried... perhaps if he could find someone to stand in for him
for that minute or two it'd be, Amber time?"

Lian says, "He'd also still be reachable by trump in a real emergency."

Thropan just laughs and eats.

Lily says, "I suspect Kozue would become rather irritable if she heard
he left, even 'just for a minute'."

Kanna says, "Hrm.  True.  And that's what I figured." She smiles faintly
at Lily.  "I don't want to get Ruka in trouble with his boss... she's
been good to me so far, and I don't want to stress it."

Kanna says, "Besides, he already knows I'll be bringing -some- ships as
it is."

Beowulf nods. "I suppose so..." He sighs. "I could see being upset if he
were ducking away for personal business, but fleet-related things would
be Amber business. Well, Kozue is Kozue."

Beowulf says, "Did he give you any input on ship designs when you talked
to him? If we're building him a new squadron or more, it only makes
sense to make 'em the way that would be most useful for him."

Kanna says, "We can bring it up with him when we call.  After all, my
-original- offer was just the vacation portion, not to bring him along
to supervise shipbuilders, as where I was going to go, they already had
some of what would be needed."

Kanna shakes her head.  "No, I didn't have -time-."  She looks sheepish,
and embarrased.

Kanna says, "As every time we started talking, a new tide of people
needing his input Right Now would come into the office."

Beowulf ahhs. "Well, yes, we can discuss it with him when we call. I'd
like to see whether there'd be anything useful we could incorporate from
the battleship plans."

Kanna nods.  "Somebody make a quick list of concerns that we can bring
up?  As I don't want to waste more of his time than I have to."  She
scratches her cheek.  "... probably should get some naval maps of the
coast, with which to familiarize any crews we hire from Jade.... I
wonder if we could terraform a part of the coastline on the fourth
continent to make it look like that of Amber's..."

Kanna looks at Lian.  "And you were saying 'gunships', Lian?"

Lian says, "That'd be a bit much work ... " She nods. "Yup. I've got a
design or two for those, yes."

Kanna says, "Okay, forget the terriforming idea.  We can just give them
practice runs against the pirates that tend to crop up between the West
and East continents." She grins.

Beowulf says, "Hopefully, that'll be enough." He smiles, a bit nastily.

Lian grins, "Oh, it should be."

========
========

You page, "Work in progress, coloring wise (no smuding, highlights, or
background) :
http://www.eyrie.org/~aerianne/dld/amber/staton.kanna.gaby.cc.jpg" to
Akemi, Chris, Mercutio and The_Prof.

Mercutio pages, "Yeah, we bad. ^_^" to you.

Akemi pages, "Ooooh, nice." to you, Chris, Mercutio and The_Prof.

========
========

Beowulf hmms. "Let's also do the temporal scry on the sensor network's
monitor board, see if there's any attack patterns we can piece
together."

Kanna nods.  "Do that first, before we call him?  That way we can give
some info to him even as we ask him to rustle stuff up."

Kanna digs out a notepad, and starts writing on it some of their
concerns.

Beowulf nods. "Definitely do it first."

Beowulf pulls the board out of the bag.

Lily comes over to the board and sits down by it, and then begins
casting the spell.

Kanna nods, and sits on a stool and writes: 1) Types of ships needed. 2)
Status of Shalomar and other bases.  3) Ways to alert other bases of the
soon-to-trump-in ships.  4) Numbers of ships for each.  5)
Bloc-concerns? 6) Maps and procedures for Amber Navy for training.

Scrying the monitor board shows the Galician fleet entering Ashante's
waters a few hours after when Saionji was kidnapped, followed by them
moving in on the Amberite fleet and smashing it to bits, followed by
some raiding along the coastline and the fleet sailing out of Ashante's
waters.

======
======

Beowulf asks, "OOC Any useful analysis to be found in their tactics?"

Beowulf says, "OOC Such as the fact that the timing seemed remarkably
convenient? o.o"

=====
=====

Pretty much, you get the impression that they probably had some
awareness of Saionji going 'poof', and that their commander was fairly
skillful.  They also seemed to know enough to get back out of the shadow
before Amberite forces could arrive to deal with them.

=====
=====

Kanna OOCly says, "And given the rate of travel fromt he time of
Saionji's capture and the attack... how soon should we expect them to
appear around Mystara, etc?  If they sailed out of Ashante's waters and
started heading for Amber proper.  Or did they look to be heading back
to regroup?"

=====
=====

Beowulf nods to himself. Any potential weakness in their fleet movements
that could be exploited?

====
====

Loewen says, "OOC One sec while I check my timeline."

=====
=====

At normal shadow travelling speeds, if they were going to attack the
Southern base, they would hit it in about a week from now.

=====
=====

Kanna OOCly says, "And if they tried Hellsailing, they'd be already
screwed? :)"

Hellriding is a really good way to destroy an army.

Kanna OOCly says, "well, true."

=====
=====

You think that an equally armed fleet of equal numbers, led by someone
of your level of skill, Beowulf, could probably defeat the Galicians.

=====
=====

You page, "Hm, from what I know of Ruka, how would he fare against such
a force, compared to Beowulf?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You think that in the realm of naval warfare, Ruka may be
about on a par with Beowulf." to you.

You page, "*nod*" to Akemi.

=====
=====

Beowulf nods thoughtfully. "Well, we already knew they weren't to be
taken lightly."

Kanna mmms at that.  "And at least the Southern Base has about a week to
go before the Galician's might hit, if they're coming that way."

Lian nods. "Time enough to prepare, one would think."

=====
=====

Kanna OOCly says, "What -were- the numbers of the Galician fleet, btb?"

Loewen says, "OOC The Galician fleet is about two-thirds the size of
either of Amber's fleets."

Kanna OOCly nods.  Save that one of Amber's fleets just went down to
Davy Jones's locker... *wl*

Beowulf asks, "OOC So the main reason it was able to win is that Amber's
fleet wasn't armed as well, and above all had massive leadership
confusion?"

Loewen says, "OOC Yep.  Only about a quarter of it survived."

Kanna OOCly says, "Owch.  Yes, Saionji and Yamamoto are -never- going to
hear the end of this from Kozue."

Loewen says, "OOC Yep.  Gunpowder ships do nasty, nasty things to ships
which lack such."

Beowulf asks, "OOC Though their admiral seems to be better than Saionji
in any case. Has anyone been able to give a reasonable estimate of
Yamamoto's capabilities?"

Kanna OOCly says, "So our main concerns is fielding equivelent numbers
and firepower, and more to the point, defending against cannon as well."

Loewen says, "OOC Oh, Saionji wasn't there.  He'd been kidnapped :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "Kanna estimates that Ruka has the same level of skill
Beowulf would, in the realm of Naval Combat, at least."

Beowulf says, "OOC Right... but Bey's significantly better than Saionji,
and if someone of Bey's skills is needed to go up with an even basis..."

Kanna OOCly says, "No idea on Yamamoto."

Loewen says, "OOC You'd guess that Yamamoto is somewhere in the
Professional Range. "

Loewen says, "OOC Probably about 2/3rds of your own skill."

======
======

Beowulf whistles slowly. "These folks are good. Seems a bit surprising
we hadn't hear about them before this blew up around Marches. Moriya,
Moonshade, and myself are about the only people of our generation that
would be good enough to beat them. Maaybe Naru, but she's more iffy."

Lian says, "Beating them is your job ... I just build things to help you
with that."

Kanna mmms, quietly, having made notes from studying the board.  "Well,
fortunately, we have more than just -our- generation to go around..."
She makes a wan smile.  "Maybe Ruka'll get a field commission after
all... he's pretty skilled in Naval Warfare, and he's been at it for a
good long while."

Beowulf nods. "I hope he does. I mean, given what *you* see in him, he
must be something special." He smiles.

Kanna blushes at that.  "Well, yes... I just also hope that he'll come
-back-." She smiles more fully.

Lian says, "We'll have to make sure he does, then."

Beowulf says, "Along with the rest of his fleet."

Lian says, "Of course."

Kanna nods.  "So the main concern is to get him... or whoever... said
fleet, in numbers that'll help reinforce what they've already got, with
crews trained enough to handle things and be comfortable in Amber's
waters... and in the right places at the right time."

You page, "How long would it take Jade's shipbuilders working as-is here
in fastime to build a comparable sized fleet that we'd need, while
staying here?  Just as an estimate, as I get the feeling not -all- of
the fleet will come from here, jsut the specialty ships." to Akemi.

Lily says, "Well, we have close to a week."

Beowulf nods. "More, if we fasttime here." He turns to the others. "You
mentioned shipbuilding facilities earlier; what exactly do we have to
work with?"

======
======

Akemi pages, "In general, building a warship takes around three-five
months, but you can have many built simultaneously." to you.

Akemi pages, "Of course, this requires you to have a source of payment
for them :)" to you.

You page, "I have ways. :)  This where it helps to have means to
manipulate the shadow, etc. :)  And where bey does his archeolgical
thing." to Akemi.

======
======

The_Prof pages, "Interesting discussion in the peanut gallery, about
whether the UnS Amber family would balkanize over time, and how much
nicer we are compared to canon Amber. :)" to you.

======
======

Kanna scratches her cheek.  "Most of the costal towns have -some- form
of shipbuilding, for merchant ships if nothing else... the thing is, on
Jade, we're still on the Small Kingdom level, so Massive Navies
generally aren't -needed-.  Most territorial disputes and wars are
settled with tournaments, anyway.  Mind you, there -are- a few small
navies, and getting them to build warships simultaneous shouldn't be
that difficult... after all, Money Talks."

Kanna says, "Of course, the question is -getting- the money." She looks
rueful.

Lian asks, "How many ships do we need, anyway?"

Beowulf says, "Wouldn't necessarily have to be money. I'm sure there's a
lot of favors we can do for them in payment."

Lily says, "Money is little problem for those who wield the Primal
Powers, unless you're concerned about causing inflation."

Kanna says, "The closest costal towns are Trinc and Main Guard.  Dim
Dale and Temul are on the other side of the continent from them.  Lirth
City's pretty big on shipbuilding,  but they're on the west continent.
Might be good to check with folks there, though."

Kanna quirks a smile at Lily.  "True, true.  I suppose I could get
discounts a bit from what contacts I can dredge up from my adventuring
days with Julia-Sensei."

Kanna then looks at Lian.  "If we want to stomp the Galician's like a
redheaded stepchild, we'll need a comparably-sized force.  Theirs looked
to be about 2/3rd's that of one of Amber or Ember's fleets, but I figure
we wouldn't do -all- the shipbuilding here." She looks thoughtful.

Beowulf nods. "But what's that in hard numbers? Or even round numbers?"

Lian says, "Depending on the design, I can get the autofactories on
Mechanus to work on hulls, at least."

=====
=====

You page, "What IS that in hard numbers? *wg*" to Akemi.

=====
=====

You need to build about a hundred ships.

Beowulf nods slowly. "About how long does it take one of these shipyards
to build a ship?"

Kanna says, "Your average warship takes about 3-5 months, using standard
construction techniques and speed. Of course, shipyards can work on many
simultaneously."

Kanna blinks, and looks rueful.  "Man, the things you learn hanging
around naval bases."

Lian says, "Not on that many, though ... might want to have them built
on Mechanus, and then sent here so crews can train with them."

Beowulf nods. "So long as they're tough enough to withstand shadow
travel."

Lian asks, "Why shouldn't they be?"

Kanna says, "Hm... All metal, or metal/wood ships, though with classical
lines and fittings."

Kanna says, "Or mass-trumpings."

Lian says, "At least steel-plated wood, Kanna."

Beowulf says, "More resistant to cannon fire, true."

Kanna says, "I'm pretty sure sis still should have the coastline and
ports of Amber mapped by -now-... I read some of mom's old reports of
how she was planning to have Ember's fleets help reinforce Amber's
during the crisis that way."  She looks rueful.   "But anyway."

=====
=====

The_Prof pages, "I would like to make it a *fairly* early night tonight,
say another hour and a half. How long do you want to go?" to you and
Chris.

You page, "I'm good for that, easy." to Chris and The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Good 'nuff. :)" to you and Chris.

Chris pages, "I can do as long as you want. :)" to you and The_Prof.

=====
=====

Lian taps her wristband. "Vector? Synchronize Mechanus' timeflow with
the one at my current location. Ready factories 42 to 67, plans will
arrive soon."

Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Somehow, that feels like cheating," he says,
grinning. "Of course, if that wasn't what we were planning on doing in
fasttime here *anyway*..."

Kanna quirks a smile, and pulls out her trump case, popping it open and
shuffling through it.  "So then, shall we try giving Ruka a call, then?"
 She looks wryly at Beowulf.  "Well, that, and the fact that I -still-
have no idea how far out Jade is from Amber, -anyway-, Beowulf.  I've
either pattern-teleported or trumped to and from here."

Lian says, "Whatever is necessary to win, Bey." She grins at Kanna,
"Maybe we should trump your blue-haired wonder now ... we'll need his
input."

Vector replies, "Synchronization beginning."

Beowulf says, "Sounds like a consensus, then," he says, chuckling.
"Gather 'round the trump, folks, gather 'round the trump..."

Beowulf gets ready to link in with the other two when Kanna trumps.

=====
=====

You page, "Hm, Should I temp-synch Jade up with Amber so as to get less
weirdness convoing with Ruka, or shall we not worry 'bout that for the
nonce?" to Akemi.

Akemi pages, "You need to do that, yes.  Unless you want to wait a
loooong time between his replies :)" to you.

=====
=====

Lian steps next to Kanna and puts a hand on her shoulder, ready to link
up.

=====
=====

Chris pages,
"http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/loth/k/a/kami/antgothic2.jpg.html I'm
seriously tempted to take the guy's head for Orien. :)" to you.

You page, "[Shiori scritches Orien under the chin.]" to Chris.

Chris pages, "[Orien smirks. "Meow."]" to you.

You page, "[Shiori chuckles, and purrs with a wink.]" to Chris.

=====
=====

Kanna hrms, and mentally shift's Jade's timeframe to Amber's for the
moment, so that Ruka won't get majorly lagged when trying to converse
with them, and vicea-versa.  "Well, here's hoping he's taking calls
today..." She concentrates on the trump of Ruka.

Beowulf puts a hand on Kanna's other shoulder, ready to go.

Ruka takes the call.  "Hello, Kanna," he says.  "How are you?"

Kanna smiles.  "Doing better in some ways... especially since I'm
talking to you right now."  She blushes slightly.  "I know you're very
busy, so we'll keep this short... but Beowulf's got some tactical
information on the Galician's who hit Ashante for you, and Lian wanted
to ask you some questions on what you guys wanted in the way of ship
types and numbers, and I've got some concerns of my own to toss in as
well." She smiles slightly.

Ruka nods.  "Alright.  Who's first?"

Beowulf passes along the information on the Galcian attack, with
time-lapse maps courtsey of Aeris.

Beowulf says, "The fleet will likely need someone of our skill level,
with equal numbers and armament, to beat the raiders."

Beowulf sighs. "Poor Yamamoto. He didn't stand much of a chance, against
such a large fleet with gunpowder, right after Saionji was kidnapped.
Their admiral seemed to be aware of that, and take advantage of it."

Kanna says, "-If- the Galicians are contining on towards Amber and
Mystara, they should reach there in a week's time.  I'm pretty certain
you'd be of equivelent skill level, Ruka, when it comes to Naval
Warfare... but I don't know all there is about the folks Aunt Kozue has
under her command, and even less so for who was stationed in Mystara." 
She looks wry, and then mmms.

Ruka nods.  "I am expecting Tylor will likely be asking one of the
Royals to take command."

Ruka continues, "I believe the Queen was hoping to hire the Pearl Fleet,
but they seem to have signed on with Lucien."

Beowulf nods. "Hopefully, it will be Drake. Or at least someone willing
to listen to you, Ruka."

Kanna nods to that.  "I hope Uncle Tylor can get somebody skilled
enough... I think we're getting pretty strung out about now."  She nods
slighty, and hrms.  "Uncle Drake is still pursuing researching
Marketplace and Sumire's Ninja problem, Bey."

Kanna says, "At least last I heard."

Ruka says, "Prince Drake would be a good choice, though I understand
he's off in Shadow doing something.  And Drake has a tendency to not
answer calls when he...ahh, right."

Kanna says, "Uncle Tylor might be able to convince him, though.  As this
would be more direct towards Amber's defense."

Kanna says, "And there's still a window on our end."

Beowulf nods to Kanna. "Right. And there's no one who would be better."

Kanna hehs at that, and nods, smiling slightly.

Beowulf says, "The Galcian admiral also had very good intelligence,
since he started his attack almost immediately after Saionji was
kidnapped. Either he had some link to the kidnappers, or he had a source
inside the navy."

Beowulf asks, "Or had some other very, *very* good source of
intelligence -- a spying device, perhaps?"

Ruka says, "I'm inclined to suspect the Horn were using the Galicians."

Beowulf nods. "Yes, that's the kind of link I had in mind."

He continues, "Although there may well have been traitors."

Kanna shrugs.  "Beats me.  Something to watch out for.  We might luck
out... hm, yes, that's plausable too.  As the Horn had gunpowder
weaponry, though they didn't use it in most of our confrontations... and
that's also a possibility.  And Pyricorn and Serpent knows what groups
would have been tapped, though the Bloc, of course, is a high-profile
suspect.  Anyway."

Beowulf says, "The main thing to worry about there is to make sure the
source is closed, if we can."

Beowulf says, "Everything else is secondary."

Kanna says, "That's the tactical and strategic ends ... now on the ship
supply end, we go to Lian."  She quirks a slight smile.

Lian smiles slightly. "Time for my questions now, Ruka ... one, how many
ships do you need, and what types would you like? Two, how many of those
can you actually crew? And three, do you have any gunners with cannon
experience?"

Ruka says, "Well, right now, we're calling up the reserves and
impressing sailors.  Right now, we only have enough for ten ships, but
in a week or two, we hope to have enough to main an entire new fleet. 
Although if we then lose that fleet, we'll be in a lot of trouble."

Kanna mmms at that.  "We're going to need to hire crew then.  Both from
here, and elsewhere.  I'll fill you in later on the details, Ruka, but
we're going to need to be operationally ready for -anything- through the
next month."

Ruka continues, "We have no gunners with cannon experience, as we don't
use cannon, unfortunately.  That's going to be a bad part of this, as
even if we get functioning cannon and gunpowder, most of us lack
experience at using them."  He rambles off a lot of technical data on
the kinds of ships they need, which we won't get into as the GM doesn't
know the details either.

Beowulf says, "If you need training... we might be able to take care of
that here." He looks questioningly at Kanna and Lian, since it's *their*
home base.

Lian nods and memorizes the details for later design work. "Alright ...
we'll have to see about cannon, then. What do your crews usually use?"

Kanna looks back.  "Shouldn't be a problem, I should think.  Mostly
getting them over any tech-phobia Jade crews might have.  If we have to,
I suppose we can recruit gunnery crews from Mechanus, if Lian wants."

Beowulf nods. "I could also try recruiting from Lucas, though that could
be a bit of a problem since they're slow-timed."

Kanna says, "Unless you were thinking having folks trumped in from
Shalomar and Mystara.. whcih I don't think would work out, with us going
to go back into fast-time, bey." She looks wry.

Ruka says, "We typically use catapults, ballistae, various special
chemical concotions, and sometimes ramming or boarding."

Kanna nods.  "Jade uses similar for their normal armaments, and
sometimes, -rarely-, local gunpowder." . o O (I will try not to think
about the time Brianna mounted the chaingun on that patrol cutter...)

Beowulf compares those weapons to what the new ships would have, and
tries to figure out the best training regimen for the new folks.

Lian says, "Okay ... if necessary, we can replace cannon with upgraded
versions of the weapons your people are used to."

Beowulf says, "It should be pretty easy to train crews."

Kanna nods.  "That takes care of the manpower and machinery angles,
then..." she scratches her cheek.  "As for my questions... I take it
Amberport and Mystara are in the same dire straits and building frenzy
as Shalomar was, this morning?"

Ruka says, "I would expect so.  Expecially the Mystara base."

Lian asks, "Who is in command of the Mystara base?"

Ruka says, "With Yamamoto and Saionji out of the way, I believe the
command falls to Commodore Perry."

Kanna mmms and nods.  "There any way you could get a hold of him and
Amberport's harbormaster, warn them we may have ships trumping in soon? 
I don't want them to be caught off guard, and I do -not- want any ships
crossing into Bloc-territory."

Beowulf says, "Though we should make sure the wrong people don't get a
hold of it and pass it along to the Galcians."

Kanna sketches the Mechanus emblem, her own emblem (the crossed ruby
hammers on gold circle, and the pyricorn shield), and some jade flags. 
"They should be sailing under these flags, to help recognize."  She
hands the sheet of paper through the link to Ruka.  "Well, yes." She
smiles slightly.

Ruka says, "I will endeavour to contact him."

Kanna nods.  "Oh, got any maps of the amber coastline for our own crews
to memorize and learn from?  And any particular procedures and chains of
command for them to report to?  I hope to get this working as smoothly
as possible."  She looks rueful.

Ruka goes and gets map copies to give to you, and briefs you on the
structure of the Amberite navy.

Beowulf takes note of the information and starts formulating training
schedules.

=====
=====

The_Prof pages, "Trying to think of a few ways to put extra polish on
their skills. :) Squadron-on-squadron war games, of course... wonder if
the Nautilus can be used to help?" to you and Chris.

You page, "As we may need to prep them for possible bloc attack...
hmmmmmm.  Wonder if we could get Atlantean help in this too.  But that
could be a stretch." to Chris and The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Um, he's paused. Forgot you don't have another puppet
to cover the other room. o.o" to you.

The_Prof pages, "Atlantean help would probably be asking too much. :("
to you and Chris.

You page, "As GD-Atlantis is 1) on earth, and 2) Still recovering and
doing rebuilding of their city, though by now it should be mostly
fixed." to Chris and The_Prof.

You page, "Whups. *wl*" to The_Prof.

You page, "We might be able to get Princess Tyr to lend some advisors,
tho." to Chris and The_Prof.

You page, "I do admit it'd be a stretch, as opposed to Jade, Kanna
-hasn't- had much contact with Earth-Realm.  Eh, 'n/m, then." to Chris
and The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Oh, GD-Atlantis. I was thinking the Atlantis where
Lucien's preparing. o.o" to you and Chris.

You page, "Nope, that's Lucien's baliwick, and Kanna's not about to take
from that." to Chris and The_Prof.

=====
=====

Kanna accepts the information, making notes as well.  She then smiles. 
"Thank you, Ruka."  She hesitates, but then goes on.  "I know you're
going to be busy the rest of the day, and I don't want to take you away
from your duties when the base is depending on you, any more than I have
to... so I won't." She smiles slightly.  "Hopefully, before the day is
out the ships and crews will be there int he harbors, if not, something
will have happened to us to prevent it... but I'll try to be there
tonight to talk with you about everything that's happened 'round here. 
I -really- wish you could come and help here, but another time, I
suppose."  She smiles faintly, but once again that fetching blush
touches her cheeks as she looks at Ruka.

Ruka nods.  "I would come if I could, but duty holds me here."  He has a
look like he would kiss you if you didn't have a horde of your relatives
watching.

Ruka continues, "Or I would fly to you, fair maiden."

Beowulf shoots a sidelong look at Lian and moves to break them out of
the connection.

Beowulf says, "Only fair to let them have a bit of private time," he
murmurs.

Lian winks at Kanna and steps away, breaking contact.

Kanna smiles, and blushes more.... and even moreso as Lian and Beowulf
drop out of the connection.  "and I would, as well... one day, we'll
sail the seas of Jade together.  Until then, Ruka.  Love you."  She
smiles, leans forward through the connection, and kisses him, savoring
every second.

Beowulf grins quietly at Lian and motions everyone else out of the room.

======
======

Beowulf says, "OOC With them, of course. :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "not that they can see anything on the other side of
the contact, once they've dropped out, of course... :)"

Loewen says, "OOC Heh."

Beowulf says, "OOC It's the principle of the thing. :)"

======
======

Ruka kisses you back firmly, smiling his usual confident smile.  "I love
you too, Kanna.  Fare you well."

Kanna blushes, finally releasing the kiss.  "I will.  Take care, Ruka." 
She waves, and then reluctantly cuts the connection.

==========================================
==========================================

What's next?

Kanna OOCly says, "Well, return Jade back to the Full Fast-time
gradient, get Lian sending orders to Mechanus to start working on
hulls... I imagine the first week or so we just blipping -relax- around
the house, before starting to do various missions, research, etc, on
Jade and Earth-Realm."

Loewen says, "OOC Righto, you can get that all going with no troubles."

Beowulf asks, "OOC Did Ruka give us full designs, or is it something
that we can improve on for him?"

Lian says, "OOC: Might want to call Corrine for the Amber Gunpowder
formula so we know if we can build guns, or if we have to work with
modifying old-style weaponry."

Kanna OOCly says, "Wheee!  Kanna does lots of painting and scouting her
old Jade contacts for crews and such (if Lian isn't providing extras),
making some presents in her forge and workshop, arranging for payment,
wishing ruka was around... and ah yes, that.  Query through Gaby-net to
ask the Momma unit if we can have the formula, and a line of supply for
Real materials from up in Ember to make the stuff.  (again, do the
resynch thing before calling, etc)."

Lian says, "OOC: My army is largely artificial, and therefore useless
near Amber."

Kanna OOCly says, "I'd be inclined to design both ways, so that those
who spy won't immediately suspect, and have extra options should things
go fubar with the formula."

Kanna OOCly says, "Righto.  Jade recruitment, then."

Loewen asks, "OOC Ruka gave you the usual ship designs.  Corrine will
supply you with the formula.  So how are you going to pay for
everything?"

Lian OOCLy will spend time designing the ships first, then work on
Weapons Of Mass Destruction.

Beowulf OOCly nods, dual-capabilities a good idea. Though we want to
make sure we've got enough extra capacity to take 'em even with standard
weaponry.

Lian . o O ( OOC: Believe me, standard weaponry won't be quite that
standard. >) )

Kanna OOCly says, "money for the Real Materials needed for the
gunpowder... draw from my Ember accounts to pay the folks who'd be
needed.  Like I did with the stuff bought from KHI a loooong time ago. 
I imagine Lian went and had her willing hordes of Mechanusites took care
of paying for the hulls and outfitting of the ships no problems."

Lian . o O ( OOC: Doesn't mean that Tylor won't get a bill after this is
over. :) )

Loewen says, "OOC righto. :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "as for the Jade crews.... mmm.  Kanna doesn't -want-
to play fast and loose with Jade's reality, even though she and Lian
technically -can-, since we own the darn places.  Well, we have several
months, we can adventure a bit, find places with treasure to sell off,
etc...."

Lian . o O ( OOC: But yes, being the Big Boss has its advantages. Send
harvester ships out to get the ore, refine, build steel hulls. )

Beowulf OOCly tries to figure out how else he can help out, besides ship
designs and training. :)

Kanna OOCly says, "Hey, it works for Gina to pay off Brit's credit card
bills.... and Brit has VERY LARGE credit card bills."

Beowulf says, "OOC Well, we've got the team for it. :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "Kanna and Lian, Beowulf and Lily, adventurers
supreme!"

Loewen points at Conjuration man... :)

Beowulf says, "OOC Or something. :)"

Loewen says, "OOC Righto.  That works :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "Well, you'd think a magical society would be somewhat
suspicious of summoned coins.  Now, us Just Happening Across an Ancient
Ruin that Nobody Else Knew About... *innocent whistle*"

Kanna OOCly says, "We can train folks on normal gunpoweder and the
standard weaponry here whent he time comes, and shift over to Amber
Gunpoweder when they get shifted to Amber's harbors."

Lian OOCly also handbuilds a few megacannons operating on the shadow
cannon principle. Big Bang-y things are never wrong.

Kanna OOCly says, "The forge, of course, is always open for Lian. ^_^"

Kanna OOCly says, "(meanwhile, the pirates of Jade begin to start
reconsidering their choice of careers.)"

Lian . o O ( OOC: Oh yes, the steel ships also get a nice wood-style
paintjob. :) )

Beowulf does a little conjured augmentation of the building fleet's
weaponry... still does usual stick-a-hole-in-things damage even if
dispelled, but whoo won't it be nasty if it isn't... ^_^

Kanna OOCly says, "By the time we're finished, both Gaby and Aeris
should have a nice set of trump-maps of places in Jade and their
harbors.... and Gaby can probably pass along to Aeris the psychic
impressions she's got of places aroudn Shalomar, Amberport, and
Mystara."

Kanna OOCly says, "Oh, what style of sword does Ruka favor?"

Beowulf taps his chin thoughtfully "Wind generators would be nice, of
course..." He turns to the others, and tries to figure out what kind of
resources they have for him to put his kitbashing skills to work on. :)

Loewen says, "OOC Sabre."

Kanna OOCly nods, and as Another Present Side Project, starts working on
a nice sabre for Ruka. ^_^

Kanna OOCly says, "I'd think it'd depend on when Lian's able to have the
ships boomed in, though given right now Mechanus and Jade/Earth-Realm
are sychned, we can trump back and forth without getting lagged."

Lian exclaims, "OOC: Once the ships are all built and handed over to the
apropriate people for crew training, Lian gets to work on something
little, blue, different. Underwater Peebos! "

Kanna OOCly says, "Personally, I figure the -less- fancier on ship
improvements the better.  As that way the crews have an easier time of
it, and less likely for major things to get fubared."

Kanna OOCly says, "... oh dear."

Kanna OOCly says, "Of course, this means Brianna will put in her two
cents.  Which means Bey gets to meet the Diggers Family, finally."

Beowulf says, "OOC Is why doing conjured enhancements on ship weapons is
a good idea, instead of conjuring up new weapons from scratch. Many
thanks to John for the suggestion. :)"

Lian . o O ( OOC: Is why I always build the basic weapons, and then
enchant, when I have the time. Oh yes ... the basic weapons get what
technological advancement one can put into them without making them
unusable too. )

Chris pages, "http://www.thekeep.org/~chrisb/orien.head.jpg for a
quickly colored head thingy. :)" to you.

Beowulf asks, "OOC How much later do you two want to run?"

Loewen says, "OOC I am not going past midnight unless mad fish possess
me."

Loewen says, "OOC what you want are Constitution-class ships, the
ultimate wooden and gunpowder ships :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "Ahhh.  I'm good for a bit more... I figure we figure
out up to the point where we go our seperate ways once the ships and
crews are ready, trained, and ready to head out.  Any IC business we can
handle at a later time, though I figure it was pretty much a decent
working vacation for all involved."

Beowulf OOCly NODS. Especially with KUGAR tomorrow night. :)

Beowulf says, "OOC Heh. Old Ironsides. ^_^"

Lian . o O ( OOC: Hey, they be cool. )

Beowulf says, "OOC Must put up the pics I took the one time I got to see
Old Ironsides. :)"

Loewen says, "OOC Exactly.  The US Navy was pathetically small until the
Civil War, but it had some great ships."

Beowulf OOCly nods, as folks around the Med found out. :)

Loewen says, "OOC So, what is each of you's next big project going to be
once you split up?  So I can plan future sessions"

======
======

You page, "I figure, privately, Kanna would Comment to Lian that given
everything, it'd probably be best for her and Thropan to discuss their
relationship thingie seperately... as if we try to wait for a time where
we're all together again (Kanna/Ruka/Lian/Thropan), we'll probably be
waiting until after the day of the Dead. *fwl* *eyeroll*" to Akemi and
Chris.

Chris pages, "Probably, yes." to you and Akemi.

Akemi pages, "Heh!" to you and Chris.

=====
=====

Beowulf says, "OOC Waffling between helping Lucien with the battleship,
and Mobius. :p Mobius has been stewing for far too long, but Bey's got
both the battleship plans and a ship that might be able to take it in a
fight. Which reminds me, need to do the analysis of the Bebop material.
:p"

Kanna OOCly says, "Hm. After this, Kanna plans to still contact the
Isles of Avalon, see of Aunt Yui's available, explain to her the
situation with Juri/Cathuria/Hel/etc and the need for more fleet
reinforcement for her to work on (and army reinforcement).  Need to get
Phoenix egg from Uncle Miki and tell him about Eowyn (and ask if got any
more info out of Robert Wapole), need to get Knife back from Anno, tell
him about the black road, and give him bookends.  Rearrange as needed
for Kanna gettint to Shalomar that night anway, to help destress Ruka
from the long day he's had. ^_^"

Loewen says, "Well, either is good with me.  I'd like to see SOMEONE
help Lucien :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "It's ironic.  Kanna came in that mornign looking
stressed and frazzled and needing relaxation... and now when Kanna
-gets- there, it'll be RUKA who needs the relaxation."

Beowulf says, "Well, Motoko was probably going to help him, but he could
probably use more. :)"

Kanna OOCly says, "Hey, I'm willing, but I've also got that Sword of Air
to deliver (hopefully)."

Lian says, "OOC: Lian's immediate plans, if nothing happens to distract
her, will be finally taking care of the damned Borg. "

Loewen asks, "So the Sword will be delivered once all that's taken care
of, Kanna?"

Beowulf OOCly would like to be in on the Merehallow return, but probably
won't have time. o.o

Lian . o O ( OOC: After that, depending on Player's Work Schedule,
hopefully go with Kanna to return Da Sword. )

Kanna OOCly says, "And hopefully by now or the next day, mom should have
dug out the Dread Pirate Demetrius contact info. *pause* Kanna's gonna
have an interesting report to receive about the events of the Grand
Assembly and stuff."

Kanna OOCly says, "It all depends on wether the Phoenx decides to LET me
return the damn thing, or continues to be stubborn. *wl* I'll probably
if that fails, try hellride/shadow-short-cut-speed shadowshifting, which
would be nice to have help with."

Kanna OOCly says, "Oh yes, Kanna trains in that, courtesy of Gaby, while
stepping through similar fast-timed shadows."

Beowulf OOCly nods, and would be happy to call Bessie and get that giant
flying carpet ready if needed. :)

You page, "I figure Chris and the GM can play through Lian's explination
9and don't forget to log it!), and Kanna'll explain to Ruka Really Damn
Soon, etc, as well." to Akemi and Chris.

Lian . o O ( OOC: Might want to take care of Moebius, Bey. He's been
able to build up unopposed since the beginning of the campaign ... I
don't wanna know his current power level, and how close he is to full
herald status. )

Kanna OOCly says, "That ... is a very damn good point.   Argh."

Beowulf says, "OOC I know, I know. :P Maybe if I made another Nautilus
for Lucien, that would help some... though that's exactly how I let the
Galcian situation blow up, making something to help and not following
up. :p"

Beowulf asks, "OOC What could Bey tell from analyzing the attack on the
Bebop?"

Kanna OOCly says, "Bloc and the Ninjas are being looked into as we
speak.... Lucien/etc, Drake/and Sumire, etc.  Not sure who else would be
left."

Lian says, "OOC: Yah, but if everyone concentrates on one or two jobs,
the remaining gods-know-how-many-problems will just get bigger, and
require even more people who should be doing other stuff."

Loewen says, "OOC Analyzing the attack on the Bebop tells you that the
ship that attacked it may be either the Annadil Battleship, or possibly
a copy of it.  It looks right, but seemed to have a lot less firepower
than Annadil's ship."

Kanna OOCly says, "Right.  That was Kanna's basic analysis, but Bey's
Warfare Man, so I figured he'd have the ability to extract more useful
info, 'sepcially given his construction/artifact skills."

Beowulf asks, "OOC How about the skill with which it was handled? A
skilled shiphandler, or someone just depending on the power of the
ship?"

Beowulf asks, "OOC And from that, how likely do I think it would be that
the reason it appeared to ahve a lot less firepower was that they simply
didn't know it was there, or how to use it?"

Loewen says, "OOC You'd estimate that the ship handler was of pretty
substantial skill.  And it is possible they may not have known how to
use the Abyssal weaponry if it had it."

Kanna OOCly says, "(ooo. http://www.USSconstitution.navy.mil/)"

Beowulf asks, "OOC How good was he compared to either myself, or what I
could see of Lucien's skills?"

Kanna OOCly says, "If the ship was being run by Darios, it makes sense
that the commader was skilled."

Loewen says, "OOC You think they could give you or Lucien a pretty good
fight."

Beowulf OOCly nods.

======
======

The_Prof pages, "Yup, Lucy's gonna need some good prep work to take that
thing on. :p" to you and Chris.

You page, "Figured. *wl*" to Chris and The_Prof.

Chris pages, "He's got quite the support group ... he should be able to
handle it, if he doesn't do a Stoopid." to you and The_Prof.

The_Prof pages, "Yah, suppose. Do at least want to give him a copy of
the Nautilus, or something equally powerful." to you and Chris.

Chris pages, "Better build the Nautilus clone ... dispelled
Nautilus-clone = Unhappy Lucy." to you and The_Prof.

======
======

Kanna OOCly imagines Underwater Peebos in Amber's waters, and Knows
Fear.

Lian OOCly pouts.

Kanna OOCly ooooooooos at the cannon deck of the USS Constellation.

Kanna OOCly says, "Actually, though, when you think about it, underwater
peebos are probably very decent self-propelled mines."

Kanna OOCly says, "["Evil Bloc, Go Boom On You!" "What the?!" *BOOOM*]"

Lian . o O ( OOC: That's pretty much what all Peebos are. )

Kanna OOCly says, "Yes, but they're cuter than claymores. :)"

Lian . o O ( OOC: True. :) )

Kanna OOCly says, "We shall conquer the Galicians and the Bloc with our
sheer CUTENESS!"

Kanna OOCly says, "anyway... to bed.  What the next time you gents
online at decent times?"

Loewen says, "Probably Thursday."

Lian says, "Thursday, here."

Beowulf says, "OOC Thursday night, prolly, 7-8; usual time."

Kanna OOCly says, "okidoke, works for me.  G'niht all, good session 'n
stuff. *wl* *wave*"

Loewen says, "OOC G'nite, Phil."

Beowulf says, "Sleep well, Phil."