----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eris Reddoch" 
> 
>> Lysia sits quitely through the discussion, *Better to be though 
>> of as a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt."  She 
>> thinks.
>> 
>> "Jac," she says finally speaking up, "which systems are most 
>> likely to have individuals with strong ties to our," she makes a 
>> little shrug, "well, gung ho friends?"
>> 
>> "Where are we also going to get decent port security, I mean 
>> something a little stronger than a guy with a straw hat shotgun 
>> and a narcaleptic dog?"
> 
> "Jez, we don't know a lot about the systems out beyond Montrose." 
> Jac says, "We'll have to learn as we go, so to speak. However, if we 
> are right about the terrorists being connected with the Zeristu, 
> then they probably won't have any more contacts out there than we do."
> 
> "The Zeristu have been pretty much bottlenecked by Mark, Osbeorht, 
> Skypr, and in some ways by Newton, from getting from their 
> homeworlds out onto the Quental Main." Jac says, "All three of those 
> worlds have maintained their independence, but it is getting harder 
> and harder, and we all might have to decide whether to join the CSA 
> or the Zeristu someday."
> 
> "When the Zeristu develop Jump 3 they'll be able to jump past us to 
> Serbia, and that is a day we all dread." he continues, "Already, 
> some of their warships are already 2 plus, so I expect Serbia is 
> going to start changing from a backwater to a front line state. They 
> don't know it yet, but it's coming for them."
> 
> "Montrose is the wild card in all of this." he says, "We know so 
> little about them...they are rich, have large merchant fleets and 
> naval assets, but they have concentrated their expansion and sphere 
> of influence coreward, so we have had almost no contact with them. 
> If they decide to move rimward they would come into immediate 
> conflict with the Zeristu, the CSA, and we'd be right in the middle 
> of the area of friction."
> 
> He smiles, "But that is probably more than you wanted to know. 
> Newton will have excellent port security. Why do you ask?"

Lysia shakes her head, "You never could give a yes or a no answer
could you Jac?"

"I ask because our newest crew members need to do a little
shopping to pick up some of the basics of life and I wanted to 
feel a little at ease leaving the ship to keep an eye one them."

"Lord knows how much I enjoy being cooped up on this thing,
you know all know how much gravity vehicles agree with me
at the best of times.  I'm going to need to stretch my legs a bit."

Lysia David